志す

Etymology
Compound of, literally in reference to where one's thoughts are focused on.

First cited to the mid-900s.

Verb

 * 1)  to aspire to, to aim for, to set one's sights on, to target or pursue as a goal or aspiration

Usage notes
Japanese references are inconsistent in listing this as either a or. Confusingly, definitions given for the purportedly intransitive sense often give usage examples with the object-marking particle and constructions that appear to be straightforwardly transitive.

In general, the verb can be used in a clearly intransitive way using the directional particle to indicate one's aim, and a more generally transitive way using the object particle :



This might be broadly similar to the distinction between the transitive verb and the related intransitive verb, or indeed the intransitive and transitive distinctions in English  (which require the prepositions to mark the indirect object) and  (which require no prepositions and simply take a direct object).