A kanji (漢字, “Han character”) is a character of Chinese origin that Japanese uses to write words. Unlike kana, which stands for syllables, a kanji stands for a meaning: 山 is “mountain”, 水 is “water”, 日 is “sun” or “day”.
One kanji, several readings
A kanji can be read in more than one way, which is what confuses most beginners:
- On reading (音読み): comes from the adapted Chinese pronunciation. It appears mostly in compound words. 山 is read san in 富士山 (Fujisan), and 水 is read sui in 水曜日 (suiyōbi, “Wednesday”).
- Kun reading (訓読み): the native Japanese word. 山 is yama and 水 is mizu when they stand alone.
You do not need to memorize every reading at once. It is more useful to learn each kanji with the words it appears in, and to write it as you go: the shape sticks much better with the hand.
Kanji, hiragana and katakana in one sentence
A typical sentence mixes all three: kanji carry the meaning (nouns, verb and adjective stems), hiragana provides the grammar (particles and endings), and katakana is kept for foreign words and emphasis. That is why kana always comes first.
How many kanji exist (and how many you need)
- The biggest dictionaries list tens of thousands of characters, but nobody needs them.
- The official everyday-use list (jōyō kanji) has 2,136 characters since its 2010 revision. It is the reference for newspapers, public documents and compulsory education.
- Of those, 1,026 are taught in Japanese elementary school (the kyōiku kanji).
- For the JLPT exam there is no official kanji list per level. The usual cumulative estimates are roughly 100 for N5, 300 for N4, 650 for N3, 1,000 for N2 and 2,000 for N1. Keep the order of magnitude, not the exact figure (we explain it in the first N5 kanji).
What a kanji is made of
Many kanji are built by combining simpler pieces. The traditional classification uses 214 radicals (the ones kanji dictionaries are organized by). 休 (“to rest”) is a person (亻) next to a tree (木): someone leaning on a tree. Recognizing pieces turns every new kanji into a combination of things you already know, rather than a loose drawing.
Stroke counts run from 1 (一, “one”) to over 20: 鬱 (“melancholy”) has 29. That range is why you should learn the stroke order rules before tackling complex kanji.
Where to start
- Master kana first, by writing it.
- Start with kanji that have few strokes and appear everywhere: numbers, days of the week and nature (一 二 三, 日 月 火 水 木 金 土, 山 川).
- Learn a few per session and review the earlier ones before adding new ones.
- Trace following the order, then write from memory.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to write kanji by hand?
You do not need to in order to read them, but writing helps you tell them apart and remember their pieces. If you are preparing for N5, see whether you need handwriting to pass.
Are Japanese kanji and Chinese hanzi the same?
They share an origin and many characters, but they are not identical: Japanese simplified some (the shinjitai) differently from simplified Chinese, and meanings and readings have diverged.
What is the best first kanji?
Numbers: 一, 二 and 三 have 1, 2 and 3 strokes and you will see them again and again.