A guide to reading and writing Japanese 4th edition

A Guide to Reading and Writing

JAPANESE
FOURTH EDITION
A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO
THE JAPANESE WRITING SYSTEM

First edition compiled by

Florence Sakade
Third edition revised by

kenneth henshall, christopher seeley & henk de groot
Fourth edition revised by

janet ikeda

T UT T L E Publishing
Tokyo Rutland, Vermont Singapore

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CONTENTS
Introduction ....................................................................................... iv
1 Aim iv
2 This Book and the Modern Japanese Writing System iv
2.1 About the Characters Selected iv
2.2 How Characters Are Read in Japanese v
2.3 Writing Characters vi
2.4 Romanization ix
2.5 Kana Signs and Combinations ix
3 Layout Details x
4 Final Notes xi
5 Select Bibliography of Main Works Consulted for This Edition xi
Acknowledgments........................................................................... xii
Section 1: The 1,006 Essential Characters ................................ 1–202
Grade One: Characters 1–80 .............................................. 1–17
Grade Two: Characters 81–240 ........................................ 17–49
Grade Three: Characters 241–440 ...................................... 49–89
Grade Four: Characters 441–640 .................................... 89–129
Grade Five: Characters 641–825 .................................. 129–166
Grade Six: Characters 826–1,006 ............................... 166–202
Section 2: The 2,136 General-Use Characters ...................... 203–302
Radical Index .......................................................................... 303-319
Index of Readings ................................................................. 320–340
Bonus: List of the 196 Newest Jǀyǀ Characters .................. ONLINE
at Tuttlepublishing.com

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INTRODUCTION
1 Aim
This newly revised edition is designed for students and others who
have at least an elementary knowledge of spoken Japanese and want
to acquaint themselves with the Japanese writing system. The most
signi¿cant revisions are the addition of 196 characters, which were
added to the Jǀyǀ kanji (General-Use Characters) list in November
of 2010. The elimination of 5 seldom-used characters now brings the
total of General-Use characters to 2,136. The newly added characters
reÀect an information age where technology now allows characters to
be more widely generated and consumed on screens. New characters
reÀect prefectural names and major cities and a concern with health
and parts of the body. A¿cionados of Japanese cuisine and culture will
see familiar characters for foods (mochi, donburi, men, senbei), plants
and Japanese cultural artifacts and customs, in particular inclusion of
auspicious characters for tsuru and kame. Previous revisions to the Jǀyǀ
kanji list had been made in 1981 and 1946.
The highlights of this new edition are the following:
• Radical index for all characters
• Clearly marked characters found on the Kanji List of the AP Japanese
Language and Culture Exam (marked with this symbol:  )
• Clearly marked characters (marked by level, based on past practice
 ,  , etc.) used for the Japanese Language Pro¿ciency Test (JLPT)
Although pro¿ciency in the Japanese language is not determined by
knowing characters alone, this revised edition will provide an excellent
study guide for students who wish to increase their reading ability. All
characters recommended for the high school National Japanese Exam
(NJE) are included.

2 This Book and the Modern Japanese Writing System
2.1 About the Characters Selected
While the Jǀyǀ kanji List (hereafter abbreviated to JK List) does not
represent an exhaustive list of Chinese characters which the student will
encounter in modern Japanese texts, in combination with the two syllabaries (hiragana and katakana) it does nevertheless provide a very sound
iv

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INTRODUCTION

basis for reading and writing modern Japanese. In Japanese schools,
1,006 of the more commonly used JK List characters are taught in the
six years of elementary school, the balance of 1,130 characters being
spread out over the intermediate and high school curriculum. The JK
List characters also form the basis of character usage in modern newspapers, though sometimes the Japan Newspaper Association chooses
to deviate from the List in some ways.
For writing the names of their children, Japanese today can choose
from a corpus of characters consisting of the JK List together with a
supplementary list of characters for use in given names. The ¿rst such
name character list, approved in 1951, consisted of 92 characters, but
was expanded considerably in 2004. The current Jinmeiyǀ Kanji list,
which is determined by the Ministry of Justice, includes 861 characters.
We do not list these here.
This book is divided into two main sections. Section One presents
the 1,006 characters designated by the Japanese Ministry of Education,

Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to be taught during
the six years of elementary school—termed here “Essential Characters.”
The choice of these characters is the result of extensive research and
deliberation by the Ministry. For these characters, the editors of this
volume have endeavored to give illustrative character compounds that
are in common use.
Section Two of this book sets out the 2,136 characters designated for
general everyday use (including the 1,006 characters taught at elementary
school). In 1946 the Japanese writing system underwent fairly radical
reform in the direction of simpli¿cation, but the 1970s onwards saw
some movement away from what some saw as an over-simpli¿cation,
and the trend towards use of a bigger range of Chinese characters has
been encouraged by the development and popularity from the mid-1980s
of word-processors and computers that can handle conventional Japanese
text. Despite this trend, the major impact of the orthographic reforms of
the late 1940s has meant that the Japanese writing system of today still
remains much simpler than it was before 1946.
2.2 How Characters Are Read in Japanese
Typically, each Chinese character has two types of readings—on-yomi
and kun-yomi. The on-yomi (on reading, i.e., Sino-Japanese reading)
is a reading originally based on the Chinese pronunciation associated
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INTRODUCTION

with each character, and reÀects the fact that the Chinese script was
adopted from China the best part of 2,000 years ago, when the Japanese
themselves did not have a writing system. Contrasting with the on-yomi
is the kun-yomi (kun reading, i.e., native Japanese reading). In some
cases, a given Chinese character has several on readings, reÀecting
different forms of underlying Chinese pronunciation. A given character
may also have more than one associated kun reading. Context and the
use or absence of accompanying kana (okurigana) are the pointers as
to which reading is appropriate in a given case.
In this book, the majority of the readings set out in the JK List as it
appeared in the Kanpǀ (Of¿cial Gazette) of 1 October 1981 have been
included, but some readings have been excluded, bearing in mind the
aim of this book, because they are archaic, obsolescent, or not common (e.g., nagomu [to soften] for ሆ). Also excluded from among the
formal readings listed in this book are the sort of common minor—or
relatively minor—variations in character readings which are found only
in certain environments in compounds. For instance, the character ߔ
has the on reading GAKU, which is truncated to GAK- in the compound
ߔ৫ gakkǀ [school, college], the kun reading ame [rain] of ۫ changes
to ama- as the ¿rst element in compounds such as ۫টamado [rainshutters], and the character ਗ Gƿ is read GAT- in the compound ਗ
๘ gatten [understanding, consent]. It was considered best for readers
of this book to learn such changes gradually as they progress.
In modern Japanese usage there are quite a number of characters
which lack either an on reading or a kun reading. For instance, nowadays
the character ດ [sugar] is employed only for its on reading Tƿ, while
the character པ [box] is used only for its kun reading hako.

2.3 Writing Characters
Firstly, the student should make every effort to practice so as to keep the
characters of uniform size in relation to one another. Thus, the 2-stroke
character ๹ katana should be written within the equal-sized imaginary

square or circle as the 15-stroke ሄ RON [argument, opinion], and by
the same token the element ঒ should be written larger when used as
an independent character (read GEN, GON, [speech, word]) than when
used as a radical / component in a more complex character such as ሄ
RON above.
Secondly, bear in mind that Chinese characters sometimes consist
of just a few strokes, sometimes many, but the characters are always
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INTRODUCTION

written according to a set stroke order. Listed below are some principles
that will be of assistance with regard to priority in the order of strokes.
1. Top to bottom:

2. Left to right:

Other rules are:
3. When two or more strokes cross, horizontal strokes usually precede
perpendicular ones:

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INTRODUCTION

4. Sometimes perpendicular strokes precede horizontal ones:

5. Center ¿rst, then left and right:

6. Perpendicular line running through center written last:

7. Right-to-left diagonal stroke precedes left-to-right:

viii

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INTRODUCTION

While the above may all seem rather complicated, the student might
¿nd solace in the fact that, as noted above, the writing system has been
simpli¿ed to a considerable extent compared with the past, and has
been mastered by many thousands of students having neither native
speaker competence in Japanese nor prior background knowledge of
the Chinese script.

2.4 Romanization

There are several different systems of representing Japanese using
the Roman alphabet. This book employs a slightly modi¿ed form of the
Hepburn system, this being a system which is widely used and which
is based on conventions associated with the spelling of English. The
minor modi¿cation involves using the letter n rather than m to represent the syllabic nasal ɭ when the latter occurs immediately before
the consonants m, b or p (thus, for instance, shinbun [newspaper], not
shimbun, and kenpǀ [constitution], not kempǀ). Other points to note are:
1. use of a macron to indicate vowel lengthening for o and u, e.g.,
gakkǀ [school], renshnj [practice];
2. use of a hyphen in cases where it is considered that this might facilitate understanding of boundaries between constituent elements
in a Japanese word, e.g., sara-arai [dishwashing], rather than
saraarai; and
3. use of the apostrophe ’ instead of a hyphen after a syllabic nasal ɭ,
such as tan’i [unit] (a word of three short syllables, which in kana
would be written ȹɭȞ) as opposed to tani [valley] (a word of
two short syllables, written ȹɅ! in kana).

2.5 Kana Signs and Combinations
The two main sections of this book are followed by a section setting
out individual symbols in the hiragana and katakana syllabaries, and
illustrations of stroke order for each of those symbols. Each of the
two syllabaries evolved and became established over a period of many
centuries, thereby becoming cemented as integral components in the
modern writing system.
Katakana, which are more angular in appearance than hiragana,
are today used ¿rst and foremost to represent loanwords of European
origin, e.g., ʩˋ pan [bread] and ʫĜ˃ biiru [beer]. Hiragana are
used widely and variously elsewhere to represent such elements as
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INTRODUCTION

grammatical particles, inÀectional endings of verbs, and frequently to
represent in writing words which would otherwise need to be written
with intricate or uncommon characters such as those for ǀmu [parrot]
(Ἴუ) or for the ken of sekken [soap] (ಒ).
For the convenience of users of this book, the ¿nal part consists
of an alphabetical index of readings for the 2,136 JK List characters.

3 Layout Details
The 1,006 most essential characters are set out in Section One in accordance with the MEXT’s division into six grades. These are in running
sequence, but note that the grade divisions are:
1–80 = Grade One
81–240 = Grade Two
241–440 = Grade Three
441–640 = Grade Four
641–825 = Grade Five
826–1,006 = Grade Six
Characters within each grade are set out in the traditional “50 sounds”
(gojnjon) order which is commonly used for reference-type works in
Japanese, except that the characters in Grade One alone are ordered on
the basis of semantic groupings. Each character is typically accompanied
by the on reading, then the kun reading and English meaning(s). The context is the best guide as to which reading is appropriate in a given case.
Also included for each of the 1,006 characters is information regarding the total number of strokes (the stroke count) and the set order to be
followed in writing individual strokes. In most cases, three examples of

character compounds are provided for each of these Essential characters.
Section Two, which presents the total 2,136 General-Use characters,
gives them with their on and/or kun readings, and English meanings, but
without illustrative compounds. In many cases, however, compounds
containing characters which are among the 1,130 “non-essential” characters may be found among the compounds given for each of the 1,006
characters in Section One. The order adopted for listing the corpus of
2,136 characters is that of stroke count (and, within a given stroke count,
by radical). So as to avoid undue repetition, each of the 1,006 Essential
characters appearing in Section Two is given with the corresponding
reference to Section One, to which the reader can refer for details. This
symbol Ÿ marks each of the 196 newest additions to the JK list.
With regard to the typographical conventions employed in giving
readings and meanings for characters, these are explained by means
of the example below.
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INTRODUCTION

ॽ KEN1; mi(ru)2, to see, look3
On reading in upper case.
Kun reading in lower case italics. Parentheses used to indicate
end-syllable(s) to be written in kana (thus, mi(ru), since this word
is conventionally written ॽɥ). ] Common reading is included
though it is not a kun reading.
3

English meaning(s) given in regular lower case.

1

2

Also note the use of a comma after a single on-reading to indicate
that it can be used as a stand-alone word, e.g., “ZA, seat...” (i.e., “za”
exists as a word meaning “seat”), as opposed to “U canopy...” (i.e., “u”
does not exist as an independent word).

4 Final Notes
This guide is an ideal way to begin a serious study of the Japanese
writing system. Other textbooks should be consulted for studies in
vocabulary, grammar and culture. A number of textbooks and reference
works are available from Tuttle Publishing.
With each revision this guide continues to provide a useful and
comprehensive approach to an ever-growing circle of readers and lifelong learners. There are many specialists of Japanese who began their
study of Japanese with the ¿rst version of this guide and fondly keep
that original volume, with its familiar orange and black book jacket,
on their shelves. My own well-worn copy reminds me of my very ¿rst
sensei and the joy that learning and now teaching of Japanese brings.

5 Select Bibliography of Main Works Consulted for This
Edition
Note: All the books in Japanese listed below have been published in
Tokyo.
Haig, J.H. et al. (ed.), The New Nelson Japanese-English Character
Dictionary. Charles E. Tuttle, Tokyo, 1997.
Henshall, Kenneth G., A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters.

Charles E. Tuttle, Tokyo, 1988.
Maeda, Tomiyoshi. Jǀyǀ kanji saishin handobukku : nisenjnjnen kaitei
taiǀ. Tǀkyǀ : Meijishoin, 2011.
xi

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sanseidǀ henshnjjo (ed.). Atarashii kokugo hyǀki handobukku. Tokyo:
Sanseidǀ, 2011.
College Board AP Japanese Language and Culture.
/>html
Dictionary.goo.ne.jp. />Jim Breen’s WWWJDIC. />wwwjdic.cgi?1C
Jisho.org. />Kanjijiten.net. />Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
/>
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to Professor Janet Ikeda for her careful review of the
previous edition’s text, and her updates and improvements to allow this
book to continue as a core reference for today’s learners.
The editors of this revised edition respectfully acknowledge the work
of the earlier editions carried out by Florence Sakade and her editorial
team, work which has been of assistance to generations of students.
Grateful acknowledgment is also due to Calvert Barksdale, Nancy
Goh, Tan Cheng Har, Flavia Hodges, Tan Mike Tze, Nathan Burrows,
Neil Chandler, Bruce Penno, Paul Eagle, Shozo Tsuji, Yasuko Tsuji,
and Kazuko Seeley.

xii

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The 1,006
ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS


‫ێ‬

ICHI, ITSU, hito-, hito(tsu), one
୍᭶
୍␒
୍෉

ichigatsu, January
ichiban, ¿rst, best
issatsu, one (book,
magazine)

1
1 stroke

໩

= AP

٬ = JLPT

Guide R & W Jpn_001-202.indd 1









SAN, mi-, mit(tsu), three
୕᭶
୕ே
୕᪥

sangatsu, March
sannin, three people
mikka, three days, the
third day

SHI, yon, yo-, yot(tsu), yo(tsu), four
ᅄ᭶
ᅄ᪥
ᅄ༑

4
5 strokes





஧᭶ nigatsu, February
஧࠿᭶ nikagetsu, two months
஧ᅇ nikai, twice

3
3 strokes

હ


NI, futa(tsu), two

2
2 strokes

જ



shigatsu, April
yokka, four days, the
fourth day
shijnj, yonjnj, forty





1

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5–9 • ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS

র

GO, itsu(tsu), ¿ve
஬᭶
஬ே
஬༑

gogatsu, May
gonin, ¿ve people
gojnj, ¿fty

5
4 strokes

ᇿ









ROKU, mut(tsu), mu(tsu), six
භ᭶ rokugatsu, June
භ࠿᭶ rokkagetsu, six months
භ༑ rokujnj, sixty

6
4 strokes

SHICHI, nana(tsu), nana, seven
୐᭶ shichigatsu, July
୐࠿᭶ nanakagetsu, seven months
୐༑ shichijnj, nanajnj, seventy
7
2 strokes

ཞ


HACHI, yat(tsu), ya(tsu), eight

ඵ᭶ hachigatsu, August
ඵ࠿᭶ hachikagetsu, eight months
ඵ༑ hachijnj, eighty

8
2 strokes

ࣻ











KYNj, KU, kokono(tsu), nine
஑᭶
஑༑
஑᫬

9
2 strokes

kugatsu, September
kujnj, kynjjnj, ninety
kuji, nine o’clock

2

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ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS • 10–14

୥

JNj, tǀ, ten
༑᭶
༑᪥
༑ᅇ

jnjgatsu, October
tǀka, ten days, the tenth day
jikkai, ten times

10
2 strokes

࿄


HYAKU, hundred

஧ⓒ nihyaku, two hundred
୕ⓒ sanbyaku, three hundred
ⓒ㈌ᗑ hyakkaten, department store

11
6 strokes

ಫ

༓෇
୕༓
஬༓

14
4 strokes







sen’en, a thousand yen
sanzen, three thousand
gosen, ¿ve thousand

NICHI, JITSU; hi, day, sun; ~ka,
suf¿x for counting days
᪥᭙᪥ nichiyǀbi, Sunday
᫖᪥ sakujitsu, yesterday
ᮅ᪥ asahi, morning sun

13
4 strokes

ॢ


SEN, chi, thousand

12
3 strokes

໲







GETSU, GATSU; tsuki, month,
moon
᭶᭙᪥ getsuyǀbi, Monday
᮶᭶ raigetsu, next month
୕᪥᭶ mikazuki, new moon





3

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15–19 • ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS

‫ݮ‬

KA; hi, ¿re
ⅆ᭙᪥ kayǀbi, Tuesday
ⅆࡤࡕ hibachi, charcoal brazier
ⅆ஦ kaji, ¿re, conÀagration

15
4 strokes

౉


SUI; mizu, water
኱Ỉ
Ỉຊ
Ỉර

ǀ-mizu, Àood, inundation
suiryoku, water power
suihei, sailor

16
4 strokes

ᄄ


ᮌ᭙᪥ mokuyǀbi, Thursday
ᮦᮌ zaimoku, lumber
ᮌ〇 mokusei, made of wood





KIN, gold; KON gold; kane, money
㔠᭙᪥ kin’yǀbi, Friday
࠾㔠 o-kane, money
㔠㨶 kingyo, gold¿sh

18
8 strokes

๲



BOKU, MOKU; ki, tree, wood

17
4 strokes

ࣸ







DO, TO; tsuchi, earth, soil
ᅵ᭙᪥ doyǀbi, Saturday
ᅵᆅ tochi, ground, plot of land
ᅵே dojin, native

19
3 strokes





4

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ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS • 20–24

༃

NEN; toshi, year
භᖺ⏕ rokunensei, sixth-grade
pupil

ᖺᐤࡾ toshiyori, old person
㟷ᖺ seinen, youth

20
6 strokes

੆


SA; hidari, left
ᕥὴ
ᕥഃ
ᕥᡭ

saha, leftist (political),
left wing
sasoku, hidarigawa, left side
hidarite, left hand

21
5 strokes

‫ۦ‬



23
3 strokes

‫ݚ‬

24
3 strokes



U, YNj; migi, right
ᕥྑ
ྑὴ
ྑഃ

22
5 strokes

௫



saynj, left and right
uha, right wing (political)
usoku, migigawa, right side





Jƿ; ue, top, above, on; kami, upper;
nobo(ru), to go up, to go toward
Tǀkyǀ; a(geru), to raise; a(garu), to
rise
ୖὶ

ᾏୖ
ᕝୖ

jǀrynj, upstream, upper class
kaijǀ, on the sea, maritime
kawakami, upstream  

KA, GE; shita, bottom, under, beneath;
moto, base; shimo, lower; kuda(ru), to go
down, to go away from Tǀkyǀ; sa(geru),
to hang (v.t.), to lower; sa(garu), to hang
down; kuda(saru), to bestow
ᕝୗ
kawashimo, downstream
ୗရ
gehin, vulgar, coarse
ᆅୗ㕲 chikatetsu, subway
 

5

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25–29 • ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS

൥

DAI, TAI; ǀ(kii), big, large, great
኱Ꮫ daigaku, university, college
኱ኚ taihen, tremendous, serious
኱ᗈ㛫 ǀ-hiroma, grand hall

25
3 strokes

ෂ
26
4 strokes

ழ


CHNj; naka, middle, within, inside;
JNj, throughout
୰Ꮫᰯ chnjgakkǀ, middle school
୰ᚰ chnjshin, center, heart (of a
city, etc.)
㞟୰ shnjchnj, concentration


ᑠᏛᰯ shǀgakkǀ, primary school
ᑠᒇ koya, hut
ᑠㄝ shǀsetsu, novel (¿ction)



29

5 strokes



NYNj; iri, entering, attendance;
i(reru), to put in; hai(ru), to enter
ධᏛ
㍺ධ
ධཱྀ

28
2 strokes

୸



SHƿ; ko, o-, chii(sai), small, minor

27
3 strokes

໴



nynjgaku, entering school
yunynj, importation
iriguchi, entrance





SHUTSU, SUI; de(ru), to come out,
to go out; da(su), to put out, to take
out, to bring out, to draw out
ฟⓎ
ฟ∧
ฟཱྀ

shuppatsu, setting out,
departure, starting
shuppan, publishing
deguchi, exit
 

6

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ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS • 30–34

ᄆ

MOKU, BOKU; me, eye; also used
as an ordinal suf¿x

ᶓ┠
┠ⓗ
┠ᶆ

yokome, side glance
mokuteki, purpose
mokuhyǀ, mark, target

30
5 strokes

ॽ
31
7 strokes

૴
32
6 strokes

‫ݙ‬


KEN; mi(ru), to see, to look;
mi(eru), to be visible, to be able to
see; mi(seru), to show, to display
ぢ஦
ぢ≀
ぢᮏ

migoto, splendid

kenbutsu, sightseeing
mihon, sample





JI; mimi, ear
hayamimi, keen of
hearing
⪥㬆ࡾ miminari, ringing in the
ears
⪥ࡀ㐲࠸ mimi ga tǀi, deaf
᪩⪥



ON, IN; ne, oto, sound
㡢ᴦ
Ⓨ㡢
ẕ㡢

ongaku, music
hatsuon, pronunciation
boin, vowel

33
9 strokes

৏











Kƿ, KU; kuchi, mouth
ཱྀࡦࡆ kuchihige, mustache
ධཱྀ iriguchi, entrance
ཱྀㄽ kǀron, dispute

34
3 strokes

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35–39 • ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS

SHU; te, hand

଴

ᥱᡭ
ᡭ⿄
ᡭ⣬

akushu, handshake
tebukuro, gloves
tegami, letter

35
4 strokes







SOKU; ashi, foot, leg; ta(riru),
to be suf¿cient; ta(su), to add,
to supplement

ഫ

㊊㊧
‶㊊
୙㊊

36

7 strokes

ashi-ato, footprint
manzoku, satisfaction
fusoku, insuf¿ciency

RITSU, RYNj; ta(tsu), (v.i.),
to stand; ta(teru) (v.t.), to erect,
to set up

ᆏ

⊂❧ dokuritsu, independence
ᙺ❧ࡘ yakudatsu, useful
❧ሙ tachiba, standpoint

37
5 strokes





RYOKU, RIKI; chikara, strength,
power

ᆵ

ຊᣢ
༠ຊ

ດຊ

38
2 strokes

ఱ



ఱ

chikaramochi, strong
person
kyǀryoku, co-operation
doryoku, endeavor









JIN, NIN; hito, person
ே㢮
ே㛫
ேཱྀ

39

2 strokes

jinrui, human race
ningen, human being
jinkǀ, population

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ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS • 40–44

ા

SHI, SU; ko, child
Ꮚ࡝ࡶ kodomo, child, children
ཎᏊ genshi, atom
ᵝᏊ yǀsu, the state of things,
appearance

40
3 strokes

ட

ዪ୰
ᑡዪ

ዪ⋤

44
5 strokes











DAN, NAN; otoko, man, male
⏨ᛶ
⏨Ꮚ
㛗⏨

dansei, male sex, male
danshi, male, boy
chǀnan, eldest son

SEN; saki, previous, ahead
ඛ⏕ sensei, teacher
ඛ᪥ senjitsu, the other day
⾜ࡁඛ yukisaki, destination

43

6 strokes

౺



jochnj, maid
shǀjo, maiden
joǀ, queen

42
7 strokes

ಪ



JO, NYO; me, female; onna,
woman, girl

41
3 strokes

ට



SEI, SHƿ birth, life; u(mareru), to
be born; u(mu), to give birth; i(kiru),
to live; ki, pure, genuine; nama, raw;

ha(eru), to grow, to spring up

୍⏕ isshǀ, one‫ތ‬s (whole) life
⏕ά seikatsu, livelihood
኱Ꮫ⏕ daigakusei, college student





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45–49 • ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS

ߔ

GAKU, learning, science; mana(bu),
to learn
Ꮫᰯ
་Ꮫ
⛉Ꮫ

gakkǀ, school
igaku, medicine
kagaku, science

45
8 strokes

৫



Kƿ school; to correct, to investigate,
to compare, to think
ᰯṇ
ᰯ⯋
ᰯ཭

kǀsei, proofreading
kǀsha, school building
kǀynj, alumnus

46
10 strokes

݄


⋤ᵝ
⋤Ꮚ
⋤ᅜ

ǀsama, king
ǀji, prince

ǀkoku, kingdom, monarchy



GYOKU; tama, jewel, round object
Ỉ⋢
┠⋢

mizutama, drop of water
medama, eyeball

48
5 strokes

ީ



ƿ, king

47
4 strokes

࣢





kai, sea shell

㈅Ẇ kaigara, shell
㈅ᣠ࠸ kaihiroi, shell gathering
┿⌔㈅ shinjugai, pearl oyster

49
7 strokes



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ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS • 50–54

‫ܟ‬
50
4 strokes

ಘ
51
7 strokes

ಆ

EN, circle, yen (Japanese monetary
unit); maru(i), round

enman, perfection,
satisfaction
༓෇ᮐ senҲensatsu, thousand-yen
bill
෇┙ enban, disc
 
෇‶

SEKI, SHAKU; aka, aka(i), red;
aka(rameru) (v.t.), to color up, to add
blush; aka(ramu), to turn red, to blush

㉥ࡕࡷࢇ akachan, baby, infant
㉥༑Ꮠ sekijnjji, Red Cross
㉥㖡
shakudǀ, alloy of
copper and gold
 
SEI, SHƿ; ao, ao(i), blue, green,
inexperienced
㟷ᖺ seinen, youth
㟷ⓑ࠸ aojiroi, pale
㟷✵ aozora, blue sky

52
8 strokes

ཆ



HAKU, BYAKU; shiro, shiro(i),
white
ⓑே
ⓑ≧
ⓑ㫽

hakujin, Caucasian
hakujǀ, confession
hakuchǀ, swan

53
5 strokes

ᅄ







SEKI; ynj, evening
ኤ᪉
ኤ㣤
ኤ㢼

54
3 strokes

ynjgata, evening

ynjhan, supper
ynjkaze, evening breeze





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55–59 • ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS

MEI, MYƿ name, fame; na, name

შ

ྡࡲ࠼ namae, name
᭷ྡ ynjmei, famous, well-known
ྡே meijin, an expert

55
6 strokes


Sƿ; haya, haya(i), early, fast

ഁ

᪩ཱྀ haya-guchi, quick speaking
᪩᫓ sǀshun, early spring
ᡭ᪩࠸ tebayai, quick, nimble

56
6 strokes





Sƿ; kusa, grass, vegetation

ഐ

kusahara (kusawara),
grassy plain
ⲡ᱌ sǀan, draft (of a manuscript)
ⲡྲྀࡾ kusatori, weeding
ⲡཎ

57
9 strokes



SAN; yama, mountain

ટ

ᒣ㐨
ᒣ⬦
Ⓩᒣ

sandǀ, yamamichi,
mountain path
sanmyaku, mountain range
tozan, mountain climbing

58
3 strokes

ರ





ರ



SEN; kawa, river
㇂ᕝ tanigawa, mountain stream
ᕝࡤࡓ kawabata, riverside
ᕝཱྀ kawaguchi, mouth of a river

59

3 strokes





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