Before kanji
Before Chinese characters arrived in Japan, only simple pictograms have been found on ancient artifacts from the early Yayoi period(300BCE-300CE).
Meet Kenta.
Your guide to kanji.
こんにちは！ I’m Kenta. I know many people who sees kanji for the first time get intimidated by its unfamiliar structure compared to the latin alphabet, but you never have to learn alone. We’ll discover their radicals, practise their readings, and build your confidence one character at a time.
If you want to learn more about the history of kanji, you can read about it on this page. If you’re completely new to kanji, please go to the Basics section. Otherwise, feel free to explore the rest of the site.
Reading is one part of learning Japanese
This website is made specifically to help you learn to read Japanese, but reading is only one part of the language. To become fluent, combine what you learn here with regular speaking and listening practice. When practising writing, use pen and paper so you can develop the muscle memory needed to form each character by hand.
Try joining online communities for Japanese learners, and look for Japanese speakers online or in your local area who you can practise with. Using the language with other people will help bring everything you learn here to life.
How kanji, hiragana, and katakana came together
Adoption of Chinese characters
Through extensive trade with China, many new ideas and inventions were passed on to Japan. The Japanese were eager to adopt the writing system but made modifications to suit their own spoken language.
Hiragana grew from flowing forms
During the early Heian period(794-1185), a phonetic cursive handwriting called grass kana were used to easier memorize the Chinese characters since the characters only convey meaning and not how it is supposed to be said. This form of writing evolved into hiragana.
Hiragana for women
Hiragana become known as 女手(woman's hand) or woman's writing because women had been discouraged or barred from learning kanji. Japan's arguably most famous book 源氏物語(The tale of Genji) by 紫式部(Murasaki Shikibu) is written almost entirely in hiragana.
katakana takes its place
Katakana's symbols are made from kanji but have taken on a more angular shape and is like hiragana phonetic. Katakana means part of kanji and were developed by Buddhist monks to show correct pronunciation of Chinese texts. It is now used in modern Japanese as a way to show foreign or technical words in a sentence. There were also many people from the Meiji period until world war 2 whos names were written in katakana, particularly women in lower class families. Many Japanese people also had nicknames in katakana so dont be suprised if you read a historic text were a native Japanese have a katakana name.
Three written languages together
Today kanji, hiragana, and katakana work together to form the Japanese writing system. Kanji is used to convey the central meaning and hiragana to help with grammar and also formany native Japanese words. Katakana is now used for mainly foreign words, technicals terms and names of foreign born Japanese citizens.
Kanji ever evolving
before 1900 there was about 7000 kanji that were in "normal use". In 1923 the first step to limit the number of kanjis were made. The ministry of education formed a list of 1134 kanji that all Japanese should be able to understand and write with an addition of 1320 kanji that everyone should understand but not necessarily be able to write. After the war another restructuring occurred in 1946 and a new list comprised of 1850 characters was made which were to be the standard taught in schools. In 1981 it was revised to 1945 characters. Then in 2010 it was revised again and now consists of 2136 characters which are all included on this site.
If you want to learn more, please visit these sites.
Encyclopaedia Britannica: Japanese writing system
Kyohaku: Japanese Kanji Dictionary
Omniglot: Japanese Katakana
Meihoku Training: Japanese Writing System
Why Elderly Japanese Women Have Names in Katakana
How to get started with kanji
Begin by learning hiragana and katakana. They teach you the sounds of Japanese and help you read kanji pronunciations. Once you are comfortable with both, continue down this page to learn about radicals, find characters, and choose a level that suits you.
Start with hiragana and katakana
Open
These two phonetic scripts are the foundation for reading Japanese. Each character below is paired with its pronunciation in rōmaji.
Hiragana ひらがな
Used for grammar, word endings, and many native Japanese words.
Katakana カタカナ
Used mainly for foreign words, names, sound effects, and emphasis.
Different tests and levels for kanji proficiency
After learning the kana, you can use these three systems to organise your kanji studies and measure your progress: the official Jōyō list, the proficiency levels associated with the JLPT, and the graded progression used by the Kanji Kentei.
Jōyō kanji
The Jōyō list contains 2,136 characters designated by the Japanese government for common use. Japanese schools teach them gradually across primary and secondary education.
JLPT kanji
The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) measures Japanese proficiency among non-native speakers, including their ability to understand kanji. It has five levels, from beginner N5 to advanced N1. Because the test does not publish official kanji lists, these groups are widely used community estimates.
Kanji Kentei (漢検)
Kanji Kentei has 12 grades, progressing from 80 beginner kanji at Grade 10 to roughly 6,000 at Grade 1. In Japan, people take the test to support their school studies, strengthen some school or job applications, and formally demonstrate their kanji proficiency. How a result is used depends on the school or employer. Kenta follows these proficiency ranges as an independent practice aid, not an official exam.
What is a radical?
A radical is a recognisable component inside a kanji. It can suggest part of the character’s meaning or provide a useful visual clue. If you recognise a shape but do not know the complete kanji, select it—or combine several radicals—to narrow the library to matching characters.
Radical finder
Which radicals can you see?
Kanji library
Choose a collection
Jōyō kanji are the 2,136 characters designated for common use in Japanese public life and taught across Japanese primary and secondary school.
Kana practice
Read kana with confidence.
Practice complete hiragana or katakana words and choose their rōmaji pronunciations.
Test your kana with words
Choose a script and a test length to begin.
1 · Choose a script
2 · Choose your test length
Kanji dictionary
Search every word in the local database by spelling, kana reading, rōmaji, English meaning, or radical.
Dictionary radical finder
Which radicals should the words’ kanji contain?
Complete local word database
Kanji, kana, and mixed words
Length filters count the kanji in a spelling; kana and okurigana do not add to that count.
Practice dojo
Train with Kenta.
Practice kanji with kenta, but remember most kanjis have multiple readings and meanings. This quiz part can only show one at a time so when you are able to identify a character look at the flashcards to see the other meanings for the word.
Kenta's belt dojo
Your mastery journey
1 · Choose a curriculum
Jōyō means everyday-use kanji: this course follows the kanji taught across Japanese primary and secondary school, arranged here as school Grades 1–9.
Independent practice aid: elementary levels follow Japanese school-grade coverage and Grade 2 covers all Jōyō kanji. Upper pools use frequency-ranked approximations to the published proficiency totals; this is not an official 漢検 exam simulator or affiliated with the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation.
2 · Choose a challenge
3 · Choose your round length
0 saved mistakesKenta remembers missed questions on this device.
Study before the quiz
Review meanings
Select a kanji to open its readings, meanings, radicals, and example words.
Knockout rankings
Top 10
Start an “All kanji” knockout quiz to enter the leaderboard.
Choose how often this kanji should appear.
Round complete
JLPT N5 grammar practice
Build your grammar foundation.
Practice beginner particles, then learn past, ongoing, and future verb usage.
A note about practice: There is a limited number of grammar exercises, so you may soon remember many of the answers. Each time you answer, pause and remind yourself why it is correct. If you can consistently explain the reason, you will be well on your way to understanding Japanese texts.
1 · Choose an exercise
2 · Choose the number of questions
3 · Begin your grammar test
JLPT N5
Essential particles
10 questions covering essential particles in context.
This course uses easy N5 sentences. Japanese uses the same non-past form for present habits and future actions. Choose one answer for each blank to see why it is correct.
Which particle completes the sentence?
Test complete
Active recall
Write what you know.
No answer choices and no guessing. Type every meaning or reading yourself, then let Kenta check it.
1 · Choose your material
2 · Choose your answer language
3 · Choose what you will write
4 · Choose your round length
Writing round complete
Brush practice
Learn each kanji
one stroke at a time.
Trace the faint guide or hide it and draw from memory. Kenta keeps count while you practice.
日
day · sun
4strokes needed
Keyboard drawing: focus the canvas, use the arrow keys to position the cursor, and press Space to start or finish each stroke. Hold Shift for smaller movements.
0 of 4 practice strokes
Follow the growing radicals
Grow a kanji
one branch at a time.
Search all 6,359 kanji, then follow characters that contain the selected form as a component. Explore direct branches in manageable groups, including advanced kanji.
Try:
A component map, not an origin story: the tree recognizes both directly listed components and larger shapes reconstructed from the same smaller radicals. For example, it can connect 共 (together) to 供 (submit/offer), even when the source data lists 共 only through its inner shapes.
Words from this branch
Real dictionary examples show how the selected kanji behaves inside words.
Your own card collection
Private Study
After answering a quiz question, save that kanji, ask Kenta to show it more often, or choose not to see it in future study sessions.
Saved for this learner on this device
Your kanji cards
Choices from your quiz answers
What Kenta should show you
Show more
Kanji selected for extra practice.
Show less
Kanji you asked not to see again.
Kenta's Kanji Corner
Interesting and useful,
according to Kenta.
This is where Kenta collects the details he finds most interesting and useful: kana references, practical ways to organise Japanese titles, and frequently used kanji worth recognising.
Hiragana & katakana chartsOpen
Hiragana is common for grammar and native words; katakana is common for loanwords, emphasis, and many names. Each pair below represents the same sound.
HiraganaKatakanaRomaji
Voiced and semi-voiced sounds
Combination sounds (yōon)
How to alphabetise Japanese booksOpen
Japanese books are alphabetised by the recorded pronunciation of their titles in the gojūon sequence—not by the shape, stroke count, or Unicode position of their kanji. Write a kana sorting form for every book title before comparing them.
Write the official reading
Copy the title's furigana, publisher reading, or catalogue reading. Convert a kanji title such as 雨 to あめ. A kanji has several possible readings, so its printed shape alone cannot determine its place.
Normalize the script
For comparison, treat katakana as its hiragana equivalent: カ → か and ゲ → げ. Ignore spaces and ordinary punctuation unless your bookshelf needs a special house rule.
Compare one mora at a time
Start with the first kana. If two titles match, compare their second kana, then their third, continuing until they differ. A shorter reading comes first when every sound up to its end is identical.
Basic gojūon order
あ い う え お
か き く け こ
さ し す せ そ
た ち つ て と
な に ぬ ね の
は ひ ふ へ ほ
ま み む め も
や ゆ よ
ら り る れ ろ
わ を ん
Marks and smaller kana
- ゛ Voiced mark
- Keep it with its base row and place the plain sound before the voiced sound: か before が; は before ば.
- ゜ Semi-voiced mark
- In the は row, use the practical order は, ば, ぱ (and likewise ひ, び, ぴ).
- Small ぁ・っ・ゃ
- Compare them at the position of their full-size counterpart first. If two readings otherwise match, use small versus full size as a tie-breaker.
- ー Long-vowel mark
- Read it as the vowel prolonged by the previous katakana. For a hand-sorted shelf, write that vowel into your sorting form before comparing titles.
- 々・ゝ・ヽ Repetition
- Expand the repeated kanji or kana to its spoken reading in your sorting form rather than sorting by the repetition mark itself.
Let Kenta help you sort your books
Enter hiragana or katakana readings separated by commas.
Most common kanji wordsOpen
This list shows the 5000 most common kanjis.