Your kanji journey starts here
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.
A short writing-system history
Japan had a spoken language before it had a widely used native writing system. Chinese characters reached Japan through centuries of contact with the Asian mainland. Writers first used Classical Chinese, then adapted characters to record Japanese words and sounds.
One early method, now called man’yōgana, used kanji for their pronunciation rather than their meaning. It appears prominently in the eighth-century poetry collection Man’yōshū. This sound-based use became the foundation for both kana systems.
During the early Heian period, cursive handwritten forms of kanji used for sound became increasingly simplified. These rounded forms developed into hiragana, which became especially important for Japanese grammar and literature.
Scholars developed abbreviated marks from parts of kanji to annotate texts and indicate Japanese readings. Those angular shorthand forms developed into katakana, which later gained its modern roles for foreign words, scientific names, sound effects, and emphasis.
Today, kanji usually carry core meaning, hiragana handles many grammatical endings and native words, and katakana marks many borrowed or highlighted terms. They are complementary tools within one writing system—not three competing alphabets.
Build a strong foundation
Learn the standard Jōyō kanji used in everyday Japanese or study by estimated JLPT level.
Yes. Two common ways to organise kanji study are the official Jōyō list and the proficiency levels associated with the JLPT.
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.
The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test 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.
Looking for a word, compound, or something beyond these foundations?
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
Kanji library
Jōyō kanji are the 2,136 characters designated for common use in Japanese public life and taught across Japanese primary and secondary school.
Words built from kanji
Search every word in the local database by spelling, kana reading, rōmaji, English meaning, or radical.
Dictionary radical finder
Complete local word database
Length filters count the kanji in a spelling; kana and okurigana do not add to that count.
Practice dojo
Kenta remembers your progress, reviews difficult kanji with you, and helps you work toward your next belt.
Kenta's belt dojo
1 · Choose a curriculum
Do you dare take the advanced kanji quiz?
This challenge is only for people with the greatest skill in reading kanji. Enter if you are ready to prove your mastery.
2 · Choose a challenge
3 · Choose your round length
Study before the quiz
Select a kanji to open its readings, meanings, radicals, and example words.
Complete-selection challenge
Finish an “All kanji” quiz to enter this local leaderboard.
Round complete
Brush practice
Trace the faint guide or hide it and draw from memory. Kenta keeps count while you practice.
day · sun
This practice pad counts your pen strokes; it does not yet judge exact stroke order or handwriting shape.
Follow the growing radicals
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.
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.
Kenta's Kanji Corner
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 is common for grammar and native words; katakana is common for loanwords, emphasis, and many names. Each pair below represents the same sound.
Japanese titles are ordered by their recorded pronunciation in the gojūon sequence—not by the shape, stroke count, or Unicode position of their kanji. Write a kana sorting form for every title before comparing them.
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.
For comparison, treat katakana as its hiragana equivalent: カ → か and ゲ → げ. Ignore spaces and ordinary punctuation unless your collection needs a special house rule.
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.
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
For a personal shelf: write each title in hiragana on a temporary label, normalize the special marks using the rules above, and sort those labels from あ to ん. Large catalogues use formal collation standards and may differ in their final tie-break rules, so retain an institution's supplied reading when matching its catalogue.
This ranking follows the frequency field in the local KANJIDIC2-derived dataset. Unranked characters come after ranked ones.