4. Kanji 漢字

We can describe everything by ひらがな(Hiragana) and カタカナ(Katakana) in Japanese.
Each Hiragana and Katakana character has one pronunciation.
Some words has same pronunciation but different meaning.
For example “はし(Hashi)” in Japanese has 2 meaning.
One meaning is “bridge” and another meaning is “chop sticks”.
When we speak them, the intonation is different.
But when we writhe by Hiragana, they are same, “はし(Hashi)”.

In that case 漢字(Kanji) is convenient.
“はし(Hashi)” meaning “bridge” is “橋”.
“はし(Hashi)” meaning “chop sticks” is “箸”.
Kanji can indicate a specific word.

Contents

1. What is Kanji?
2. Structure of Kanji

1. What is Kanji?

“漢字(Kanji)” characters originally came from China.

But Chinese Kanji and Japanese Kanji are different right now.

Chinese Kanji has simplified forms and traditional forms.

Japanese Kanji is similar with the traditional forms of Chinese.

Each Hiragana and Katakana indicates only one pronunciation.

But a Kanji character has some pronunciations and it indicates meaning.

For example “一” means one as number.

The pronunciation of “一” is “ichi(いち)”

And the pronunciation of “一つ” is “hitotsu(ひとつ)” that means one piece.

And the pronunciation of “一こ” is “ikko(いっこ）” that means also one piece.

“一” has 5 pronunciations, “ichi(いち)”, “itsu(いつ)” and “hito(ひと)”.

Kanji is one of the difficulties for Japanese learners.

How many Kanji do you need?

There is one guide line.

Japanese government has a guide line “Jyouyou Kanji(常用漢字)”

This guide line is the Kanji list to use in public document, newspaper, magazine and TV programs.

There are 2136 characters and that 4388 pronunciations in the list.

You can find the list here.

We memorize about 1000 characters in Japanese elementary school.

The list is here.

2. Structure of Kanji

To learn the structure of Kanji helps your understanding.

Some Kanji has radical of Kanji character.

For example 艹 is called “Kusa Kanmuri(くさかんむり)”

Kanji with this radical is related with plant.

The below is a Kanji list with “くさかんむり “.

Kanji	Hiragana	Pronunciation	Meaning
草	くさ	Kusa	grass
花	はな	Hana	flower
葉	は	Ha	leaf
芋	いも	Imo	potato
芽	め	Me	bud

Another example of radical is 雨 “Ame Kanmuri(あめかんむり)”
Kanji with this radical is related with rain.
The below is some examples with “あめかんむり”

Kanji	Hiragana	Pronunciation	Meaning
雨	あめ	Ame	rain
雲	くも	Kumo	cloud
雪	ゆき	Yuki	snow
霧	きり	Kiri	fog
雷	かみなり	Kaminari	thunder

When you know the radical of Kanji, you can guess the Kanji meaning.

Some Kanji characters have parts that indicate the pronunciations.

Each Kanji has different meanings but has same pronunciation.

When you find that part, you can guess the Kanji pronunciation.
Sometimes that pronunciation can be a cue to know the meaning.
I will show you 2 list s for examples.