About Kanji Characters

Written Japanese uses a mixture of several types of symbols. Kanji characters are pictographic and
ideographic symbols adopted from the Chinese language. Kanji are used mainly for substantives,
verbs, and adjectives. Kana are phonetic symbols developed in Japan from simplified Chinese
ideographs.
The Kana are of two forms: Hiragana are used for the writing of all native words not written in kanji,
and are also used to add inflectional endings (okurigana) to kanji symbols. Katakana are used for
words of foreign origin, and can be said to have somewhat the same use that italic characters have
in English. In principle, it would seem quite possible to write exclusively with kana phonetic
characters. In practice, however, kanji are vital to written communications due to the many words in
the Japanese language which, although pronounced alike, are different in meaning, and which are
distinguished in writing by the use of different kanji.
Traditional Japanese writing once made use of many thousands of different kanji. In recent years,
however, the Japanese Ministry of Education has worked to simplify the writing system, and has
recommended a basic list of 1,945 "Characters for Daily Use." Japanese newspapers generally limit
themselves to these basic kanji. A typical adult will be familiar with about 3,000 kanji.
The full registered version of WRITE KANJI v.2 teaches the writing and meanings of 300 of the most
important kanji, which by frequency comprise nearly half of the kanji encountered in typical written
materials. This demo version presents 75 characters.
An independent, purely Japanese system of writing has never existed. Kanji characters originated
from Chinese writing signs, and most signs have a variety of native Japanese pronunciations as well
as modifications of past Chinese pronunciations, depending on the meaning intended. A roughly
equivalent situation in English are the etymologically related readings given the word "minute,"
which if read with one pronunciation means "a tiny part (1/60) of an hour" but if read with another
pronunciation means "tiny." Readings from the Chinese are known as "on-yomi," while the native
Japanese readings of kanji characters are known as "kun-yomi."
Learning to write kanji characters is much aided by paying careful attention to the precise order in
which the strokes are written. The Ministry of Education has published an elaborate set of rules
guiding stroke order. The most important of these rules are:

Top before bottom

Left before right

Horizontal lines before a line

crossing them:
(exceptions exist)

A left-slanting line before an

intersecting right-slanting line:

Central part before symmetrical

wings:
Outside before inside. The
bottom
stroke of a four-sided enclosure
is

not written until the internal

strokes
are completed.
Many other rules exist which cover virtually all cases. To avoid confusing the beginner, we have not
attempted to present the complete Ministry of Education stroke-order rules. Rather, we feel that the
most effective way to learn the rules is to learn by doing. It is for this reason that we developed this
program.
More than thirty different types of strokes are recognized in kanji characters, of which six are
generally considered as basic:

Compound strokes are made using various combinations of the six basic strokes, often modified with
a hook:

In printed script (which is the writing style presented in this program), the angles between the basic
strokes making up a compound stroke should be clear and distinct. Until you become experienced, it
is recommended that you briefly pause between each sub-stroke of a compound stroke. This
program checks for distinct angles in your compound strokes at positions such as are indicated by
the red arrows.
If your angles are indistinct, this program will not recognize your strokes.
The following example explains the typographical arrangements used in giving the readings and
definitions of the characters:

SHUTSU, [SUI] - born of; appearing from;

going out
da(su) - take out; send; de(ru), go/come out
In the above:
"SHUTSU" is the major on-yomi reading.
"[SUI]" is a minor on-yomi reading.
"da" is a kun-yomi reading of the character.
"(su)" is an okurigana suffix to be written in kana.
"take out; send" are English translations of dasu.
"de" is an alternate kun reading of the character.
"go/come out" are English translations of deru.
The order of presentation of characters in this program, the majority of definitions, and most of the
usage examples are adapted from KANJI AND KANA, by W. Hadamitzky and M. Spahn. (1981, Charles
E. Tuttle). This is an excellent textbook for the study of Kanji and Kana characters, and we highly
recommend its purchase.
Additional definitions and examples were derived from THE MODERN READER'S JAPANESE-ENGLISH

CHARACTER DICTIONARY, 2nd Edition, by Andrew Nelson (1962, Charles E. Tuttle).

KODANSHA'S COMPACT KANJI GUIDE (1991, Kodansha Int'l) was also found to be of considerable
utility. Beginners may find this dictionary to be somewhat difficult to use because it does not use
romaji; on the other hand, this feature should be considered an advantage since it forces the student
to learn kana!

Ref: http://tomyee3.home.comcast.net/WriteKanji.htm
Let's write KANJI Kanji-o kakoo

What is Kanji?
Very basic pictographic letters
animated five kanji
Other basic kanji
Signs written in kanji

Chinese characters kanji were imported from China over1,500 years ago and
develoved and changed in Japan. They are neither syllabic letters like the kana nor a
way of spelling words like the alphabet. Each kanji has its own particular meaning.
Oldest kanjis are pictographic characters.
Japanese sentence is written with a mixture of kanjis and kanas. To read a newspaper,
one must know about 1,950 commonly used kanjis, hiragana, katakana. They are
taught in elementary school and junior high school, along with the English alphabet.

Vertically written sentences (conventional style) should be read

from top to bottom and from the right to the left line.
Horizontally written sentences should be read from left to right as
well as English.
I watch television. Watashi-wa terebi-o mimasu.

Pictographic letters
Some kanjis were developed from hieroglyphics like this.
Click to the animation.

sun hi

moon tsuki

mountain yama

river kawa

mouth kuchi

Return to the top

Other basic kanji

one
ichi

two
ni

three
san

four
shi

five
go

six
roku

seven
shichi/nana

eight
hachi

nine
kyuu/ku

ten
juu

right
migi

left
hidari

up
ue

down
shita

book
hon

in
naka

out
soto

red
aka

white
shiro

blue
ao

town
machi

village
mura

house
ie

door
to

car
kuruma

human
hito

head
atama

ear
mimi

hand
te

foot
ashi

eye
me

name
na

father
chichi

mother
haha

man
otoko

older
brother
ani

younger
brother
otooto

older
sister
ane

younger
sister
imooto

woman
onna

year
nen

spring
haru

summer
natsu

fall
aki

winter
huyu/fuy
u

east
higasi

west
nishi

south
minami

north
kita

sky
sora

star
hoshi

water
mizu

fire
hi

light
hikari

time
ji

stone
ishi

soil/ground
tuchi

flower
hana

tree
ki

forest
mori

dog
inu

cow
ushi

fish
sakana

bird
tori

horse
uma

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Signs written in kanji

You will see these signs when you walk on a street in Japan.
station
eki

exit
deguchi

police box
kooban

airport
kuukoo

one way
ippoo tsuukoo

pedestrian
crossing
oodan-hodoo

watch your
step
ashimoto
chuui

no throughfare
tsuukoo kinshi

ticket office
kippu uriba

wicket
kaisatsu-guchi

Ref: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~if2n-szk/j13.html#shookei