How it works
Start where children in Japan start. Press the button for one of the 80 kanji taught in the first year of elementary school, each with its meaning, an on reading, a kun reading and its stroke count.
Read the full guide
Why these kanji come first
Japan’s education ministry keeps a table of the kanji taught in elementary school, set out grade by grade, and these 80 are its first grade. The table is made for pupils in Japan; Wikipedia’s article on it notes that learners elsewhere can follow the same sequence to focus on the most commonly used kanji.
What is on the first-grade list
The numbers one to ten, 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十, then hundred and thousand, and things a child can point at: 山 mountain, 川 river, 木 tree, 人 person, 口 mouth, 手 hand. Seven of the 80 also name the days of the week, Sunday to Saturday: 日 月 火 水 木 金 土.
- A hyphen in a kun reading marks where the kanji ends: in mi-ru, 見 is mi and ru is written in kana.
Questions and answers
What kanji should I learn?
After these 80, go on by grade. The school table has 160 kanji for second grade, 200 for third, 202 for fourth, 193 for fifth and 191 for sixth, which makes 1,026 in all.
How many kanji do I need to learn?
The jōyō list of regular-use kanji holds 2,136 and is meant as a literacy baseline for those who have finished compulsory education in Japan. The elementary school kanji are part of it, and the other 1,110 are taught in secondary school.
What is the difference between on and kun readings?
An on reading is based on the Chinese pronunciation of the character, and a kun reading is the native Japanese word that matches its meaning. On readings are generally used in compound words and kun readings in simple, single words.
Which kanji has the fewest strokes?
一, one, is a single stroke. Eight more first-grade kanji take two strokes: 二, 七, 八, 九, 十, 入, 人 and 力. The one with the most is 森, forest, with 12.