1. What is kanji? 2. What are kanji radicals? 3. What are ON pronunciations? 4. What are KUN pronunciations? 5.

More about kanji 6. The 214 bushu radicals

1. What is Kanji?
Kanji means Chinese letter or character. The script was invented by the Chinese and adopted by the Japanese around the middle of the 6th century AD. Kanji are ideographs meaning that the whole character conveys a meaning rather than just a sound (as in the case of hiragana and katakana letters). Kanji were originally drawn as pictures from nature but gradually transformed to more generalized representations. By the end of year nine Japanese students will have learned 1945 kanji as prescribed by the Japanese Ministry of Education (the Jouyou Kanji). There are many many more less commonly used kanji totaling over 5000.ReadWrite Kanji teaches the 1945 prescribed kanji in the order in which that are taught to Japanese students. More on kanji can be found at the bottom of the page.

Kanji can be written in various styles. There is the character for "good" written in a number of styles.

Learn about the Japanese phonetic hiragana script here. Learn about the Japanese phonetic katakana script here.

2. What are Kanji Radicals?

All kanji contain a classifying radical that is a component of the kanji. Often the radical imparts meaning to the kanji - for example the radical for hand appears in both of the kanji that combine to form the word "grasp" () and the individual kanji for "throw" (). Recognizing a kanji's radical often helps in memorising or deciphering the meaning of the kanji. Most kanji dictionaries classify kanji according to their radicals. Therefore recognising the radial of an unknown kanji helps with looking it up in a dictionary. Japanese kanji has 214 different radicals (the Bushu index). Radicals can appear almost anywhere in a kanji - at the top, on the left, on the right, at the bottom and surrounding (enclosing).

This is the for "harbour" with the radical for water highlighted in red.

Here is the character for "country" with the radical for "outh, opening, sounding highlighted in red.

Here is the character for "big" - it is classified as a radical itself.

See below for the complete list of the 214 busho radicals.

3. What are ON Pronunciations?

In Japanese there is generally more than one pronunciation of a kanji. The ON pronunciation (onyomi) is taken from the Chinese pronunciation and the KUN pronunciation (kunyomi) which is derived from the indigenous Japanese pronunciation of the same word/meaning. Most kanji compounds (words made up of two or more kanji) are built up from the the individual kanji onyomi. For example:

The onyomi: zi-dou-sha combine to mean car or automobile

- zi meaning self - dou meaning move - sha meaning vehicle or cart

4. What are KUN Pronunciations?

In Japanese there is generally more than one pronunciation of a kanji. The ON pronunciation (onyomi) is taken from the Chinese pronunciation and the KUN pronunciation (kunyomi) which is derived from the indigenous Japanese pronunciation of the same word/meaning. When the kunyomi pronunciation is used the kanji usually stands alone and is not part of a compound. For example:

- hito meaning person - tori meaning bird - yumi meaning dream

5. More about Kanji?

Kanji are characters that were developed as part of the writing system used among the Asian countries,

especially China. It is generally said that those people using Kanji are the largest race on earth. It is not certain when and where Kanji first appeared. However, the oldest pattern like characters resembling some sort of symbols were carved on fragments of earthenware and have been excavated from the ruins of ancient China (4500 BC). The symbols on these ruins, classified into 22 patterns, have still not been deciphered, but it is widely believed that these symbols were a form of notification, that is, a prototype of a character. In the time of the Chinese ancient state of IN, which rose in approximately 1600 BC, the king or ruler used the custom of fortune telling to make political predictions by burning tortoise shells or animal bones and observing the cracks that formed in the shells or bones. Then, in order to record the results of the fortune telling, a character called, KOUKOTUMOJI ("inscription on bones and tortoise carapaces"), was inscribed on the shells and bones. This is the prototype of the present Kanji character. Thus, was created, the manner in which the precious data in assuming the politics and social state of the Chinese ancient state of IN was recorded and kept. Later, in 1300 BC, when the ancient Chinese state of IN reached its golden period, known as the Bronze Age, KINBUN ("a gold letter"), having a softer impression than the character, KOUKOTUMOJI, appeared. KOUKOTUMOJI was initially created as pictograph, that is, as an ideogram. Yet, in the later period, the expression for more abstract phenomenon was systemized. It is interesting to note that our present-day phonetic alphabet has its origins in the ideography of ancient Mesopotamia (an ancient country in West Asia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; now part of Iraq)-known as another birthplace of civilization. The ancient Mesopotamians made adaptations to their ideographic notations in order to transcribe into a written form the spoken languages of neighboring nations and races. During the process of this transcription, it is believed that the ideogram was converted to phonetic symbols. In addition, it has been suggested that the KOUKOTUMOJI character, which was initially in the form of an ideogram, was actually derived from the Sumerian cuneiform drawings. This is an interesting theory, because it is believed that the concept of writing existed in the Middle East's fertile crescent (present day Southern Iraq) long before China started its own method of writing. History records that that the Sumerian civilization mysteriously vanished. However, it is possible that the Sumerians ended up in China because recent objects resembling Sumerian objects have been found in Northern China. After centuries of individually ruled kingdoms, China was unified into a single territory with the start of the SHIN dynasty in 221 BC. The first emperor of China, referred to as SHIKOUTEI, appeared and united all of China for the first time. The emperor aimed to create a standard of weights and measurements (units such as length and capacity), as well as, unify a written character for the reign. The style of writing enacted during this reign is called SYOUTEN and was carried out long after as a formal character in China. This style of writing was primarily used to inscribe nationwide important archives on a stone, as well as, for political documents. It would thus, be reasonable to think that this writing style is a principal vestige for today's seal engraving. However, the formal character was not easy to hand down from generation to generation as Kanji had a complicated typeface. It was thus destined for the character to develop into a character that could be written faster and memorized easier. Gradually, SYOUTEN turned into a form that was more straight-lined and easier to write, called REISYO. Around the second century, the writing style evolved further into KAISYO. The writing materials of the REISYO period were changed from stone to thin bars of bamboo or wood called CHIKKAN or MOKKAN. Then, when paper was finally invented, a style was developed that could supply the demand for much more and faster writing. Thus, through this history, Kanji was developed as a form of artwork because the writing could bear the penmanship of many clerics. Soon, the period of wood engraving printings, such as those found in the Buddhist scripture came to being. A period of mud printing type also emerged and the writing style became even simpler and more linear. In the eleventh century, known as SOU era, a writing style called MINCCYOUTAI originated. Later this writing style was regulated in the MIN era. This fixed form is almost the same as the present style. To accommodate an easier writing style in China today, a mainstream for common documents

was developed in the simple style script known as KANTAIJI. However, in the case of Kanji, the writing style from the ancient or modern times has not disappeared at all and it can be said that it is still alive in the world of art.

6. The Bushu Classification of the Radicals?

Radical Meaning one; a horizontal stroke a vertical stroke a dot a stroke curved to the left a bend stroke; the second of celestial stems a hook two; two horizontal strokes head, above man, a person man, a person (at the bottom of a character) entering, starting eight; to part, to divide wilderness cover two dots; ice, cold small table wide opened mouth knife, sword, cutting, separating strength, force embracing spoon, ladle square box round box ten; two crossed strokes divining seal, stamp cliff self, private grasping, further, again mouth, opening, sounding enclosure earth, soil official, scholar walking slowly Bushu Index 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 Radical Meaning plate eye spear arrow stone, rock spiritual, ancestor animal stamping the earth grain ear hollow, hole, hidden stand, erect bamboo rice thread, fabric crock, vessel net sheep, goat wings old moustache; but, and handle of a plough ear brush meat, organs of the body servant, subject nose, self arrive mortar tongue lying side by side boat, ship simple, honest, straight color, outlook grass, herb, plant tiger

overtaking evening big, large woman child, son; the first of terrestrial branches roof, cover inch small broken or curved leg corpse, body sprout mountain, cliff river, stream work self, own; the sixth of celestial stems towel, napkin shield small, young house built at a slope walking a long distance two hands (at bottom of character) shooting crossbow pig head hair, feather walking slowly heart, feeling axe, halberd house, door hand, actions branch whip word, literature a kind of volume measure a kind of weight measure; axe square, direction, locality do not, no sun, clear speaking moon, month tree, wood missing, gap stopping evil halberd mother

142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187

insect, creeping animal blood walk, row, line, journey clothing cover seeing horn; a kind of volume measure speaking valley bean; a kind of vessel pig small hairy animals cowry snail red walking foot, leg, walking body cart bitter; the eighth of celectial stems morning; the fifth of terrestrial branches stamping on the earth, going village wine, jar; the tenth of terrestrial branches distiguishing, separating mile, hamlet metal, gold long, hair door hill, dam reaching, catching small bird rain bluegreen wings; not face skin, leather, changing tanned leather chives, scallion sound page, face wind flying eating head odor, perfume horse

side by side, comparing hair, feather clan air, breath water fire claw, hand father crossing two times bed slice, piece teeth cow, ox dog, dog-like animals black, dark jade, stone pumpkin, melon tile, earthenware sweet giving birth, living using field roll, bolt sick two hands above white leather, skin

188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214

bone high, aloft hair battle offering spirits a kind of vessel ghost, spirit fish bird salt deer grain hemp yellow millet black needlework frog, amphibium tripod drum mouse, rat nose, self equal, all teeth dragon turtle flute