Japanese Kanji Symbols
180+ common Kanji characters with English meanings. Click any symbol to copy it instantly.
What are Kanji Symbols?
Kanji (漢字) are Chinese characters that were adopted into Japanese writing over a thousand years ago. Unlike Hiragana and Katakana, which only represent sounds, each Kanji carries meaning. A single character can stand as a complete word, or two Kanji can combine to form a new compound word with a related meaning.
There are over 50,000 Kanji in total, but the Japanese Ministry of Education lists 2,136 as the Jōyō Kanji, the standard set used in everyday life. Newspapers, books, and official documents all stay within this set. Our collection focuses on the most frequently used characters from this group.
How Kanji Readings Work
Most Kanji have two types of readings. The on'yomi (音読み) is based on the original Chinese pronunciation, and the kun'yomi (訓読み) is the native Japanese reading. Take 山 (mountain) as an example: it reads as "san" in on'yomi (as in 富士山, Fujisan) and "yama" in kun'yomi (as in 山道, yamamichi, meaning mountain path).
Compound words made of two or more Kanji (熟語, jukugo) typically use on'yomi readings. When a Kanji appears on its own or with Hiragana verb endings, it usually takes the kun'yomi reading. This is one of the trickier parts of learning Kanji, but it becomes intuitive with practice.
Common Kanji in Everyday Japanese
These are some of the Kanji you will run into most often in daily Japanese life:
- 日本 Nihon / Nippon (Japan)
- 東京 Tōkyō (Tokyo)
- 学生 Gakusei (Student)
- 電車 Densha (Train)
- 時間 Jikan (Time)
- 天気 Tenki (Weather)
How to Use These Kanji Symbols
Click any Kanji above to copy it. Paste it into documents, messages, or emails, or use it for Japanese typing practice. All characters are standard Unicode and display correctly on every modern platform and device.