Lesson 8: First Kanji — 25 Characters You'll See Everywhere
Master 25 high-frequency kanji including numbers, days of the week, and basic everyday characters. Learn the difference between on'yomi and kun'yomi readings, and get introduced to the concept of radicals.
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Sign in to practice →Recognize the word, then choose its reading
A sign says 出口. A calendar shows 水 over a column of dates. A menu lists 八百円. Kanji help you distinguish an exit, Wednesday and an 800-yen price—but you need the surrounding word or layout to choose the reading.
This lesson has 25 core characters: ten number characters, seven calendar characters, and eight everyday characters. They are a practical selection, not a claim about the 25 most frequent kanji. Some example words contain additional characters; their readings are supplied, and those extra characters are not part of the core count.
Your first goal is recognition with meaning and a word reading. You can type or select a character in the recognition exercises; writing it perfectly from memory is not required. Handwriting can support learning when useful, but there is no universal rule that you must postpone it.
1. A character is not one fixed sound
Japanese combines kanji, hiragana and katakana. For example, 本を読みます (hon o yomimasu, I read a book) uses kanji for 本 and 読, hiragana for the particle を and the verb ending みます. Hiragana also writes whole words; katakana commonly writes loanwords such as コーヒー (kōhī, coffee), along with other uses. The scripts' jobs overlap rather than forming three exclusive categories.
Two labels describe important sources of kanji readings:
- 訓読み（くんよみ / kun'yomi）: a Japanese word or word-part reading associated with a character. 山（やま / yama）, mountain, is an example.
- 音読み（おんよみ / on'yomi）: a Chinese-derived reading adapted into Japanese over time. 山 has サン / san, as in 富士山（ふじさん / Fujisan）, Mount Fuji.
These are two reading categories, not a promise that every kanji has exactly two readings or one of each. Chinese-derived readings are not the same as simply pronouncing a modern Mandarin word. Dictionaries often print on-readings in katakana and kun-readings in hiragana as a notation convention.
Many compounds use on-readings, but a compound can also use native readings or a special reading learned as a whole. Conversely, 本（ほん）, book, stands alone with an on-reading. Learn the written word + its reading + its meaning, rather than guessing from how many kanji it contains. The です in 山です is a separate polite ending, not okurigana belonging to 山; the きい in 大きい is okurigana attached to that adjective's kanji stem.
2. Ten number characters
You already practiced the sounds in the numbers lesson. Now connect them to the characters. The third column gives the whole native item-count word, including its written つ where present—not a reading of the bare kanji alone.
| Kanji and number reading | Value | Native general-item word |
|---|---|---|
| 一 — いち ichi | 1 | 一つ — ひとつ hitotsu |
| 二 — に ni | 2 | 二つ — ふたつ futatsu |
| 三 — さん san | 3 | 三つ — みっつ mittsu |
| 四 — よん / し yon / shi | 4 | 四つ — よっつ yottsu |
| 五 — ご go | 5 | 五つ — いつつ itsutsu |
| 六 — ろく roku | 6 | 六つ — むっつ muttsu |
| 七 — なな / しち nana / shichi | 7 | 七つ — ななつ nanatsu |
| 八 — はち hachi | 8 | 八つ — やっつ yattsu |
| 九 — きゅう / く kyū / ku | 9 | 九つ — ここのつ kokonotsu |
| 十 — じゅう jū | 10 | 十 — とお tō, for ten general items |
Notice the small っ in みっつ, よっつ, むっつ and やっつ. It changes consonant length; みつ is not the ordinary three-item count. 十 has different readings in different constructions: the number ten is じゅう, while ten general items can be とお.
一, 二, 三 contain one, two and three horizontal strokes. Use that visible pattern without assuming all numbers work by counting strokes. 十 has two strokes and means ten. Compare 十 and 土: 土 has an extra lower horizontal stroke, which is more reliable than judging whether a font looks taller or wider.
Recall: supply the third and eighth characters in 一、二、…、十.
Check: 三 and 八. Their values are 3 and 8; they do not need to look like Arabic numerals to be recognizable.
3. Seven characters on a calendar
| Core character and meaning | Full weekday and reading |
|---|---|
| 日 — sun; day | 日曜日 — にちようび nichiyōbi: Sunday |
| 月 — moon; month | 月曜日 — げつようび getsuyōbi: Monday |
| 火 — fire | 火曜日 — かようび kayōbi: Tuesday |
| 水 — water | 水曜日 — すいようび suiyōbi: Wednesday |
| 木 — tree; wood | 木曜日 — もくようび mokuyōbi: Thursday |
| 金 — gold; metal; money in some words | 金曜日 — きんようび kin'yōbi: Friday |
| 土 — earth; soil | 土曜日 — どようび doyōbi: Saturday |
The full standard names share 曜日（ようび / yōbi）, day of the week. A calendar may abbreviate them to 日 月 火 水 木 金 土, or use 月曜 instead of 月曜日. Therefore, a weekday label need not always display the full 曜日 ending.
The naming system connects the Sun and Moon with five planets: 火/Mars, 水/Mercury, 木/Jupiter, 金/Venus and 土/Saturn. These are historical naming associations, not claims that Tuesday is physically a day of fire. A “fire day” or “water day” phrase can serve as a memory label, but the ordinary English translations are Tuesday and Wednesday.
The same character changes reading with its word. 月（つき / tsuki） is the moon; 月曜日 starts with げつ; 二月（にがつ / nigatsu）, February, uses がつ. 日 means sun/day and can abbreviate Japan in an appropriate context; 日本（にほん / Nihon, also にっぽん / Nippon） is the country's name. The character meanings 日 (sun) and 本 (origin/base) provide the familiar “sun origin” explanation of the name; 日 does not mean Japan in every word.
Read a complete calendar
Here is February 2027, shown with Sunday first. Dashes are cells outside this month; no holidays or events are marked.
| 日 | 月 | 火 | 水 | 木 | 金 | 土 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
February 1 is Monday; February 10 is Wednesday; February 28 is Sunday. There are seven columns and 28 dates, each appearing once.
Month names use a number + 月, read がつ in this pattern. Examples: 一月（いちがつ）, January; 二月（にがつ）, February; 三月（さんがつ）, March. Learn exceptions with the complete word: 四月（しがつ）, April; 七月（しちがつ）, July; 九月（くがつ）, September. Arabic digits such as 2月 are also normal writing.
Calendar dates have special readings too. 十日 is とおか / tōka, the tenth day of a month, not じゅうにち in the ordinary date expression. So 二月十日 is にがつとおか, February 10. Useful initial forms are 一日（ついたち）, the first; 二日（ふつか）, the second; and 三日（みっか）, the third. A one-day duration is 一日（いちにち） instead. Do not assume you can read every date by adding にち to the ordinary number.
4. Eight everyday characters
The readings below are selected examples, not exhaustive inventories of every possible pronunciation.
| Core character and meaning | Learn it in a word |
|---|---|
| 人 — person; people | 人 — ひと hito; 日本人 — にほんじん Nihonjin, Japanese person |
| 大 — big; large | 大きい — おおきい ōkii; 大学 — だいがく daigaku, university |
| 小 — small | 小さい — ちいさい chiisai; 小学校 — しょうがっこう shōgakkō, elementary school |
| 山 — mountain | 山 — やま yama; 富士山 — ふじさん Fujisan, Mount Fuji |
| 川 — river | 川 — かわ kawa; 山川 — さんせん sansen, mountains and rivers |
| 口 — mouth; opening | 口 — くち kuchi; 出口 — でぐち deguchi, exit |
| 目 — eye | 目 — め me; 目的 — もくてき mokuteki, purpose |
| 本 — book; origin/base; a counter in some uses | 本 — ほん hon, book; 日本 — にほん Nihon; 四本 — よんほん yonhon, four long objects |
山 can suggest mountain peaks, 川 flowing lines, and 大 a person with arms spread. These are optional visual memory aids. They do not replace learning the actual shape, and an invented picture is not automatically the character's historical origin. 目 has two inner horizontal strokes; 口 has none. 小 has a central stroke and two side strokes, not three identical dots.
Compare 人 (person) with 入 (enter, an extra example character). Both have two strokes; the “legs together versus apart” story is unreliable. In the standard shape of 人, the right-falling stroke branches from the left-falling stroke below its top; in 入, the right-falling stroke starts higher than the left stroke's contact point. Use a clear printed model or stroke diagram when practicing the difference.
Learn the whole compound
| Word | Reading and meaning |
|---|---|
| 出口 | でぐち deguchi — exit |
| 入口 | いりぐち iriguchi — entrance |
| 二人 | ふたり futari — two people |
| 十人 | じゅうにん jūnin — ten people |
| 大人 | おとな otona — adult |
| 火山 | かざん kazan — volcano |
| 山口 | やまぐち Yamaguchi — a surname/place name |
| 山川 | さんせん sansen — mountains and rivers; also やまかわ in other uses/names |
| 名前 | なまえ namae — name |
| 子ども / 子供 | こども kodomo — child/children |
| 今日 | きょう kyō — today |
| 四本の木 | よんほんのき yonhon no ki — four trees |
In 出口 and 山口, the opening/mouth component 口 is read ぐち in the whole word. It is not a guarantee that every compound changes くち to ぐち. 火山 uses the voiced form ざん of the on-reading さん. That voicing is different from the consonant-length change you hear in はっぴゃく, 800.
大人（おとな） is a special native reading of the whole written word, commonly called 熟字訓（じゅくじくん / jukujikun）. Do not assign お to 大 and とな to 人 as if they were independent regular readings. 今日（きょう） likewise needs to be learned as a whole. The ordinary person count 二人 is ふたり, not a mechanical combination of the most familiar readings of 二 and 人.
Mountain names also need word-specific readings. 富士山 is ふじさん, but 山 is not always さん in mountain names: 立山（たてやま / Tateyama） is an example with やま. Recognizing 山 helps you understand the name; it does not settle its pronunciation.
5. Components and dictionary radicals
A kanji may contain several visible components. A radical（部首 / ぶしゅ / bushu） is the component or category under which a dictionary classifies it. These terms are related, but not every visible piece is that character's dictionary radical. Dictionaries can differ in classification details.
| Component form | Examples and their meanings |
|---|---|
| 水, often 氵 on the left | 海（うみ）sea; 池（いけ）pond; 泳ぐ（およぐ）swim |
| 人, often 亻 on the left | 休む（やすむ）rest; 体（からだ）body; 何（なに）what |
| 口 | 味（あじ）taste; 名（な）name, as in 名前 |
The water-related component can suggest a semantic family; it does not give the full reading or guarantee an obvious modern water meaning in every character. Kanjipedia’s radical index classifies 食 under 食, not under 口. Do not infer a radical merely because a small part of a complex character reminds you of a familiar shape.
Several core characters also name radical categories, including 水, 人, 口, 木, 日 and 目. For recognition, notice useful parts; for a dictionary lookup, check the dictionary's assigned radical. Components may help memory, but lookup classification and historical etymology are separate questions.
6. Read a menu, then say something useful
These are fictional teaching prices, not current advertised offers.
| Menu entry | Reading | Price |
|---|---|---|
| ラーメン 八百円 | rāmen; はっぴゃくえん happyaku en | ¥800 |
| お茶 二百円 | おちゃ ocha; にひゃくえん nihyaku en | ¥200 |
| 定食 千円 | ていしょく teishoku; せんえん sen en | ¥1,000 |
The extra characters 百（ひゃく）, 千（せん） and 円（えん） supply hundred, thousand and yen. 八百円 = 8 × 100 yen; ramen plus tea costs ¥1,000, and payment of ¥1,500 leaves ¥500 change.
In 八百（はっぴゃく）, the combination changes sounds: small っ marks a long consonant and ぴゃ has a P sound. Calling the entire change rendaku—sequential voicing—would be inaccurate. Learn はっぴゃく as the established number-unit combination.
Now reconnect the characters to sentences you can use:
- 今日は何曜日ですか。 (Kyō wa nan'yōbi desu ka?) — What day of the week is it today?
- 今日は月曜日です。 (Kyō wa getsuyōbi desu.) — Today is Monday. This is a practice answer, not a statement about today's actual date.
- 土曜日に山に行きます。 (Doyōbi ni yama ni ikimasu.) — I'll go to the mountain on Saturday. Destination へ is also possible.
- 川はきれいです。 (Kawa wa kirei desu.) — The river is beautiful.
- ここに十人います。 (Koko ni jūnin imasu.) — Ten people are here. ここ means here; います expresses the presence of people in this example.
- 子どもが二人います。 (Kodomo ga futari imasu.) — I have two children, in a family introduction. The family context identifies whose children you mean.
For body descriptions, 私の口は大きいです (Watashi no kuchi wa ōkii desu) means my mouth is big; 私の目は小さいです (Watashi no me wa chiisai desu) means my eyes are small. Japanese nouns do not consistently mark singular/plural as English does. An understood possessor can be omitted in context.
四本の大きい木 (Yonhon no ōkii ki) means four big trees. 本 is a counter for many long, cylindrical things, including trees in this example. It is also the ordinary word for book in another context; books are normally counted with 冊, not 本. You do not need to learn the new 冊 counter in this recognition set, but do not infer counter choice from the English noun alone.
Finish with a small reading task
Find 水曜日, 出口, 二人, 火山 and 四本の木 above. For each, say its reading and meaning, then identify one core character inside it. Check: すいようび Wednesday; でぐち exit; ふたり two people; かざん volcano; よんほんのき four trees.
Your 25-character set is 一二三四五六七八九十・日月火水木金土・人大小山川口目本. Revisit five characters at a time inside words, then use one word in a sentence. This is the final lesson currently in this course: continue by practicing the existing lessons and adding vocabulary as you encounter it.