To be honest, I thought of an English slang word similar to くち, but I'd rather shut my

When I play peek a boo or "coochie-coo"「KUCHI くち、KU ク」with my baby sister, she gives me a "coy"「KŌ コウ」smile, or opens her and laughs!

Looks like an open

Depicts an open , possibly with upturned corners. Also used to depict a generic object, square or round.
コウ is a later borrowing, ク is earlier, both from the same MC word /kʰə̯uᵡ/. くち is from Old Japanese, ultimately from Proto-Japonic *kutui; it is not derived from the OC root *kʰoːʔ, but they may share a common ancestor.

口（*kʰoːʔ）口 叩 扣 釦 筘
ク, コウ← /kʰə̯uᵡ/ ← *kʰoːʔ

I like KOUcaine said the

Pictogram: An open . Can be literal or figurative or serve as a container of sorts.

A baby's mouth opens up when being tickled

hitting a mouth

He told you one thing to stop being itchy

= one / ichi

When is used as a number, it sounds like "ichi"「ICHI イチ」. When used as a generic counter, it sounds like "hitotsu"「HITOTSU ひと.つ」.

You are only one step away from the finish line

The easiest way to memorize this kanji is to start with the kanji for recommend and remove its irrelevant parts: shoot a times with a , and it together with the , which leaves you alone

All you need is one step over this line.

HITS ひと.つ an

"I got one bug bite and now my arm is itchy イチ!"

Kinda looks like a plate. plate, and nothing more.

Looks like a 1 that fell over -hypothetically in grass- now the one is "Itchy *ichi*"

'May I ask for one last thing' is {} of my favorite animes.{anime- hagime they sound pretty similar...}

A . In calligraphy, a brush stroke that falls downwards towards the left is called 撇/ヘツ “discard, abandon, throw away.” The most familiar example of 撇 is the initial downstroke of 乃/の, the man’yōgana for katakana ノ.

In historical dictionaries, 丿 is defined as the verb “arrive” *leds → /i̯ɛiᴴ/ →えう→えい,よう. It may be used as shorthand, as in 丿る/いたる.

As a radical, 丿serves as a catch-all for any character that begin with a curved stroke. This is reflected in the diverse English nomenclature, including slash, swoop, purification rod, bent rod, and even, after WaniKani, slide.

Radical names:
払い/はらい sweeping stroke
棒/ぼう　　 pole, staff, rod
のかんむり ノ-shaped crown

A (vertical line) depicting a pole, stick, or rod standing upright, or（finger pointing）moving up to advance and down to retreat.
コン is derived from OC, but may be remembered as onomatopoeia: CONK.
進む/すすむ　advance
退く/しりぞくretreat

"He can be"「HI ひ、KA か、BI -び」late every *day* because the makes his .

Just like all the other countries, I see the sun rising every day through a , in Japan too.

Every day I see the sun through my , and each 二チ time I ca-n か hea-r ひ the bustle of the city where I live in Japan, it's too ジツ loud!

Depicts the sun . Each sun means one day when used as a counter for days. Japan is the land of the rising sun.

日（*njiɡ）涅 捏 篞 衵 日 馹
ニチ, ジツ← /ȵʑi̯ĕt̚/ ← *njiɡ

You see the sun/day through what? A !

This kanji looks like a calendar to see days

Every day I watch the sun rise through the .

day, Hikaru「ひかru」said: “Japan is the land of the rising sun”.

ひ かn't look at the sun, ニチ can I, but we can see the days passing from the .

Pictogram: The .

The rooster’s signal the start of the day

A daily ひ-nt for you:
Day surely か-nt begin without the sun peeking through the .
And as for Japan... There, it's simply ニチ. Yeah, have to remember that.

The sun shined through the that day

From the shape of the ☀️, it bears the direct meaning of sun, the sunrise land, Japan, and the indirect meaning of day, which is the time between sunrise and sunset.

On the day of May, my is burning.

A is wearing cool to go to Japan.

This is the sun with a straight cloud passing through it

The sun is a that you should 🚫 look at.

This doesn't have a doorknob.

The "key"「KI き」to happiness is sitting under a *tree*, resting against the *wood* of its under its green where it is "more cool"「MOKU モク」.

We chopped down this tree, but be careful, we didn't make to book yet, so it's one less stroke.

I ボク know the key き to good barbeque is getting a good s-moke モク from the right wood of a

tree

.

Did you know that this is supposed to represent tree branches? Which means that all are the roots, and a teeny tiny part above the is the actual stem of the tree. Crazy, right? Wait until you realize where came from. See the entry to learn more.

In a magical forest, a key{ki} unlocked the ancient

tree

, revealing its hidden moco{moku} treasure.

tree gives shade, which is Ki to being MO-re KU-l

There is a key "き" hanging from a

tree

. The tree mocks "モク" you for not being able to reach it.

The and . How can someone mess this up?

A carrying a big tree with his

sounds like "き"
Mokuba "モク" from YuGiOh is always "rooting" for his big brother Kaiba. You could also say Kaiba wood "would" do anything for his little brother.

are watching a tree.

The tree named "Trik" has a in the middle of it.

Looks like a tree, and trees are made of wood. There is a and .

I have eight yachts やっつ, you よう wanna see? They're just behind that . Ha, see ﾊチ? You didn't believe me!

A person 人 could split into two ハ from sneezing

At o'clock, I will have "hot tea"「HACHI ハチ」on "your"「YŌ よう」"yacht"「YATTSU やっ.つ」.

Represents the eight points ✳ of the compass 🧭. Early versions resemble a broken Ｘ pointing and . See also 分, 尚, 兑, and 丷.

八 （*preːd）扒 八 𩡩 朳 玐 釟 汃
ハチ← /pat̚/ ← *preːd

Eight

is supposed to represent the ordinal directions, NW, NE, SW, and SE, but the upper part is ripped off. Combining with the cardinal directions, they make up exactly eight compass points.

I thought the four eight the , but they're fine!

That looks like someone .
When you clap your hands, you must do it at least eight times, otherwise someone will probably tell you: よう, や 's all? {Yo, that's all?!}

There are many funny looking creatures in the oceans. A friend of mine, who works on a boat, once caught a fish with eight . He put it in a hatch /ハチ/ then took a picture of it to send it to me. I still see that in my nighmares.

This girl sneezed eight times in a row like "HACHI!!!" ハチ

Four of these dashes will make eight.

So what eight things do you have? You have eight yachts . Go ahead and count them. They're beautiful. Also, be sure not to be confused by this particular reading mnemonic. It includes the つ, even though the つ is outside the reading you need to learn . Since you can see the つ outside, it shouldn't be too difficult for you.

They look like steps and you put your FOOT on the second step

Who ta-ught ふた you count? I nee-d に to know!

Two is double

= two. Two in Japanese is "ni"and this kanji also looks exactly like the katakana character ni !

is two, don't need to look "further" ふた

One line plus another line equals lines. Think of all the things you have two of. What is the most important? The eyes, the ears? I would say the knee /ニ/ because if you didn't have them, it'd be really hard to go up stairs.

Two , looks like and is pronounced like katakana ニ. Alternate pronunciation ジ is the same as cognate 次.

二（*njis）膩 二 弍 貳 樲
ニ, ジ← /ȵʑiᴴ/ ← *njis

This belongs to つち、and ド. They were buried together, six feet in the ground

Do-n't ド search つち in the soil in the under the , you might find toe-s ト!

I get "touchy"「TSUCHI つち」about on hallowed *ground*. Please "don't"「DOド」walk on the where people are buried, either in *Turkey* or anywhere on *Earth*.

If a tree falls on the ground and there's no one to hear it, DOes it make a sound?

growing in the .

You know who likes to dig in the soil? Dogs . They dig to find two cheeses . How will those dogs ever find those two cheeses?

Supposedly a lump of on a . Its texture is like DOUGH →ド.
Very similar to ♁, the Unicode symbol for earth つち.
The association with Turkey is from 土耳古, ateji for Portuguese turco “Turk”

土 looks like larger than a placed in it; the ground / soil / earth is wider to symbolize its importance over what is placed in it.
{Meanwhile, 士 looks like ground smaller than a person standing on it; the arms of the person are wider than the ground to symbolize the command that scholars / gentlemen / samurai have over the world around them.}

Hands in the soil, nurturing the

ground

,
Cultivating life, where the are found.

An pointing upwars from the

Jane Doe is buried in a in the ground with Stanley Tucci

flowers are sitting on the

ground

.

Pictogram: on a or ground; clay is a type of soil or earth.

DOn’t ド sit your tushy つち on the , that’s someone’s grave.

I struck the into the

ground

, which made a loud 'DO'.

The that is on the is soil.

I have toe-s とお that fit into my shoe-s ｼﾞュウ.

I wear "jewelry"「JŪ ジュウ」on my "toes"「TŌ とお」.

for ten but rotated 45 degrees.

It's the T in

One represents ten. See also: twenty, thirty, and fourty

ジュウ can count とお ten , too!

10 is the first whole number that countains two digits and 十 only countains two strokes.

I have this christian friend, who loves to talk about the Ten Commandments. She gave me this beautiful jew-eled /ジュウ/ pendant.

Depicts a needle, later written 針/シン← /t͡ɕi̯əm/ ← *kjum … *ɡjub, borrowed for the sound of ten. Originally drawn simply as a or with a dot in the middle. In later forms the dot extends to become a .

十（*ɡjub）針 汁 卙 十 什
ジッ, ジュウ, ジュッ ← /ʑi̯əp̚/ ← *ɡjub

Ten toes "とお" down is a slang phrase.

1 9 = 10
2 8 = 10
3 7 = 10
4 6 = 10
5 5 = 10

These numbers all up to ten!

You're {TOO} {JI}ttery to properly carry all these fragil {TO} the {JYU}piter wing in only ten minutes. You feel like {JYUU}niper would have been a better fit for the job...

This has ten jewels "じゅう" in it!

Ten people want JUice ジュウ in JUne ジュウ to cool down

has ten things

Ta た beautiful and gar-den デン

A , or *rice paddy*, is like a "garden"「DEN デン」for rice. One time, I "talked"「TA た」to an old Japanese woman about how she planted rice seedlings in in the muddy water.

the rice field has got four little

Rice field crossed by

Foxes make their dens デン in Tanaka's た rice field.

Yet another beautifully constructed kanji. Simple and meaningful. I think we can all agree that this is a , right?

Looks like a with going between each rice paddy.

Looks like a window where then {デン} you can look at the {た} rice fields.

Depicts an field stretching and , full of GOLDEN→デン grain. Away from the high plains of Central Asia, the topography and climate are far more suitable to growing rice than wheat, so in Japan and elsewhere 田 came to mean た, a rice paddy, a wet field with raised walkways 塍.

田（*l'iːŋ）田 佃 畋 畇 鈿 沺 甸
デン← /dʱien/ ← *l'iːŋ

{Ta}

rice paddies

are beautiful. Aren't they {Den}?

I walked through the , thinking about how I needed a DENTAl {でん・た} plan ...

There are four areas of the rice field, separated by a cross, which looks like the character for , which is . The outside part of the character is a .

Hard work on the means I need waTA {た}, and I crawl into my DEN {デン} to rest. waTA - water

たt rice from my neighbour's rice paddy, it's so delicious! Every time i stuff my with /デン spoonfuls before i swallow it.

The scarecrow protects the

艹

so it can grow .

The farmer started to "sow"「SŌ ソウ」 acres of *pasture* in one with seeds. He "cursed"「KUSA くさ」the *weeds*.

Grass

grows SO {ソウ} Credits: Karlla

The grows comically

can let grow if you remove the weed

These will grow to become a GRASS field

you must SOW {そう} seeds if you don't want the to be overrun with fricking {くさ} weeds.

Every new blades of sprout from the ground.

Ku saw some weeds in the pasture/grass in the early sun at ten .

A person waking up to start the in ten minutes. He admitres the two on the window.

The that grows is grass/weed

GRASS grows than .

are scorched by the morning .

Having a square and a square is not that special. It's just MMEEHH... {め}. But my MA {ま} always says, "Don't you worry about those who MOCK {もく} your square eye. I'll kick them with this square foot! We are the Square family!"

Look ME {め} in the

eyes

and MOCK {もく} me again, I dare you!

I'm looking at a .

If you turn your head 90 degrees, you could see a

eye

with a .

Looks like an with a . Eyes are used to look at things, make insights, and acrue experiences.

Depicts the , with squared corners 罒, rotated ninety degrees 目.

目（*muɡ）瞐 苜 目
モク,ボク← /mi̯uk̚/ ← *muɡ

Look ME in the eyes baby!

A goat has a . They also go MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH {め}

I use ME eyes to look out the for MOKUingbirds!

Don't forget to put the Keddle Lid on the pot!

The kettle lid radical depicts a attached to a . Alternatively, if you think of 言 as a tall stack of papers, 亠 is the paperweight crowning the stack.
To remember the reading トウ, think of a long ト rotated and flipped.

Radical names:
鍋蓋/なべぶた　pot lid
卦算冠/けいさんpaperweight
　　　かんむり crown

The pot lid is so heavy, I have to lift it with two hands.

A thief has an

upside down box

for a mask.

Oooh おお, his neck is so that if he tightens his tie タイ, he could die ダイ!

Etymology:
Pictogram of a man spreading his arms to denote something big.

Mnemonic:
OOh {おお}, that shirt is too big! The TIE {タイ} DYEd {ダイ} are cool though.

The big is standing with to see if his shirt fits.

A big man is coming to hug you! Oo I'm jealous

A to look big.

The asked me to "tie dye"「TAI タイ、DAI ダイ」their *big* shirt "orange"「Ō おお」.

Pictogram: A spreading his arms, “This big”

A is holding big table

Ooh おお, I thought I'd die ダイ fighting this big . Surprisingly, it was a tie タイ

large held up by a big . Used frequently as a radical, but rarely as a phonetic.

大（*daːds）馱 大 忕 太 汰 汏 軑 釱 达 杕
タイ,タ←ダイ,ダ← /dʱɑiᴴ/, /dʱɑᴴ/ ← *daːds, *daːds

of the who is big

ooki! that man named tai is

Ooh /おお/, hey, do you see that big with the big Tai Dai /タイ, ダイ/ on?

Arms outstretched in a big reveal - おお - in a tie dye shirt - タイ、ダイ-

He has small ちい on either si-de さいof his , he likes to show ショウ them off.

The kanji is derived from the picture of three sand grains written as three straight lines. To differentiate between this and , it is written this way instead.

Scrape a piece of into .

Show /しょう me a little cheese! *sigh* /ちいさい. I love cheese. :)

The tried to "show"「SHO ショ」how *small* he could make himself by pinning his down at his sides. He made himself even smaller than his *little* friend "Chisa"「CHISAI ちい.さい」!

It looks like a small chiiken , with 2 and between them its

In contrast to the big kanji , this has his down by his side, not stretched out big and wide.

little, small wings: baby bird

You can see as a person SHOwing {ショウ} the size of SO-mething {sa さ-} with their arms. small is a with their , as to say "Oh- {お-}! It's THIS small!". If the object was bigger, the arms and the legs would be more stretched out {that's how you get }.

CHEE SIGHED , I am so SMALL , it SHO isn't fun being this Little

The small grains of sand 沙 that line the edge of the water 氵 are made by waves 丿. These marvelous little crystals SHOW cubic geometry. Each one presents as a and .

小（*smewʔ）觘 抄 鈔 訬 炒 吵 耖 仯 眇 渺 杪 秒 篎 妙 玅 釥 小 少 麨 尠
ショウ← /si̯ɛuᵡ/ ← *smewʔ

The kanji looks a bit like a sai weapon pointing down. Imagine that sai with a piece of cheese on it, and a small mouse eating the cheese. It's a CHEEse SAI.

The moon shines through the

As a Werewolf, every month the full moon really gets げつ to your guts がつ

Every *month*, werewolves are changed by the full . It really "gets"「GETSU ゲツ」their "guts"「GATSU ガツ」craving raw meat. I would use "two keys"「TSUKI つき」to lock them up, not one!

A month is longer than a 日

This month starts with a new moon: I can observe it through my at night.

From the shape of the 🌙, it took on the direct meaning of the moon, and the indirect meaning of month, which is the time it takes for the moon to finish its circumnavigation around the earth.

I like すき the

つき, I drive at night each month to see it. I guess ゲツ I need gas ガツ.

Pictograph: Simply a waxing .

Note: when in radical form this can mean 'moon' or 'part of the body'.

It is the kanji for 'sun' 日 but with two rays of light bouncing off of it, to show how is just reflected sun / sunlight.

In the anime a silent voice, the deaf character wanted to say すく, but said つき instead and her love interest though she was complimenting the moon

Depicts the crescent , but conflated with ⺼, a form of 肉. Related to 夕 but not to 多.

月（*ŋod）刖 枂 月 跀 抈 鈅 玥 蚏
ガツ←ぐわつ← /ŋi̯wɐt̚/ ← *ŋod
ゲツ←ぐゑつ← /ŋi̯wɐt̚/ ← *ŋod

Every when the is full we ited up and down the mountain.

Man, you're so good at tag! I mean, she only gets {げつ} you once a month. Scratch that, once in a blue !

The kanji for moon looks like a

This kanji looks like a spaceship to the moon

If you were to squeeze a river 川, the river would bunch up 水, and the water would pour out of the river.

water .

The kanji for is easy to remember if you have seen the kanji for ice 氷 at kakigōri shaved ice stands at festivals. Kakigōri is made with "mizuame"「MIZU みず」, or '*water* candy' syrup. Also, "suika"「SUI スイ」is *water*melon, as well as the name of the Japanese train pass card.

I'd love to meet you みず down by the water for a swi-m スイ later. I'll bring my if the are good.

The water character is originally from one larger and four smaller of water. Really descriptive if you asked me.

cune is a water-type Pokémon!

SUIKA スイ🍉 is mostly just water —hence the name.

In the lively sushi restaurant, I ordered a refreshing glass of mizu while enjoying delicious fish dishes, as a person named Sui ventured to the aquarium, attempting to catch a vibrant with a tempting .

Water on the I may as well suim

. Just legs. GIANT LEGS. AAAH. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.

An octopus has legs.

This is just .

Depicts a bending over 尸. In wrapping 包/ホウ, where 勹 is the enclosure, it represents the placenta around a fetus 己.

She |シ| likes to buy books |ボウ| and grocery |ござる|. And as for me, like to buy stationaries.

A . Simple.

This is an missing a dot. Katakana ウ looks like a unicorn with her horn and fur, but someone took her horn and turned ウ into ワ , Katakana wa crown.

Well, you've got the and the , but where's the person's head and arms?

He to-ld ひと me about a with spurs that jing-le ｼﾞン jangle jingle.

"He told"「HITO ひと」me he is a from a family with good "genes"「JIN ジン」.

Its the of a person walking.

HE TOld ひと me that a working at NINtendoにん refuses the JEANじん dress code.

When you HIT it Of with another person, you're start JINkling, you want to RIng them every day TO hear their voice and live toghether till you're NINety.

If you think about it, then kinda looks like a walking, or taking a pose to assert their dominance. If I were a lesser man, I'd run in fear.

Only one person at Nin-tendo /ニン/ complained about the new jean-s /ジン/ policy, and that was you.

A person is walking

A started to walk. HITO JIN's photo and the other, a NINja mask.

it's a , but where did their arms go? oh no! oh deary me! they don't have any!

Profile of a person standing with their arms extended to the left. This is more evident in 亻, the reduced form used as a radical. Like 亻, the first stroke is the and the second stroke is the .

人（*njin）千 仟 芊 阡 汘 迁 杄 人 仁 朲 佞
ジン, ニン← /ȵʑi̯ĕn/ ← *njin

A person

It looks like a man standing with legs wide open 🚶🏻‍♂️

Pictogram: a person’s

Looks like a very simple visualization of a 'stick figure' . The angle of the torso is drawn either vertical or leaning to the right, since people either walk upright or angled forward when running.

A person but standing.

When used as a component in complex kanji, usually takes on its literal meaning: a hand.

I'll say it *again*... I put my when you were sad because "you"「YŪ ユウ」"matter"「MATA また」to me.

Looks like number , and when you are gambling and keep getting 777 you want to gamble again and again

This looks like 夂，who stole money, but 又 keeps on getting caught by the police because of a similar appearance again!

Depicts a , but since 𠂇 is now used for the left 左 hand, a reversed is added for the other hand, the right 右/ユウ hand. The meanings furthermore and or again follow by extension.

又（*ɢʷɯs）絠 醢 珛 栯 有 友 右 宥 囿 侑 酭 姷 又 佑 祐 賄 蛕 烠 倄 鮪 洧 痏 郁 戫 哊
ユウ← /i̯ə̯uᴴ/ ← *ɢʷɯs

This looks like a spoon holding berries to make sauce! Yum!

Depicts a spoon 匙 or . This shape is also used to represent an inverted person 人.

匕（*pilʔ）匕 庀 疕 朼 牝
ヒ← /piᵡ/ ← *pilʔ

The *rules* over , , and . "Oh"「Ō オウ」, what a demanding job!

OU/Oh, a king!
Kings rule OUver the and listen to NOU .

Depicts a ritual , see 圭, plus an additional , perhaps of jade 玉, a scepter-like symbol of royal power.

The traditional interpretation—three horizontal strokes represent heaven 天, man 人 and earth 土, and the vertical stroke connecting them together as the king—is considered to be a folk etymology; however, compare 天, a big man with a horizontal stroke above to indicate the sky. At any rate, the bottom stroke is now long like earth 土.

王（*ɢʷaŋ）皇 惶 遑 堭 煌 餭 騜 艎 隍 湟 徨 篁 蝗 凰 偟 媓 韹 葟 皝 汪 尪 迋 逛 誑 匡 筐 框 眶 誆 邼 恇 劻 洭 軭 狂 軖 鵟 俇 王 蚟 彺 旺 諻 喤 瑝 鍠 揘
オウ←わう← /iwaŋ/ ← *ɢʷaŋ

The had a , and quite .

OH オウ, you are the king ? 👑

The chooses a to rule the and /land

Ow!オウ: it looks like the king's fell on his foot!

OH/OU you must climb the in a to meet the King

The king likes for .

those lying on the can be used to buy a big

The {キン} sits on his golden in the .

are KEEN キン on finding かね in the . Why? Because they could sell it for tons of gold!

The at the foot of the has . Can they かね give some to my kin キン?

Looks like a shrine where you leave a gold donation at.

I am keen on finding a gold can with a cone

Depicts a gold ←今/キン on a with beneath. Alternately, 丷 are veins of gold ore—originally copper—buried in the ground 土. Alternately, according to Maxim Persikov, the bottom was originally 火, presumably to smelt the ore.

金（*krɯm）淦 顉 金 錦 欽 菳 嶔 撳 捦 鵭 唫 鈙 崟 趛
キン,コン← /ki̯əm/ ← *krɯm

When I die can they かね give my gold to my kin きん

I went to the with my old, Scottish uncle to see the *gold* inside. He was "keen"「KIN キン」to see it, but when we got there, he said ""I cannae"「KANE かね」make it up this hill!"

Don't worry the are safely hidden on , under a

If you the near the , you CAN Extract {かね} some gold.

The only that lives with his , two gold bars, is the キン .

Such a big must be as expensive as gold

The sits under the and guards his .

There are 2 gold inside the

You feel the {GON}g's vibrations in your heart, the {KANA}bis incense is so thick that you and your {KIN}dred spirits can't see the anymore. The monk is an old man but he's standing in front of the golden calmly, leaning on his {KANE}. If it wasn't for the {KON}fidence of what you all have to {GANE} for succeeding this mission, you're sure you'd all already be corpses laying on the at his feet.

The lives and in his hands he holds always bragging about how much gold he has

A stores deep in the basement under the .

Under his gigantic , the let 2 gold fall off his pockets.

Your next of KIN will inherit the gold/money

Some crazy on a drilling for gold

The who is wears gold .

under the of the gold shrine, stay {stroke order 干} with a crow & cat on the

A with their and gold

A is ing on pack of MONEY.