How to study Japanese kanji effectively

I think the key to memorizing kanji characters is practice and repetition. Studying systematically, like you know, everyday is the key to be successful. It sounds really simple, but it might not be that easy to execute on. I have been studying kanji on and off for several years now and because I wasn’t very systematic I can just really remember a handful of them.

I am slowly getting into it again and I really want to get it right this time. Currently going through some strategies that helped me in the past but also trying to do some things differently.

I hope my experiences can help you to be a bit more effective with studying the kanji.

Understand how kanji characters are structured and written

For me it was extremely useful to realise that kanji characters are constructed and written in a very systematic way.

To put it bluntly, but hopefully not oversimplifying:

1. There are only 8 strokes.
2. Stroke order matters.
3. Kanji characters are made from sub-parts called radicals.

Thus we can say we have a stroke -> radical -> kanji kind of structure. Let’s explore this in a greater detail.

1. There are only 8 strokes

Check out the Eight Principles of Yong on Wikipedia, where you can see all 8 strokes. The “eternity” 永 kanji character depicted there is very special as it contains all 8 strokes:

1. dot
2. horizontal line
3. vertical line
4. hook
5. raise
6. curve
7. slant
8. forceful press

2. Stroke order matters

As you might know, you suppose to write kanji strokes in a particular order. This was a bit strange for me at the beginning, but now I understand that this helps to make your writing more readable for others as the composition balance improves; makes you write faster and also helps you memorise the kanji better. It’s all about the muscle memory.

When you have a look at a dictionary, each kanji comes with the specified stroke order. Fortunately there are simple rules, that would allow you to write kanji you never seen before in correct order most of the time:

• write horizontal strokes from left to right and vertical ones from top to bottom,
• write horizontal stroke before vertical stroke,
• write center vertical part before symmetrical outside,
• enclose contents on three sides first, write contents and then bottom enclosure last,
• write right-to-left diagonals before left-to-right diagonals,
• write strokes that cross through many other strokes last,
• write dots and dashes last, unless they come on top of the kanji.

For more detailed explanation and examples see a great resource about the kanji stroke order on the Tofugu blog.

3. Kanji characters are made from sub-parts called radicals

I think the fact that kanji characters are completely or partly made out of common elements called radicals is the most useful thing to know about kanji, ever.

Since each radical is either a kanji itself, a part of it or a simplified version of a kanji character, they also do carry a meaning.

By learning around 200 or so radicals you can speed up learning other characters using those as building blocks. This is also what Heisig method is really about: using previously known characters’ meanings to construct stories about new characters you try to learn. Apparently humans are very good in remembering stories.

You can use tools like Kanji Alive to search for kanji and identify its radicals. Online dictionaries like Jisho.org and Tangorin.com are also great for that. I sometime use mobile app dictionary Takoboto for that purpose. It’s great since it works offline as well.

Write kanji many times

You can start with pen, paper and a list of kanji characters… and just practice away.

Personally, I have also found writing whole sentences in Japanese very useful. It helped me to memorize a kanji character in the context of a whole word. This helps me to remember kanji readings better too.

However, I still believe spending some time initially writing kanji character by itself many times is useful to get the better feel for the character, proper stroke order and balance of its elements.

This is why calligraphy has traditionally been an important component of language learning, not just an art form. Muscle memory is very helpful when trying to master over 2,000 characters.

So that probably should be another tip to study kanji effectively: practice shodō – Japanese calligraphy. I have taken a few classes and found it eye-opening and actually a lot of fun. There are also courses online, like the Mindful Japanese Calligraphy on Udemy or the Shodo Beginners course.

Moreover, I also really enjoyed using the Japanese Kanji Study app on my Android phone. I found it extremely useful to review kanji on the go, like in the train or waiting for a doctor’s appointment, where I would waste time anyway. There is also an iOS version, but I’ve never used it.

Try using mnemonics and the Heisig method

Since we already know that each kanji and its parts (radicals) carry a meaning, we can use that to create a mnemonic hint in a form of short sentence to help with memorization of a kanji character. You can have a look at some nice examples of mnemonics like Henshall Kanji Mnemonics or Ulrike’s Mnemonics.

I trully find this mnemonics concept, and particularly the Heisig’s method, an extremely helpful tool. The “Remembering the Kanji” is a series of three volumes by James Heisig who has introduced a method of associating meaning of the character with a story describing how the character should be written.

In Heisig’s book the meaning of kanji character is expressed as a single English keyword. Heisig believes that this way it is easier to not forget the meaning of the kanji characters. Moreover, I really find those stories much more compelling then other mnemonics, as he really tries to use those single English keywords consistently across all stories.

Some books like “Genki Kanji Look and Learn” use pictograms and drawings explaining Kanji origin to further aid in memorizing each character. I have personally found it very helpful for simpler kanji characters, but not as much for more complex ones. It was not that clear anymore for me how to make association between the meaning and the drawing, and vice versa.

If you’re ever after a more detailed dive into kanji you might consider checking out the classics as well: “A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters” by Kenneth G. Henshall and “2001 kanji” by De Roo Joseph R. These, provide you with a greater knowledge on each character’s origin. I haven’t used those book personally yet, but they look very useful to me. There is a nice comparison of Heisig’s, Henshall’s and De Roo’s books.

Take advantage of the spaced repetition software

Spaced repetition is a simple algorithm to optimise repetition frequency for each concept, word or kanji you try to memorize. It helps you to study kanji characters you don’t know well yet, more often, but space the ones you know very well further apart.

You can use a spaced repetition software (SRS) to not only greatly reduce your study time, but to also save you writing down your progress or planning what to study next etc. SRS acts like a virtual flashcards quiz that selects which kanji you should study next based on your current progress.

I usually go with Anki for my kanji study. It’s free, customizable and powerful. It takes some time to get use to though, and there are many imperfections, as this is a 100% open source, community-driven solution.

You can create your own desks of virtual flashcards there, but there is already a considerable library of community desks you can download too. I’ve used this one quite a lot. It contains kanji flash cards in order following Heisig’s “Remembering the Kanji”.

These were my favourite kanji study resources I believe anyone can use to study kanji effectively. I plan to use them to (this time) progress past the first few hundred kanji characters… Wish me luck, and please feel free to share what resources you’ve been using in the comments below. I would really appreciate that