The kanji textbooks and study lists shown below can be used as search categories using Kanji alive’s Advanced Search syntax.
For example, if you’d like to view all the kanji introduced in Genki, Lesson 3 you would type text:gen:c3 into the Kanji alive search field. Please review the Advanced Search section in the User Guide or watch the tutorial video on Advanced Search to learn how to search for kanji by textbook or study list.
Kanji alive can be customized on request to support lesson plans or study lists from individual institutions. Please read our Notes for Instructors for more details if you would like to add your study list or lesson plan to our list.
Textbooks
Communicating in Japanese, Hiroyoshi Noto, 1999, Sotakusha
『コミュニケーションのための日本語』
Lesson 6 – 31 (e.g. text:cij:c6 or else text:cijr:c7 for reading kanji only)
Intermediate Japanese for University Students, Hiroyoshi Noto, 1996, Taishukan Shoten
『英文 中級日本語』
Lesson 1 – 20 (e.g. text:ij:c1)
Mimi o sumaseba, Hiroyoshi Noto, Harumi Hibino Lory, Yoshiko Uchida, 2000 (used only at the University of Chicago)
『耳をすませば』
Lesson 1 – 14 (e.g. text:mos:c1 or else text:mosr:c2 for reading kanji only)
Majo no takkyuubin, Hiroyoshi Noto, Harumi Hibino Lory, 2000 (used only at the University of Chicago)
『魔女の宅急便』
Lesson 1 – 7 (e.g. text:mnt:c1 or else text:mntr:c2 for reading kanji only)
Basic Kanji Book, Chieko Kano, Yuri Shimizu, Hiroko Takenaka, Eriko Ishii, 2004, Bonjinsha
『基本漢字500』
Lesson 1 – 45 (e.g. text:bk:c1)
Genki, Eri Banno, Kyoko Shinagawa, Yoko Sakane, Hiroki Ono, Kyoko Tokashiki, 1999, Japan Times
『げんき』
Lesson 3 – 23 (e.g. text:gen:c3)
Kanji Look & Learn, Eri Banno, Yoko Ikeda, Kyoko Shinagawa, Kaori tajima, Kyoko tokashiki, 2009, Japan Times
Lesson 1 – 32 (e.g. text:kll:c1)
Note: the kanji 吉 in lesson 27 is neither second level JLPT kanji nor educational kanji and thus is not supported by Kanji alive.
Adventures in Japanese, Hiromi Peterson and Naomi Omizo, 2007, 3rd edition, Cheng & Tsui Company
Vol. 1, Lesson 13 – 15 (e.g. text:aij3:v1:c13)
Vol. 2, Lesson 2 – 7 (no kanji in lesson 1 and 8) , 9 – 15 (no kanji in lesson 12)
Vol. 3, Lesson 1 – 4, 6 – 9 (no kanji in lesson 5)
Vol. 4, Lesson 1 – 4, 6 – 9 (no kanji in lesson 5)
Note: the kanji 嬉 from Chapter 7 of the fourth volume is neither a second level JLPT kanji nor an educational kanji and thus is not supported by Kanji alive.
Adventures in Japanese, Hiromi Peterson and Naomi Omizo, 2014, 4th edition, Cheng & Tsui Company
Vol. 1, Lesson 3 – 12 (e.g. text:aij4:v1:c3)
Intermediate Kanji Book Vol.1, Chieko Kano, Yuri Shimizu, Hiroko Takenaka, Eriko Ishii, 2011, the revised third edition, Bonjinsha
Lesson 1 – 10, LR1 and LR2. (e.g. text:ik1:c1)
Note: the kanji 訂 and 援 in lesson 3, the kanji 裕 in lesson 4, the kanji 拍 in LR1 (treated as Chapter 11 in Kanji alive), the kanji 併 and 睡 in lesson 7, the kanji 撃, 振, 煮 in lesson 9 and the kanji 被 and 購 in LR2 (treated as Chapter 12 in Kanji alive) are neither second level JLPT kanji nor educational kanji and thus are not supported by Kanji alive.
TOBIRA: Gateway to Advanced Japanese Learning Through Content and Multimedia, Mayumi Oka, Michio Tsutsui, Junko Kondo, Shouko Emori, Yoshiro Hanai, and Satoru Ishikawa, Kuroshio Shuppan
『上級へのとびら』
Lesson 1 – 15 (e.g. text:jt:c1 or else text:jtr:c1 for reading kanji only)
Note: the following 13 kanji for reading only (the kanji 躍 in lesson 7, 環 in lesson 9, 及 and 徴 in lesson 10, 江 lesson 11, 隠, 丈 and 飾 in lesson 12, 憶 in lesson 13, 剣 and 雰 in lesson 14 恵 and 寿 in lesson 15) are neither second level JLPT kanji nor educational kanji and thus are not supported by Kanji alive.
Study Lists / Lesson Plans
Advanced Placement (AP) Kanji
AP日本語試験の漢字リスト
Lesson 1 – 20 (e.g. list:ap:c1)
Division of kanji into lessons (PDF) by Kanji alive team.
Macquarie University
Macquarie大学日本語111の漢字リスト
Lesson 12 – 22 (e.g. list:mac:c12)
Note: The kanji 井、頁、and 又 are neither second level JLPT kanji nor educational kanji, and thus are not supported by Kanji alive.
Konnichiwa
I am a beginner in kanji and where can I start from the grade 1 kanji
Hi Stella, to quickly find all Grade 1 kanji in Kanji alive, type (without the quotes) “grade:1” in the search field and press enter/return. Then, if you wish, click multiple times on the “Sort” button to view these results sorted in different ways and click on an individual kanji to view its details.
Searching for kanji in Kanji alive is described step-by-step in the User Guide (http://kanjialive.com/user-guide/) and in an abbreviated form in the Quick Reference guide in the app itself (click on the “Info” button to view it). Alternatively, you can watch the “Quick Search” and “Advanced Search” how-to videos on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/kanjialive).
Will I have to switch to PC? Searching grade:1 (or other ##:##) doesn’t seem to work on mobile. I can switch, but I stongly prefer mobile so I can go hours a day without my turn ending
You’re quite right.. unfortunately, support for mobile devices is weak to non-existent on the current version of Kanji alive. We’ve been working on an upgrade to the web app which (in addition to some new features) is also meant to address this problem. However, it’s not done yet. Kanji alive is something we work on in our spare time on a volunteer basis, and we’ve just not had a lot of it lately!
For a preview, please take a look at http://beta.kanjialive.com The layout still doesn’t adapt to mobile devices (again – it’s not done yet) but it’s an improvement over the current version. Moreover, in the beta you can enter the search term directly into your web browser’s address bar (i.e. as part of the URL). Try it first on a PC to see what I mean. We’ll provide proper documentation for this soon. In terms of new features, the beta adds full support for radicals (including all variants), the ability to search for kanji by radical position (e.g. rpos:hen), additional kanji typefaces, fixes some typos (especially in the Examples), adds a new textbook, and indicates the radical position type with a symbol in the detail view.
Hey , i just started learning japanese few weeks ago right now im pretty confident in my hiragana & katakana so i figured it’s time to move on and i wonder how do you guys know which kanji you should start with ? Is it usefull to learn all the radicals first and is there a list with the most common kanjis you need to easier learn more about grammar etc. right now my grammar & vocabulary is pretty much non existend so i wonder what should i do next .. I tried to google what to do next and alot of people say start with kanji first but i wonder ” where to start in kanji ” like do i just google random kanji words and cram then ? Or should i learn some basic phrases first and read some website in Hiragana & Katakana and Furigana to practice more on my reading skills to make it easier for me later on to study grammar and it would be nice if you could recommend me some text books as for now i was going to buy Genki 1 version 2 but it’s like 80€ + on amazon even though it’s just like 3000~ something Yen … thank you in advance
Dear Svengb,
Thank you for your email and inquiry.
If you want to learn Japanese, it would be better to learn grammar, vocabulary and kanji at the same time. So I would recommend that you use a textbook you like. I think you can take a look at some Japanese language textbooks at your local libraries or bookstores to decide which one you like. You could also buy a used one online if you prefer.
The Genki series is very popular and used at many universities. (I have not used them personally because we use different textbooks at the University of Chicago.) The Genki series has many helpful on-line resources and CDs. http://genki.japantimes.co.jp/index_en I know they are a lit bit expensive, but it is worth while spending your money on them if you want to learn Japanese seriously. It is a good investment for you. Cheaper textbooks are sometimes not good ones.
In Genki, kanji are first introduced in lesson 3. You can learn kanji in each lesson of Genki by accessing their web site and Kanji alive. When you learn each kanji using Kanji alive, you can learn radicals one by one. You don’t need to learn all the radicals before learning kanji. It’s too hard! Focus instead on the one’s we’ve marked as ‘Important’ in the list on this site. The Mnemonic Hints will be helpful too for you to remember kanji and their meanings. If you are not familiar with how to use Kanji alive, please watch the demo videos https://www.youtube.com/user/kanjialive and read the user guide http://kanjialive.com/user-guide/.
Good luck on your study of Japanese!
If you have any more questions, please feel free to email me any time.
Best,
Harumi Lory
Kanji alive team
I Have completed Tobira Power Up Your Kanji and I want to complete Kanji up to Level N2. Where Should I Head Next?
Dear Pyush,
I am not familiar with Tobira Power Up Your Kanji but it seems that this textbook includes kanji that appear at JLPT Level 2.
http://www.amazon.com/Tobira-Power-Up-Your-Kanji/dp/4874244874 So I guess you have completed learning them. Since I don’t know your goals for learning kanji, I’m afraid I can’t give you any appropriate suggestions. But I can say that if you want to pass JLPT Level 1, it would be good to learn those kanji.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to email me any time.
Best,
Harumi Lory
Kanji alive team
Can you search for kanji for each JLPT level?
Hi Timothy, Kanji alive supports all kanji taught in Japanese elementary schools and those included up to level N2 of the JLPT. We don’t support searching by JLPT level. In recent years, the JLPT has recommended moving away from working off specific lists of kanji for each level towards a more holistic characterization of language competency. In consequence, many of the old JLPT kanji lists in circulation are no longer completely accurate. This is another reason we decided not to offer search by JLPT level.
Dear Arno,
Once I have learnt all the basic kanji for elementary school and all the 214 radical in this site. Is there a list of all kanji for secondary school? Are there more radicals for secondary school level?
Dear Geoffrey, thank you for your email. You can see a list of kanji taught in middle school (Chugaku grades 1-3) at http://kanjitisiki.com/tyugako/. Please note: since Kanji alive supports only 1235 kanji, it doesn’t support many of the kanji taught in middle schools. Regarding the radicals, there are only 214 radicals for all of the Japanese kanji. So once you learn those 214 radicals, they will serve you for as many kanji as you wish to study.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to email us again.
Best,
Harumi Lory
Kanji alive team
I’m not complaining since I’m very grateful for your free service.
But I wonder if you couldn’t add the kanji for “Minna no Nihongo” 1&2 at least?
It’s such a popular book it seems conspicuously absent.