If you have just finished hiragana and katakana, kanji can feel like a wall. Thousands of characters, each with multiple readings, waiting on the other side. The good news is that your first stepping-stone is small and well-defined: the JLPT N5 kanji list — roughly 100 characters that cover numbers, dates, directions, and the most-common verbs and adjectives in Japanese. Learn these and you can read menus, train signs, and short children's books.

How Many Is "N5"?

The Japan Foundation does not publish an official JLPT vocabulary or kanji list — the test is competency-based. In practice, the N5 kanji list that textbooks and prep sites converge on is about 100 characters (most sources list 103, 104, or 107 depending on which borderline kanji they include). The exact count isn't important. What matters is that these ~100 characters are the ones you will meet first in almost any beginner material.

Why N5 kanji are the right first list: they are high-frequency, their stroke counts are low (most are 2–10 strokes), and their meanings are concrete — numbers, body parts, common verbs — so there is no abstract vocabulary getting in the way of learning.

Group 1 — Numbers (14 kanji)

The number kanji are the single easiest group and the one you should start with. Many are just straight strokes, and they appear everywhere.

The first ten are 1–10. is 100, is 1,000, is 10,000 (not 1,000,000 — Japanese counts in units of 10,000 instead of 1,000, so remember is "ten thousand"), and is yen. If you learn only this group in your first week, you can already read prices and basic quantities.

Group 2 — Days and Time (13 kanji)

The first seven are the days of the week — Sun, Moon, Fire, Water, Tree, Metal, Earth. Combined with (day) and (day/sun), they form (Monday), (Tuesday), and so on. The rest cover minutes (), hours (), "between/interval" (), "now" (), and "half" ().

These seven day-kanji double as natural elements and show up constantly in everyday vocabulary. Mastering them is a two-for-one deal.

Group 3 — When and How Often (6 kanji)

Year (), morning/noon marker (, used in AM and PM), before (), after (), week (), every (). These let you talk about last week, next year, every day.

Group 4 — People (13 kanji)

Person (), child (), woman (), man (), father (), mother (), friend (), ("teacher," literally "born earlier"), name (), I/private (), older brother (), younger sister ().

N5 doesn't typically include the full family set — N4 adds (younger brother) and (older sister). Learn the N5 four first and the pattern will carry over.

Group 5 — Position and Direction (11 kanji)

Up (), down (), left (), right (), middle (), outside (), four cardinal directions, and inside (). Watch out for vs — the bottom shape is the main difference and beginners often mix them up. Note that ("between/interval") doubles as a position kanji, but it was already covered in the time group.

Group 6 — Common Verbs (16 kanji)

Go (), come (), see (), hear/listen (), say (), read (), write (), eat (), drink (), buy (), enter (), exit (), stand (), rest (), talk (), walk (). These verbs show up on their own and as the base for many compound words.

Group 7 — Adjectives (13 kanji)

Big (), small (), high/expensive (), cheap/safe (), new (), old (), many (), few (), long (), and the four basic color kanji. Note that covers both "tall/high" and "expensive" — context sorts them.

Group 8 — Nature (7 kanji)

Mountain (), river (), rice field (), sky (), spirit/air (), rain (), heaven/weather (). is weather. These are all pictographic — literally looks like three peaks and is three vertical lines like a river.

Group 9 — Places and Things (12 kanji)

Car (), house (), country (), study (), school (), book/origin (), station (), shop (), road (), company/shrine (), language (), electricity (). Combine them for common words: (school), (Japanese language), (train, literally "electric car").

Recommended Learning Order

  1. Week 1 — Numbers + simple shapes. Numbers 1–10, then 100/1000/10000/yen. Add the 7 day-of-week kanji that double as nature elements.
  2. Week 2 — Time words. 年, 時, 分, 間, 今, 半, 曜, 午, 前, 後, 週, 毎. By the end you can read a clock or a calendar.
  3. Week 3 — People and position. The 13 people kanji + 12 position/direction kanji. These unlock reading addresses and introductions.
  4. Week 4 — Verbs. Learn all 16 verb kanji together. They are the most useful group for understanding sentences.
  5. Week 5 — Adjectives + nature. Opposites in pairs (big/small, new/old, many/few) and the 7 nature kanji.
  6. Week 6 — Places and things. The last ~12 kanji, which combine with earlier ones to form compounds.

Daily Practice Routine

N5 kanji are learnable in six weeks at 15–20 minutes a day. A proven loop:

  1. 5 minutes writing. Each new kanji 10 times with correct stroke order. Say the meaning as you write.
  2. 5 minutes recognition. Shuffle flashcards or a kanji list; name the meaning, not every reading. Readings come with words, not with isolated kanji.
  3. 5 minutes vocabulary. Pick 3 words that use the day's new kanji — e.g., 学 + 生 = 学生 (student), 日 + 本 = 日本 (Japan). Learning the kanji inside words is where the readings fall into place.
  4. Weekly review. One day a week, write out all kanji from previous weeks. This is the single most predictive habit for long-term retention.

Common Beginner Mistakes

  1. Memorizing every reading of every kanji. N5 kanji often carry several readings each. Learning them all in isolation is a trap. Learn kanji with a few key words and let the readings come with the words.
  2. Confusing look-alikes. 大 (big) / 太 (fat) / 犬 (dog) all differ by one small mark. Learn them in a group so the differences stand out, not one at a time.
  3. Skipping stroke order. Correct stroke order makes writing faster, more consistent, and more readable. It also helps you spot kanji look-alikes.
  4. Trying to learn N4 before N5 is solid. N4 adds about 180 more kanji that stack on N5. If N5 is shaky, N4 compounds the confusion.

The N5 list is small enough to finish and big enough to transform your reading. Most learners feel the shift about three weeks in — kanji they wrote once stops being flashcards and starts being words. From there, the N4 list isn't a wall; it is a continuation of a routine that already works.

Build your N5 kanji one stroke at a time with structured writing practice.

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