kanjis

Kanji are logographic characters used in the Japanese writing system. They were borrowed from Chinese characters and adapted in Japan over centuries, forming a core component of written Japanese. In typical text, kanji are used alongside two syllabaries, hiragana and katakana, to express both meaning and grammatical elements. A single kanji may have several readings, notably on'yomi (Sino-Japanese readings) and kun'yomi (native Japanese readings); the reading chosen depends on word formation, context, and historical convention.

Kanji numbers are large, with thousands in existence. Everyday literacy relies on a standardized subset known as the Jōyō kanji, currently about 2,136 characters. Elementary education covers a foundational set called kyōiku kanji, totaling 1,006 characters. Most writing uses a mix of common kanji and kana to indicate inflection and function words. Many words are written with two or more kanji (jukugo), while some are written with a single kanji that carries multiple pronunciations.

Orthography and variation: modern Japanese uses shinjitai, the newer, simplified forms of kanji, in contrast to kyūjitai, the traditional forms. These simplifications differ from those used in Mainland China. Historically, kanji were augmented by native Japanese creations (kokuji) and by characters adapted from Chinese editions. In dictionaries, kanji are indexed by radical and stroke count, with readings noted for both on'yomi and kun'yomi. In the digital era, kanji are encoded in Unicode and entered via input methods that convert phonetic input into the appropriate characters.