Compare (比)

Use the image of a spoon (ヒ) to create your stories.

Here we see two spoons and if we “compare” the two, the one on the right looks like the normal kanji for spoon (ヒ) but the one on the left looks a little squashed.

Use this “comparison” to get this kanji firmly separated in your mind from “north”.

Just to mess with your brain – ヒ is also the katakana for “hi”. Don’t get them confused ^^

North (北)

The Heisig primitive for ヒ is “two people sitting on the ground”.

Your mnemonic here is to visualise two people sitting back looking up at the “northern” stars in the sky or two people sitting back to back to keep warm in a freezing wind blowing in from the Arctic “north“.

Beware not to confuse the left hand side with the Heisig “turtle” primitive, which features in kanji such as 兆 (portent). However, the stroke order is different and the look is slightly different – confusing I know!

Download a pdf of today’s kanji →

Remember that if these don’t work for you, think of another story that makes sense to you.

It’s no use forcing yourself to remember a story that just won’t stick. The idea is to make it work for you and your memory will take care of the rest.

The possibilities are endless.

• Similar Kanji: Special, Wait and Hold
• Similar Kanji: Person vs Enter
• Mnemonics: Learn Japanese Faster
• Remembering the Kanji: One Year Later
• Learn Kanji: North, South, East and West

Special (特)

Use the images of “cow (牛)” and “Buddhist Temple (寺)” to create your stories. The most popular mnemonic for this kanji is the use of “Cow” as a sacred or “special” animal in countries like India where, in some places, a person can be jailed for killing or injuring a cow!

Picture the religious image of a cow to remember that “special” “cows” roam freely in the “temple” grounds.

Wait (待)

The Heisig primitive on the left of this kanji means either “column”, “going” or “line” – in this instance we’ll use “line”. Again on the right hand side we see “Buddhist Temple (寺)”.

Imagine going to a well-known tourist area such as Nikko, in the height of the Japanese summer, and having to “wait” in “line” to see the “temples”. No-one likes to wait – use that image to make sure you remember this one.

Hold (持)

This time we have “finger” on the left and “Buddhist Temple (寺)” on the right.

At most temples you’ll see one or more large bells that are struck with a large wooden log or smaller bells that are rung by hand. We’re going to use the smaller bells as our story for this kanji.

The monks each “hold” a bell between their “fingers” and ring them at important times throughout the day at the “Buddhist Temple”.

Download a pdf of today’s kanji →

Remember that if these don’t work for you, think of another story that makes sense to you.

For example we could have used something like – “At a Buddhist temple, the monks hold their fingers together during prayer time” or the image of a monk holding himself up with one finger at the Buddhist temple.

The possibilities are endless.

• Look-alike Kanji for Beginners
• Similar Kanji: Person vs Enter
• Similar Kanji: Compare and North
• Japan Images: Saturday on Takeshita
• Similar Kanji: Eye vs Oneself

Not only are kanji difficult to read, write and remember in the first instance, when you gradually start to acquire more and more kanji, you’ll start to notice that there are many kanji which look similar to those that you have already learned!

This post will go over a few of the kanji that are frequently encountered at a beginner level, and therefore tested in the JLPT N5 and N4 exams.

It’s no surprise that there are lots of kanji that have a similar visual appearance. After all, many kanji consist of radicals and components which are themselves simplified versions of other kanji and carry a meaning of their owSo, let’s get started!

右 ・ 左 ・ 友

‘Left’ 左 and ‘friend’ 友 look the same as they share the same radical.

There is no real reason why ‘right’ 右 and ‘left’ 左 look similar, as they come from quite different origins. Both were originally Chinese pictographs, that have evolved to look similar.

This explains why the stroke order of the two characters is different. The Chinese 屮 evolved into 左 over time and 又 became 右. You’ll see how this change happened by looking at the original seal scripts…

Seal script example →

Understand that the only link that 右 and 左 have is their opposing meaning and you’ll be fine!

天 ・ 夫

I get the feeling that many people mix these kanji up simply because they forget how they are properly written, similarly to how ほ is mixed up with ま if you forget that the top stroke cuts through one vertical line but not the other.

As long as you remember that the sky/heavens have a limit above which nothing can extend, you’ll find that these two become more difficult to mix up.

時 ・ 待 ・ 持 ・ 特

These four often pose a lot of problems to beginner learners and even scare some of them away from learning Japanese.

This is because they are all taught very early on and can be found very frequently in all kinds of Japanese texts.

The trick to cracking this problem is to learn the right part of the kanji by heart. It helps that 寺 itself is quite a useful kanji meaning ‘Buddhist temple’ which you’ll need to learn for JLPT N2 anyway.

The first one, ‘time, hour’ 時, is really easy to remember. Think of the ‘sun’ 日 passing over the Buddhist temple.

In ancient China, not unlike in Medieval Europe, a gong at temples was sounded every two hours to tell the time.

The other three are more abstract and so require a little bit more thought:

You’ll notice that the left radical of ‘to wait’ 待 is also found in 行 which is not a coincidence. 彳can often be found in characters pertaining to waiting, loitering and all kinds of movement and I like to remember it as the international symbol for ‘pause’ ❚❚.

The left radical of ‘to hold, to have’ 持 is in fact a simplified version of ‘hand’ 手. It too is frequently found in all kinds of useful characters and thus worth remembering by itself. In all four kanji, the reason for the presence of 寺 is purely phonetic, but you can think of monks holding something in their hands.

The left radical of ‘special’ 特 is ‘ox’ 牛. Especially if we take into account that many Japanese monks are vegetarian, a scrumptious piece of grilled beef at a temple must be really special!

火・水・氷

It’s a shame that ‘fire’ 火 and ‘water’ 水 look somewhat similar, as they are both used for days of the week.

When I was learning, I made a real point of thinking that for 火, the outermost strokes aren’t at all connected to the ‘body’ (pun intended) of the kanji, just like flickering flames of a fire.

As for distinguishing between 水 and 氷, why not think that that first extra stroke that you must add to write ‘ice’ is representative of that first extra bit of effort you must undertake to turn water into ice? A little abstract, I know, but I bet you’ll remember the difference now!

目・日

I don’t think that people usually have difference with these two, as they’re usually introduced in such different contexts. That said, in the pressure of the examination room, it’s all too easy to make a quick error. Which is more visually complicated at first glance, an eye, or the sun? This is why the kanji for eye has one extra stroke.

古・土・上

To distinguish between ‘old’ 古 and ‘soil’ 土, remember than in the former the cross is on top of a tombstone, where as in the latter, it’s planted in the soil.

As for ‘up’ 上, it can be easily remembered when paired with ‘down’ 下. In neither of these kanji does the smaller stroke extend all the way through the vertical stroke.

大・犬・太

These kanji are extremely similar, but they don’t usually present problems as they’re rather simple and are usually learned in different contexts. I’ve included them here for reference – particuary because ‘wide’ 太 and ‘big’ 大 can easily be muddled up as their meaning is so similar.

There are plenty more kanji that I could have included in this short run-through, in particular the various kanji that use the ‘gate’ 門 radical.

But, getting this lot right will stand you in good stead to become a kanji master! Which kanji do you think I should have included? Are there any that you have difficulty distinguishing between?

This is a guest post by Ollie Capehorn who’s part of the team that creates NihongoUp, the online Japanese textbook. You can read more at the Japanese blog and Twitter @nihongoup.

• Similar Kanji: Special, Wait and Hold
• Review: Kodansha Kanji Dictionary
• Similar Kanji: Person vs Enter
• Similar Kanji: White vs Day
• Similar Kanji: Noon vs Cow

In terms of similar kanji, 氷 (icicle) and 永 (eternity) are very close. They’re clearly not indistinguishable but at normal reading size they can be difficult to tell apart especially for beginners.

If we threw in 水 to the mix, which is the kanji for water, we could thoroughly confuse ourselves – so I think we’ll just stick with these two for today. ^_^

My mnemonic (visual clue) for keeping these two kanji clear in my mind is to visualise that “If you snap the tip off the icicle (氷), it will be broken for an eternity (永)”.

The icicle kanji – 氷 – has the straight up tip with the small stroke to the left while the kanji for Eternity – 永 – looks like someone has snapped the top and pushed it to the left.

Remember that as crazy as some of these mnemonics sound, they really work.

Example Usage

Readings

氷 (On: ヒョウ Kun: こおり, ひ, こおる)

永 (On: エイ Kun: ながい)

• Word Of The Week: Choushoku (朝食)
• Japan Vocab: Weather Words
• Similar Kanji: Taste vs Wisdom
• Similar Kanji: Eye vs Oneself
• Japan Signs: A Day At Ueno Zoo

目 (eye) and 自 (oneself) are separated by just one small stroke and as such prove to be tricky for beginners to remember. Both kanji are part of the JLPT3 and are taught in grade one and two at Japanese schools respectively.

My visual clue (or mnemonic) for remembering the kanji for eye (目) is to imagine an “eye” looking through open wooden blinds – the blinds being represented by the horizontal lines in the kanji.

So the horizontal lines in 目 are the wooden parts of the blind going across your window and you use one “eye” to look out through them.

For oneself (自) I imagine the top vertical stroke as a hand that is stuck up in the air when you are asked to identify yourself. So if you are in class and the teacher calls out your name and you stick your hand in the air, then your are identifying yourself or “oneself”.

Remember that as crazy as some of these mnemonics sound, they really work.

Example Usage

• Similar Kanji: White vs Day
• Similar Kanji: Person vs Enter
• Similar Kanji: Special, Wait and Hold
• Similar Kanji: Icicle vs Eternity
• Similar Kanji: Compare and North

• 人 – Person
• 入 – Enter, insert

人 (Person) and 入 (Enter) are both JLPT4/N5 and learnt in Grade 1 in Japanese schools, however for a beginner, they can be very easily mixed up.

The only visual difference between the two is the small stroke at the top of 入 (enter), which is what I use to create a story in my mind to remember the two.

However, the line at the top is not an actual stroke (both are two stroke kanji) so you may see 入 without the line when it is hand-written or in different printed fonts out in the wild when you’re next travelling around Japan.

The example image above is a very common use of the “Enter” kanji, which you will see everywhere in Japan as it means Entrance (入 – Enter, 口 – Mouth, Opening). Thanks to kejhu for image.

So how do I differentiate the two when there is no extra line at the top? The kanji for 人 (Person) tends to lean to the right and 入 (Enter) seems to lean to the left.

I learnt 人 (person) first and used the obvious similarity to a person standing with their legs apart to remember it, which has served me well. Once you get a few kanji under your belt these early ones seem like a breeze. Really ^_^

So to remember 入 (enter) I visualise a very tall person “entering” through a doorway with his head bent slightly forward (the stroke at the top of the kanji). If you really want to stretch your imagination the kanji also resembles an old fashioned key, with your hand holding the end (the shape of a V) and “inserting” the key in to a door allows you to “enter”.

Mnemonics don’t work for everyone but they work very well for me and hopefully you.

• Similar Kanji: White vs Day
• Similar Kanji: Special, Wait and Hold
• Similar Kanji: Compare and North
• Similar Kanji: Eye vs Oneself
• Similar Kanji: Noon vs Cow

In today’s Similar Kanji series we look at – 午 (noon) versus 牛 (cow).

• 午 – Noon, seventh sign of Chinese zodiac, sign of the horse
• 牛 – Cow

I have no special memory ideas for 午 (noon), it’s just one of the kanji I learnt early on as part of JLPT4 and found quite easy to lock away somewhere in my brain.

Some suggest remembering the head of a horse as the kanji relates to the sign of the horse in the zodiac but that never worked for me – you may get more mileage perhaps.

However, it was 牛 (cow) that always had me confused and I constantly got it wrong as the only real difference between the two is the slight vertical line at the top of the kanji (牛).

My advice to separate the two in your mind is to imagine that the line at the top of 牛 (cow) is the horn of a bull, which is similar enough to a cow to trigger the memory.

As soon as I used that idea it was very easy to separate the two in my head and I moved on to the next 1943 kanji to memorise!

• Look-alike Kanji for Beginners
• Similar Kanji: Taste vs Wisdom
• Similar Kanji: Person vs Enter
• Similar Kanji: White vs Day
• Similar Kanji: Eye vs Oneself

While these kanji (味 – Flavour, taste and 知 – Know, wisdom) are less alike than some of my previous examples in this series, they still can provide some confusion at the JLPT 3rd and 4th levels with the same basic box on the side and a similar looking object on the side.

If you see these kanji in various textbooks be aware that they can look very different depending on the font style used to display them.

知 is clarified in my memory by visualising the left half as a person with a hat, arms and legs holding out his arm to get a book from a shelf (the box on the right), perhaps in a library or bookstore. This ties back nicely to growing your knowledge or “wisdom” by reading books.

To memorise 味 I break it down into two parts – the long rectangle on the left that looks like an outstretched tongue and the kanji on the right – 未 – that kanji on its own means “not yet”. So the memory trigger is that the character on the right has “not yet” come in to contact with the “tongue” on the left to be able to “taste” the “flavour”.

As I alluded to earlier, when you see these kanji written in a more traditional way (calligraphy), the long thin boxes on either side can look more like a square box, which may negate the “tongue” memory idea above. However, as with the English alphabet, once you have mastered these your brain can deal with the slight variations you will find between written styles.

There are several other kanji (和 – harmony, 咲 – blossom) that look similar to 味 and 知 but they’re both part of JLPT 2 and if you’re reading this you’re probably a long way from that level yet!

Visual memory triggers, called mnemonics, work well for me but it’s just one way of memorising kanji – use whatever works for you. If you’re keen to explore mnemonics further then I suggest a visit to the excellent Reviewing The Kanji website.

Example Usage

• Similar Kanji: Noon vs Cow
• Look-alike Kanji for Beginners
• Similar Kanji: Icicle vs Eternity
• Similar Kanji: Compare and North
• Have Fun With Kanji Reps

Visually 日 (day) and 白 (white) are differentiated by just a small stroke at the top of 白. Both kanji are part of JLPT 4 and are learnt in grade one in Japan.

日 (Day, Sun, Counter for days) is possibly one of the first kanji you will see and/or learn as it forms the first part of the word “nihon” (日 – ni, 本 – hon) meaning Japan and is also officially ranked as the most used kanji in Japanese newspapers.

My visual trigger to remember the meaning of 日 is that I imagine the kanji represents a “day” that is split up in to two parts or boxes and I use that to refer to the two parts of the “day” – AM and PM. You can also imagine it as it’s other meaning, “sun” (top of the box) rising over the horizon (bottom of the box).

To memorise “white” (白) I use the short stroke at the top to visualise as an arm on top of a body (the two boxes) holding a “white” flag and surrendering. To not confuse this with “oneself” (自), which has three “parts”, I think of the body holding the “white” flag as having two halves – the waist up and then waist down

Over time (and with lots of study) you will remember these easier JLPT4 kanji without the need for any special triggers as you don’t have another 1500 kanji in your head at that point to confuse things (^_^). If either of these kanji are not sticking in your memory somewhere then hopefully the memory triggers above can help.

Examples

• Similar Kanji: Taste vs Wisdom
• Similar Kanji: Eye vs Oneself
• Similar Kanji: Person vs Enter
• Similar Kanji: Compare and North
• Learn Kanji: The Kanji Starter Kit