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)

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• Similar Kanji: Taste vs Wisdom
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• Similar Kanji: Eye vs Oneself

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: Icicle vs Eternity
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• 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: Eye vs Oneself
• Similar Kanji: Noon vs Cow
• Similar Kanji: Icicle vs Eternity
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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!

• Similar Kanji: Taste vs Wisdom
• Similar Kanji: White vs Day
• Similar Kanji: Person vs Enter
• Similar Kanji: Eye vs Oneself
• Romaji Is Evil

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
• Similar Kanji: Icicle vs Eternity
• Similar Kanji: White vs Day
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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: Noon vs Cow
• Mnemonics: Learn Japanese Faster