6. A right-to-left diagonal stroke precedes a left-to-right diagonal stroke.
人 (person)
7. A vertical line piercing through the center of a character is written last.
車 (vehicle)
8. A horizontal line piercing the center of the character is written last.
子 (child)
How do I learn to write kanji?
Remember that a good beginning and good planning are the keys to success in learning kanji. The following are some suggested steps for learning kanji using this workbook.
Get used to the strokes
Before writing any kanji, practice drawing some of the simple strokes with different endings many times on a sheet of scrap paper. For example, try drawing the strokes presented above (e.g., vertical lines, diagonal lines). Each time you end the stroke, say とめ tome (stop), はね hane (jump), or はらい harai (sweep), depending on which type of ending you are working on. If you have a brush and ink, try to make changes in the thickness of different portions of each stroke. Of course, you can also use a pen or pencil. If you do, ignore the difference in the thickness of different portions of each stroke. Just get used to the general flow of strokes. It will help you to write kanji beautifully in an authentic style.
Understand the character
Before writing an actual kanji character as a whole, familiarize yourself with its meaning, pronunciation, usage examples, and radical. Be creative and make associations to help you remember the shape, composition, meaning, and sound of the character you are working on. Your associations can be logical or natural, or can be silly or funny. Your imagination and creativity will always help you learn and remember new things, especially when you are dealing with numerous items. Under each character in this book, the first several boxes show the stroke order and direction. Refer to them, and try writing the character once. The number of strokes for each kanji is specified in the upper-right corner of each page. Check whether you used the correct number of strokes when you wrote the kanji. Then compare your character with the one printed on the page. Pay attention to the size and the position of the character in relation with the box as well as the proportion and shape of the lines.
Practice writing the character
When you have fully understood the given character in terms of meaning, pronunciation, usage, radical, and stroke order, write it about 10 times in a row. You may not believe it, but your hand muscle will remember how to write a kanji if you repeat writing it many times. If helpful, trace over the gray characters at the beginning of each page.
Review kanji periodically
Practice a few new characters at a time every day following the above steps. Once you have worked your way through the first half of the book, in which the kanji are introduced for the first time, move on to the practice exercises in the second half of the book. These practice exercises will allow you to use the 103 kanji you have learned, plus your existing knowledge of hiragana and katakana, to write real vocabulary words, which is a great way to reinforce and remember the kanji. Each exercise gives particular emphasis to the four kanji given in the heading, and you should find that as you work your way through the exercises that your writing becomes smoother and your recall of the characters easier. The more vocabulary words you learn, and the more you practice writing them, the easier it becomes to memorize the kanji!
頑張ってください。
Ganbatte kudasai!
Try your best (and good luck)!
一
(1 strokes)
meaning
one
radical
一
ON readings
イチ ICHI, イッ I’
KUN readings
ひと- hito-,
ひと-つ hito-tsu
common words
一人 ひとり hitori one person
一日 いちにち/ ichinichi/ a day; all day/ ついたち tsuitachi the first day (of the month)
一つ ひとつ hitotsu one (piece; age)
一月 いちがつ ichigatsu January
二
(2 strokes)
meaning
two
radical
二
ON readings
ニ NI
KUN readings
ふた futa,
ふた-つ futa-tsu
common words
二月 にがつ nigatsu February
二人 ふたり futari two people
二日 ふつか futsuka two days, 2nd day of the month
二千 にせん nisen two thousand
二つ ふたつ futatsu two (pieces; age)
三
(3 strokes)
meaning
three
radical
一
ON readings
サン SAN
KUN readings
み mi-,
み(っ)-つ mi(t)-tsu
common words
三月 さんがつ sangatsu March
三日 みっか mikka three days, 3rd day of the month
三人 さんにん san’nin three people
三つ みっつ mittsu three (pieces; age)
四
(5 strokes)
meaning
four
radical
囗
ON readings
シ SHI
KUN readings
よ yo, よ(っ)-つ yo(t)-tsu, よん yon
common words
四月 しがつ shigatsu April
四日 よっか yokka four days, 4th of the month
四人 よにん yonin four people
四回 よんかい