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Kyōiku kanji

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Kyōiku kanji (教育漢字, lit. "education kanji"), also known as Gakunenbetsu kanji haitōhyō (学年別漢字配当表, lit. "list of kanji by school year") is a list of 1,006 kanji developed and maintained by the Japanese Ministry of Education that prescribes which kanji Japanese schoolchildren should learn for each year of elementary school. Although the list is designed for Japanese children, it is also very useful for non-native speakers, by limiting the kanji to the most commonly used in the culture.

Versions of kyōiku list

  • 1946 created with 881 characters
  • 1977 expanded to 996 characters
  • 1982 expanded to 1,006 characters by adding ten roman numerals

(In some contexts, the term gakushū kanji ("Study characters") is used to refer to the list of 1,006 and the term kyōiku kanji reserved for the list of 996 without the roman numerals.)

The list by grade

First grade (80 kanji)

  • one ichi
  • two ni
  • three san
  • four shi or yon
  • five go
  • six roku
  • seven shichi or nana
  • eight hachi
  • nine or kyū
  • ten
  • hundred hyaku
  • thousand sen
  • up ue
  • below shita
  • left hidari
  • right migi
  • middle or inside naka
  • きい large ōkii
  • さい small chiisai
  • month gatsu
  • day nichi
  • year nen or toshi
  • く quick hayaku
  • tree ki
  • woods hayashi
  • mountain yama or san
  • river kawa
  • soil tsuchi
  • sky sora
  • rice paddy ta
  • heaven ten
  • きる life ikiru
  • flower hana
  • grass kusa
  • insect mushi
  • dog inu
  • person hito or jin or nin
  • まえ name na or mei or myo
  • woman onna
  • male otoko
  • ども child ko
  • eye me
  • ear mimi
  • mouth kuchi
  • hand te
  • foot or leg ashi
  • る see miru
  • sound oto
  • power chikara or ryoku
  • feeling iki
  • yen en
  • る enter hairu
  • る exit deru
  • つ stand up tatsu
  • む rest yasumu
  • previous saki
  • evening
  • book hon
  • writing fumi
  • character ji
  • ぶ study manabu
  • school gakkō
  • village mura
  • village machi
  • forest mori
  • correct sei
  • water mizu
  • fire hi
  • ball tama
  • king ō
  • stone ishi
  • bamboo take
  • tread ito
  • shellfish kai
  • car kuruma
  • gold kin
  • rain ame
  • red aka
  • blue ao
  • white shiro

Second grade (160 kanji)

  • number kazu
  • many ta
  • ない few sukunai
  • ten thousand man
  • half nan



  • parent oya
  • mother haha
  • father chichi
  • older sister ane
  • older brother ani
  • younger brother otouto
  • oneself ji
  • friend tomo



  • time toki
  • weekday
  • morning asa
  • daytime hiru
  • night
  • minute pun
  • week shū
  • springtime haru
  • summer natsu
  • autumn aki
  • winter fuyū
  • now ima
  • しい new atarashii
  • い old furui
  • interval kan


  • direction hou
  • north kita
  • south minami
  • east higashi
  • 西 west nishi
  • い far tooi
  • い near chikai
  • in front mae
  • ろ behind ushiro
  • inside uchi
  • outside soto







  • colour iro
  • yellow kiiro
  • black kuro





Third grade (200 kanji)

Fourth grade (200 kanji)

Fifth grade (185 kanji)

Sixth grade (181 kanji)