When should I stop using furigana?

Gradually, once you recognise most of the kanji in what you read. Many learners first switch it off for kanji they know, or read a page once with furigana and once without.

Can I guess the reading of a kanji I do not know?

Often you can make a good guess at the on reading from its phonetic component, for example the 青 in 晴 and 精. Check the guess in a dictionary before you rely on it.

What is the fastest way to look up an unknown kanji?

Copy and paste it if it is on a screen. On paper, use a phone camera with a dictionary or translation app, or draw it in a dictionary's handwriting search.

How to Read Kanji Without Furigana

Short answer: Reduce furigana step by step rather than all at once, and use three tools for kanji you do not know: the context of the sentence, the parts of the kanji (the meaning part and the sound part), and a fast lookup method. Most unknown kanji in real text appear inside words, so you are usually guessing a word, not a single character.

Furigana are the small kana printed next to or above kanji to show their reading. Manga for younger readers, children’s books and learner material use them a lot. Adult books, news and websites mostly do not. Here is how to make that jump.

Step 1: wean off furigana gradually

Going from full furigana to none in one day is tiring. A smoother path:

Read with furigana, but look at the kanji first. Try the reading in your head, then check.
Re-read without them. Read a page with furigana, then read it again with a hand or card covering them.
Turn them off for kanji you know. Some apps and reader tools let you hide furigana for known kanji only.
Choose material with partial furigana. Some books mark only less common kanji, which is a good middle step.

The goal is to make your eyes go to the kanji, not to the kana beside them.

Step 2: use the context

An unknown kanji in a sentence is rarely a total mystery. You usually know:

The grammar around it. If it is followed by る or ます, it is part of a verb. If it is followed by な or い, it is an adjective.
The topic. In a weather report, a kanji next to 天 is likely about the sky.
The word it belongs to. If you know one kanji in a two-kanji word, you can often guess the word.

Make a guess, keep reading, and see whether the guess survives the next sentence.

Step 3: read the parts

Most kanji are built from parts. Two kinds of part help with guessing:

The meaning part. Many kanji have a part that hints at their category. 氵 (three drops of water) appears in kanji about water and liquids, like 清 (pure). 忄 is a form of heart and appears in kanji about feelings, like 情 (feelings). 言 on the left often means speech, as in 語 (word) and 読 (read).

The sound part. In many kanji, another part hints at the on reading. 晴 (clear up), 清 (pure) and 精 (refined) all contain 青 and are all read セイ. This is the most useful guessing trick there is, and it has its own article: phonetic components.

Neither part is a rule. They raise your odds, and the dictionary confirms.

Step 4: look it up fast

When guessing is not enough, look it up without breaking your reading flow:

On a screen: copy and paste the word into a dictionary, or use a pop-up dictionary extension or reader app.
On paper: point a phone camera at it with a dictionary or translation app, or draw it in a handwriting search.
By parts: dictionaries such as Jisho let you pick the parts of a kanji from a list.

For more on lookup methods, see what does this kanji mean.

Step 5: do not look up everything

Looking up every unknown word makes reading slow and joyless. A common approach:

Look up a word if it appears several times, or if the sentence makes no sense without it.
Skip it if you can follow the story anyway.
Keep a short list of looked-up words and add the useful ones to your reviews.

What makes reading without furigana easier over time

Knowing the common kanji. Most text uses a fairly small set of common kanji again and again. Each one you learn shows up everywhere. A list such as the first 1000 kanji is a good target.
Knowing words, not only kanji. You read words. A kanji you know in one word can still be hard in another word with a different reading.
Reading a lot of easy material. Graded readers and simple manga build speed faster than hard texts.

A small exercise

Take a short paragraph you can mostly read. Cover the furigana. Underline each kanji you cannot read. For each one, write a guess based on context and parts, then check. After a week, you will notice how often your guesses are close.

Where to go next

If readings are the weak spot, read which kanji readings to learn first. To learn kanji with their parts, readings and words, open a page such as 晴 or 休, or start in the study app.