JLPT N5
Most Common Kanji: Top 100 by Newspaper Frequency
Kanji Guide ·
Short answer: in a count of one full year of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper (1993), the most common kanji are 日, 一, 十, 二, 人, 大, 年, 会, 国, 三. The top 100 make up about 40.7% of all kanji in the articles, the top 500 about 80.7% and the top 1,000 about 94.6%. You do not need every kanji to read most text, but you do need the common ones well.
The numbers on this page come from the published frequency table of the Nozaki Lab (web archive copy), built from about 110,000 articles of the 1993 Asahi Shimbun with headlines left out. The method is described in the paper A Japanese logographic character frequency list for cognitive science research (Yokoyama, Kasahara, Nozaki and Long, 1998). Rank, total count and cumulative share are theirs; the meanings, readings and JLPT labels in the table come from Kanji Guide’s own kanji pages.
The 30 most common kanji
Click a kanji to open its page with a picture story, readings and stroke order. “Cumulative” is the share of all kanji in the articles covered by this kanji and every kanji above it.
| Rank | Kanji | Meaning | On’yomi | Kun’yomi | JLPT | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 日 | sun, day | ニチ、ジツ | ひ、か | N5 | 1.4% |
| 2 | 一 | one | イチ、イツ | ひと、ひと(つ) | N5 | 2.7% |
| 3 | 十 | ten | ジュウ、ジッ | とお、と | N5 | 3.7% |
| 4 | 二 | two | ニ、ジ | ふた、ふた(つ) | N5 | 4.7% |
| 5 | 人 | person | ジン、ニン | ひと | N5 | 5.6% |
| 6 | 大 | big | ダイ、タイ | おお(きい) | N5 | 6.6% |
| 7 | 年 | year | ネン | とし | N5 | 7.5% |
| 8 | 会 | meet, meeting | カイ、エ | あ(う)、あ(わせる) | N4 | 8.4% |
| 9 | 国 | country | コク | くに | N5 | 9.3% |
| 10 | 三 | three | サン、ゾウ | み、み(つ) | N5 | 10.0% |
| 11 | 本 | book, origin | ホン | もと | N5 | 10.7% |
| 12 | 長 | long, chief | チョウ | なが(い)、おさ | N5 | 11.3% |
| 13 | 中 | middle, inside | チュウ | なか、うち | N5 | 11.9% |
| 14 | 五 | five | ゴ | いつ、いつ(つ) | N5 | 12.5% |
| 15 | 出 | go out | シュツ、スイ | で(る)、だ(す) | N5 | 13.0% |
| 16 | 事 | matter, thing | ジ、ズ | こと、つか(う) | N4 | 13.5% |
| 17 | 社 | company, shrine | シャ | やしろ | N4 | 14.0% |
| 18 | 市 | city, market | シ | いち | N3 | 14.5% |
| 19 | 者 | person (who does) | シャ | もの | N4 | 15.0% |
| 20 | 月 | month, moon | ゲツ、ガツ | つき | N5 | 15.5% |
| 21 | 四 | four | シ | よ、よ(つ) | N5 | 16.0% |
| 22 | 九 | nine | キュウ、ク | ここの、ここの(つ) | N5 | 16.5% |
| 23 | 同 | same | ドウ | おな(じ) | N4 | 16.9% |
| 24 | 自 | oneself | ジ、シ | みずか(ら)、おの(ずから) | N4 | 17.4% |
| 25 | 政 | politics | セイ、ショウ | まつりごと、まん | N3 | 17.8% |
| 26 | 時 | time, hour | ジ | とき | N5 | 18.3% |
| 27 | 業 | business, work | ギョウ、ゴウ | わざ | N4 | 18.7% |
| 28 | 分 | minute, part | ブン、フン | わ(ける)、わ(け) | N5 | 19.1% |
| 29 | 上 | up, above | ジョウ、ショウ | うえ、あ(がる) | N5 | 19.6% |
| 30 | 前 | before, front | ゼン | まえ | N5 | 20.0% |
Readings are the main ones only; many kanji have more. If on’yomi and kun’yomi are still confusing, read onyomi vs kunyomi.
Kanji ranked 31 to 100
In order: 生合行部地後議党八民六見間新員入場円学東発方高内百金七定子的対手立田回選今連県代開約力関体明山動万通目千全京実問決相米当度下主理表化調所小不
How few kanji cover most text
| Top kanji | Cumulative share of kanji in the articles |
|---|---|
| 10 | 10.0% |
| 100 | 40.7% |
| 200 | 57.0% |
| 500 | 80.7% |
| 1,000 | 94.6% |
| 2,000 | 99.7% |
The curve flattens quickly. The first 100 kanji cover 40.7% of the text, the next 400 add another 40 points (to 80.7%), and going from 1,000 to 2,000 kanji adds only about five. This is why the first 1,000 kanji is such a useful milestone, and why the rarest kanji can wait. For official school and exam groupings, see kanji by grade level and how many kanji are in JLPT N5 to N1.
What the ranking shows
- Numbers are everywhere. 一, 十, 二, 三, 五, 四, 九, 八, 六, 百, 七, 千 and 万 all rank in the top 100, because of dates, prices, counts and sports scores. Start with Japanese numbers in kanji.
- Frequent words lift their kanji. 日 and 本 rank high partly because of 日本 (Japan), and 国, 会 and 社 because of words like 会社 (company) and 国会 (parliament).
- It is a 1993 newspaper. Politics and business words (政, 党, 議, 業, 選) rank higher than they would in a novel or in daily conversation, and counts from other sources and years will differ.
- Counts mix readings. 日 is にち, び, か and ひ in different words. Frequency of the character says nothing about which reading you meet most, so see which kanji readings to learn first.
How the list compares with JLPT levels
Using the levels in Kanji Guide’s lists (unofficial, since the JLPT has not published a kanji list since 2010):
- Of the 100 most common kanji, 43 are N5, 31 are N4, 24 are N3 and 2 are N2. None is N1.
- All 81 N5 kanji appear in the top 1,000, 70 of them in the top 500 and 43 in the top 100.
- 127 of 169 N4 kanji sit in the top 500.
So the early JLPT levels are a good proxy for frequency, but they leave out frequent news kanji until later. Browse the JLPT N5 kanji list first, then use the frequency table to pick what to add.
How to use this list
- Learn the top 30 first if you are new. They include the numbers, 日, 月, 人, 大, 中, 年, 国, 本 and 出, and they appear on nearly every page of Japanese text.
- Attach one real word to each kanji: 日本, 大学, 中国, 会社. A word is easier to recall than a bare character.
- Mix frequency with your goals. For the JLPT, follow the level lists. For news, follow the frequency order. For daily life, add food, travel and shopping kanji.
- Review a little every day. Spaced repetition works better than long weekly sessions.
Kanji Guide teaches every kanji with a picture story, readings and stroke order, and you can test yourself with the N5 kanji quiz. New to the whole idea? Start with what is kanji. Open the study app in your browser or get the Kanji Guide iPhone app on the App Store.
Кандзи из этой статьи
Частые вопросы
What are the most common kanji in Japanese?
In a count of the 1993 Asahi Shimbun newspaper, the ten most frequent kanji are 日, 一, 十, 二, 人, 大, 年, 会, 国 and 三. The next ten are 本, 長, 中, 五, 出, 事, 社, 市, 者 and 月. Those twenty alone make up about 15.5% of all kanji in the articles. Rankings change with the text you count, but the top group is stable: numbers, 日, 人, 大, 年, 国, 本 and 中.
How many kanji do you need to read most Japanese?
In that newspaper count, the top 500 kanji cover about 80.7% of kanji characters, the top 1,000 about 94.6%, and the top 2,000 about 99.7%. That is why the 2,136 jōyō kanji are enough for newspapers, and why even the first 500 make a big difference. Coverage is not the same as understanding: you also need the vocabulary and grammar around the kanji.
Are the most common kanji the same as JLPT N5 kanji?
Not exactly, but they overlap strongly. In Kanji Guide's N5 list of 81 kanji, 43 are in the top 100, 70 are in the top 500 and all 81 are in the top 1,000. Newspaper kanji also include news words that beginners do not need first, such as 政 (politics), 党 (party), 議 (discussion) and 米 (rice, also America). JLPT levels are unofficial groupings, as the exam organisers do not publish an official kanji list.
Is 日 really the most common kanji?
In this count, yes: 日 appears about 336,000 times, ahead of 一 with about 285,000. Part of the reason is that 日 appears in words such as 日本 (Japan), dates such as 十日 and 日曜日, and 毎日 (every day). Counts like this measure written characters, not distinct words, so frequent compounds raise the rank of their kanji.
Should I learn kanji in frequency order?
It is a good guide for choosing what to learn after the basics, but a poor rule for the very first lessons. Frequency puts 政 and 党 high because the source is a newspaper, while a beginner needs 食, 水 and 学 for daily life. A mixed plan works well: follow a level list such as JLPT N5, then use frequency to pick the next kanji. Learn each one with a picture story and a real word.