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Common Kanji Table [free download!]



Common Kanji Table [free download!]


“Common Kanji Table” Created (It Was Tough, But Worth It! 😅)

I’ve compiled a Common Kanji Table (🇯🇵JOYO Kanji Hyo)that includes all 2,136 kanji designated for mastery in Japanese schools from middle to high school. This table was created based on resources like the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Jōyō Kanji Index by Reading and Jōyō Kanji Table. (Download link at the end of the article.)


Following my previous New Grade-Specific Kanji Table, I hope this new resource will be helpful for a variety of people, including:

  • Middle and high school students

  • Adults and foreign learners of Japanese

  • Individuals with learning disabilities or developmental challenges seeking accommodations

  • Seniors looking for ways to recall forgotten kanji


The full set of 11 pages can be viewed and downloaded from the Rakurakumom's Official website.



What Is “JOYO(Common) Kanji”?



According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ video, Jōyō Kanji serves as a guideline for kanji usage in modern written Japanese. It is described as a collection of characters aimed at facilitating smooth communication in written Japanese.

(Source: Agency for Cultural Affairs, bunkachannel, “Introduction to the Jōyō Kanji Table)


I heard that there are nearly 100,000 kanji in existence in Japan. If everyone were to use kanji as they pleased, written communication across diverse groups would become unmanageable, and it would be impossible to teach such a vast number in schools.


Hence, following World War II, the TOYO Kanji Table was introduced. This later evolved into the JOYO Kanji Table in 1981, and in 2010, it was revised to include 2,136 characters, which remains the current standard.


The JOYO Kanji are a guideline for kanji usage in everyday life, including legal documents, newspapers, magazines, and broadcasts. Essentially, if you can use these kanji, you won’t face issues with written communication in Japan. (Of course, you’re free to use other kanji outside the table, particularly in creative works like literature or in personal names.)


During the 2010 revision, the selection of JOYO Kanji was based on extensive research into frequently used characters in books, newspapers, and websites. It’s estimated that JOYO Kanji covers 96-97% of the kanji used in Japanese society.



Kanji Learning Goals in School Education


The Kanji List by Grade in the elementary school curriculum outlines 1,026 kanji for students to learn, all of which are part of the JOYO Kanji Table. The general learning goals are as follows:

  • Elementary school: Learn the 1,026 kanji by Grade Allocation Table (all of which are part of JOYO Kanji).

  • Middle school: Be able to write the 1,026 kanji learned in elementary school and can read most of the remaining JOYO Kanji.

  • High school: Be able to read the all JOYO Kanji , and write almost of them.


In other words, middle school students aren’t expected to master writing all JOYO Kanji; reading them is sufficient. 


This reflects the cultural shift mentioned in the Agency for Cultural Affairs video: kanji are increasingly being typed rather than handwritten. As long as you can read and understand kanji, you can rely on computers and smartphones to input even complex characters.

Ideally, one should aim to fully master all JOYO Kanji by the end of high school, but it’s not critical to be perfect at writing all of them. Even as a writer, I confess I can’t write all of JOYO

kanji flawlessly by handwritten! 😅


●How Do Japanese Children Study Kanji?


The most common method for Japanese children is writing the same character repeatedly in a notebook (known as "Kanji Kakitori" 🇯🇵). This is a standard assignment in Japanese schools homework.


However, this traditional method doesn’t suit everyone, especially children with learning disabilities like my children.

For example, there are alternative ways to learn kanji, such as:

  • Writing each character once in large size

  • Playing with kanji puzzles or karuta (card games)

  • Using educational apps with gamified learning

  • Incorporating songs or mnemonic devices

  • Memorizing kanji through favorite manga character names or quotes


For non-native Japanese learners, I encourage you to find a kanji study method that works best for you. I would be happy if what I made could be useful in your way.



How to Use the Rakurakumom's “Common Kanji Table”


The Rakurakumom's CommonKanji Table (🇯🇵JOYO Kanji Hyo) has several features:

  • Color-coded index for easy reference

  • Compact postcard size for portability

  • A simple, user-friendly design like the Kanji Table by Grade.


The kanji are arranged Hiragana/Katakana Table Order by their on-yomi (Chinese readings) and kun-yomi (Japanese readings). The layout is horizontal, which is easier to find for those with learning disabilities or for non-native learners.


Improvements from the "Kanji Table by Grade”:

Despite doubling the number of kanji, I made it visually intuitive to find specific characters by:

  • Adding color-coded vowel groupings (e.g., for “A-row” characters)

  • Including Katakana indices on the card corners for quick lookup


Common Kanji table, Example Uses
Example Uses

Example Uses:

The postcard size is perfect for study sessions, exams, or and reasonable accommodations at school. You can:

  • Punch holes to bind them with a ring

  • Save images on your smartphone

  • Print them as A4 sheets to hang on walls or sliding doors

(For JPEG image downloads, visit the Rakurakumom's Official website: click on the kanji table image → enlarge → download via the button in the gallery.)



Free Download


Visit the Rakurakumom's official website under “Share > Support Tool Sharing 3” to agree to the terms of use a [About using this tool] before using this tool and download the table.




*Currently, there is no 🇺🇸English version, but if you are enthusiastic about learning kanji, you can make use of the 🇯🇵Japanese version without any problems.

 

🇯🇵Original post of this article(Switch to 🇯🇵 mode)




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