Blog Index - Kanshudo

We're very excited to announce the beta of a major new section of Kanshudo: the JLPT Practice Center. The new center will enable you to take full length timed practice tests using the same question types and scoring as the live JLPT. It will help you to identify any weaknesses, and address them.

The JLPT, or Japanese Language Proficiency Test, now about 40 years old, is the most widely adopted certification of Japanese language proficiency for non-native speakers, and is taken by about a million students every year. Our new system covers all parts of the JLPT, including kanji / vocabulary, grammar, reading and listening.

We're launching the beta with the first N5 practice test in place - over the next few weeks, we'll be adding more N levels, more practice tests for each level, and features to enable you to practice specific question types.

To sign up for the JLPT beta, please click here.

As a side note, thank you to all of you who have expressed interest in joining the betas for several other features we have in development. All of those features are still coming, but we wanted to get this JLPT feature (along with another key new AI-related feature we're working on) launched first.

The four newest bundles provide a crash course in the Japanese arts. One focuses on manga, another on calligraphy, and a third on the artistic mindset, as well as genres from painting to woodworking to tattoos. As for the fourth bundle, it's all about fear. That might seem unrelated, but being an artist means overcoming fear of failure and forging into a mental space where creativity brings on fearlessness.

35

Fear Factor

虞恐怖惧

Do these kanji frighten you? After all, they overlap considerably. You could render おそれる (to fear) with all four characters, and people often use 恐 and 怖 interchangeably to convey myriad fears (e.g., of business risks). But this bundle makes important distinctions. You'll see that 恐 connects to respect (e.g., for Nature's power), politeness, financial crises, and uncertainty about the future. The essay on 怖 explores uniquely Japanese phobias. Meanwhile, 虞 expresses concern and caution in the face of threats. And 惧 mainly relates to endangered entities (species, occupations, or railways) and the fear of extinction.

VIEW ESSAYS

36

The Meanings of Manga

娯撤漫勃

This bundle provides a solid introduction to manga, especially essay 1838, with its definitions of "manga" and related vocabulary, a manga history, a list of manga genres, and explanations of the symbols used in these cartoons. Essay 1238 supplies essential context about the history of amusement in Japan, including a manga magazine. Essay 2113 discusses the sudden rise of the manga and anime subcultures in the 1970s, which led to classic works inspired by Osamu Tezuka, who started the so-called manga revolution. And essay 1630 showcases Shigeru Mizuki's epic manga about World War II, with translations of four panels.

VIEW ESSAYS

37

Inkblots

朱跡墨痕

Japanese calligraphy reflects the state of an artist's mind, spirit, and body. In one novel, a character studies her father's brushstrokes to assess his health. Applying ink to paper is soulful; one leaves behind traces of oneself that way. As essay 1821 shows, Zen has influenced sumi-e (ink paintings). That essay examines calligraphy and sumi-e from all angles, as do the other essays to some degree, including the way to liquefy inksticks (a meditative practice), the red marks with which teachers correct calligraphy, the vermilion stamps that serve as calligraphers' signatures, and the significance of bold strokes versus diluted ones.

VIEW ESSAYS

38

The Artistic Mindset

彩匠彫緻

This bundle is a masterclass in the artistic mindset. Essay 1290 celebrates vibrant colors, whether for painting with watercolors or oil or for designing spaces. Essay 1388 explores traditional craftsmanship, particularly highlighting the beauty of Japanese carpentry and the rigors of apprenticing for ages to master a skill. Essay 1590 covers several fields, from carving wood, making sculptures, and engraving metal to creating traditional tattoos that form a complete picture over much of the body. Essay 1965 extols the virtues of extreme detail, especially in doing elaborate drawings that bring dreamworlds to life with extraordinary realism.

VIEW ESSAYS

One of the best things about learning kanji is seeing how the Japanese take symbols for objects (from eyebrows to bubbles in this selection) and spin off rich idioms. We find plenty of that in these four bundles, as well as fanciful beliefs about how weather works. A fourth bundle presents intriguing connections between smells and behavior, as well as fascinating relationships among the kanji in that bundle.

31

Scents and Sensibility

香臭嗅匂

These four kanji are practically symbiotic. The verb 嗅ぐ takes 香り, 臭い, and 匂い as direct objects. Although people usually reserve 臭い for stenches and 匂い for fragrances, these words (both におい) can be interchangeable. Each could convey that something "smacks of" a quality. Whereas 臭い can mean that a man looks suspicious, as if he "smells of" a crime, 嗅 enables people to sniff out crimes! Three of the kanji have ties to religion, and with 香 as "incense," that connection is strong.

VIEW ESSAYS

32

Reading the Face

唇顎眉頬

From the eyebrows to the lips, we express emotions nonverbally by twitching parts of the face, blushing, or smiling. Learn how the Japanese use 眉 (eyebrow) in terms related to worry, melancholy, relief, and disapproval. Read about charming perceptions of facial structure; an eyebrow is an "eave" for the eye, and other parts are metaphorical girders, vehicles, and gates. Discover rich idioms, such as "scorched eyebrows" and "fox pups have white cheeks," and see how the Japanese associate certain facial parts with exhaustion, delicious food, ordering others around, travel expenses, and long-term financial considerations.

VIEW ESSAYS

33

The Inevitable Storm

嵐稲梅雷

Storms produce down-to-earth concerns about when the rain will begin, the damage to crops and buildings, and more. Such grounded thinking permeates these essays. But they also include wildly fanciful beliefs: lightning impregnates rice, thunder is a scolding from a god who might wield a hammer, and a chant or a charm affords protection from lightning. Weather inspires copious metaphors, such as "political storm," "tempest in a teapot," and "thunderous applause." There's also 花に嵐 (inevitable storm that blossoms have to face); literally, it knocks off blossoms, and figuratively it means that one is bound to encounter difficulties.

VIEW ESSAYS

34

A Taste of Transience

浮泡夢露

Buddhist views of impermanence once influenced words for "fragile life," words that include 浮. Later, a fear of death inspired living hedonistically in the "floating world"; related terms again feature 浮 (as "transient"). Because bubbles vanish without a trace, 泡 figures into words for "short-lived company" and "fringe candidate" (one who quickly disappears). Dreams (夢) slip away every day, and several words for "fleeting" combine 泡 and 夢. Similarly, dew evaporates, and one famous poem likens the poet's vanishing life to dew (露) and compares his world to a dream (夢).

VIEW ESSAYS

We are delighted to announce that we are increasing the number of AI credits included in all 2024 pricing plans! Prices are staying the same - you just get more value from Kanshudo!

Kanshudo monthly and annual subscriptions (with or without Joy o' Kanji essays) will now include 50 credits per month. AI monthly and annual subscriptions will now include 500 credits per month. The additional credits will be applied to your subscription automatically at the beginning of the month (if you are on an annual plan) or when your next payment is made (if you're on a monthly plan).

AI credits can be used for AI Sentence Correct - type or speak a Japanese sentence, and Kanshudo will correct any mistakes, supply alternatives with a similar meaning, and provide other commentary. Sentence Correct is a fantastic way to develop confidence in your Japanese, as well as to ensure important communications are error free. For more information read the blog post.

Additionally, AI credits can be applied to a series of new AI features we are working on. One of the first is a fantastic new way to learn Japanese grammar - we'll be saying more about this exciting new idea very soon.

If you run out of AI credits in a month, you can purchase more - we've now added the ability to purchase a block of 500 credits. Just go to the AI credits section in your account page - here's a direct link.

When multiple kanji represent a concept, how do you know which one to use at any given time? Two of these bundles showcase characters with similar meanings, illuminating not only the overlaps but also the key differences. A third bundle presents kanji with the "rain" radical (雨); the eye easily confuses them, though the meanings are distinct. The last bundle consists of body part kanji, again with a shared radical (月) but also with comparable cultural significance.

27

Central Parts

軸髄枢芯

All four kanji represent centers—with slight differences. An axis (軸) lies inside something (a planet, feather, or scroll), as does marrow (髄) and a core (髄 or 芯). Other objects (e.g., doors) revolve around pivots (枢). The body contains specialized brain centers, as well as an axis, marrow, and a core. More abstractly, an axis occupies the center of one's existence. Also, one feels things to the core, the essence of an activity (e.g., aikido) is vitally important, and 枢 helps symbolize the center of the economy, of power, and more.

VIEW ESSAYS

28

Pleasure and Leisure

悦暇娯愉

These four essays provide the key to happiness. With 暇 one has free time, whether a vacation, a leave of absence, or simply time to kill. Then 娯 provides destinations for having structured fun, including amusement parks, theaters, or venues for karaoke, pachinko, or horse races. With 愉 people relax into a carefree sense of fun and pleasure. And with 悦 one can experience joy and delight in a variety of things, including hospitality, a sense of progress, food, artistic masterpieces, a college acceptance, religious rapture, and sexual ecstasy.

VIEW ESSAYS

29

Droplets of Moisture

霜曇霧露

A book title mentioned in the 霧 essay collectively refers to clouds, rain, and fog by citing their common "rain" radical. That unites the kanji in this bundle, as well. All four essays explore the realities of damp weather, as when fog grounds planes, frost damages crops, and people seek shelter from the elements. Because of such challenges, these characters make great metaphors. The Japanese associate 霜 with hardship; 曇 with life's ups and downs, as well as gloomy feelings; 霧 with mental fog; and 露 with transience. Because 露 symbolizes vanishing realities, that kanji in particular has inspired poetry.

VIEW ESSAYS

30

Limbs and Joints

肩肢膝肘

Characters for body parts often feature 月 radicals. That's true here, but these four kanji have much more in common. First, limbs and joints are prone to soreness, injury, and disability, requiring various healing modalities. Second, the shoulders, elbows, and knees can show how we're relating to other people; the Japanese associate these body parts with lending support, sitting close for an intimate talk, and reining in someone's behavior. Those body parts also play roles in martial arts and sumo. Finally, one's stance can express seriousness, tension, pride, shame, discouragement, respect, remorse, or a lack of reservedness.

VIEW ESSAYS

We hope you are all enjoying our latest AI feature, AI Sentence Correct! We have some enhancements for Sentence Correct coming soon, as well as another exciting new AI feature.

In the meantime, we've been steadily adding Topic Lessons, with 14 new lessons covering a range of ability levels, and including new games, quizzes, reading and listening material:

Numbers 1 to 100

BEGINNER

Question Words - 1

BEGINNER

Time and Schedules

BEGINNER

Musical Instruments -

がっき

楽器

UPPER BEGINNER

The Weather - Small Talk 1

UPPER BEGINNER

Transportation

UPPER BEGINNER

‘Hot’ and ‘Cold’ – Differentiating between the Different Words

INTERMEDIATE

End-of-Year Customs -

ねんまつ

年末

ねんし

年始

の

しゅうかん

習慣

INTERMEDIATE

How to Use Local Buses in Japan

INTERMEDIATE

Small Talk

INTERMEDIATE

あし - (A Fable)

INTERMEDIATE

New Year's Eve Soba -

としこ

年越

しそば

UPPER INTERMEDIATE

New Year's Eve -

おおみそか

大晦日

UPPER INTERMEDIATE

The Glow of Fireflies -

ほたる

蛍

の

ひかり

光

UPPER INTERMEDIATE

Thematic Bundles help you see differently! See the world from mountaintops! See time sliced up in unexpected ways! See through the soft haze of alcohol! See pottery in a whole new way! And see how to hang in there when life requires great tenacity. Learn the joy of wandering on a whim and the satisfaction of crossing rivers when you come to them. Find out how to move at different speeds. Most of all, see how characters connect in ways that you might otherwise miss.

19

Lofty Views

岳峠峰麓

Sometimes a mountain isn't just a mountain. See how the Japanese associate certain parts with the peak of a crisis or with a risky situation that leaves no room for error. Find out how most of the population reveres mountains as sacred and how they act on these beliefs. Discover a legendary rivalry between two great mountains, one that proved transformative for both. Learn how particular perceptions of mountains have inspired famous artwork. And see how, to the Japanese, the foot of a mountain appears to be the hem of its "skirt"!

VIEW ESSAYS

20

Concepts of Time

旬昔暦頃

The sun, moon, and seasons are natural clocks, but time is also a construct. As this bundle shows, the Japanese divide time into units of 10 (days, months, or years), also perceiving 72 microseasons. Japan has observed lunar, solar, and other calendars, plus 60-year cycles and multiple era systems. For all this precision, people approximate time with "the good old days," "once upon a time," or "around the time." They also have a particular take on time when saying that a food is in season, "at your age," and "It's a great time" for a certain activity.

VIEW ESSAYS

21

Do or Die

執遂徹粘

Tenacity binds these essays together, sometimes as the secondary sense of characters. The literal stickiness of 粘 (e.g., natto, clay, and snail mucus!) inspired the figurative meaning "tenacity," as in "stick-to-it-ness." Mainly, 執 involves performing tasks (often by wielding long, thin objects such as pens or batons), but as "tenacity" this kanji drives words about persistence, obsession, and grudges. The whole bundle showcases adherence to beliefs and goals, doing things thoroughly, and seeing things through (e.g., athletes who accomplish greatness). These essays also depict the dark side of such devotion—namely, obstinacy, self-centeredness, discord, monomania, ill health, and more.

VIEW ESSAYS

22

Booze 101

酵醸酔酎

The 酔 essay examines intoxication from every angle, including great Osaka bars, studies of drunkards, tipsy cats and wasted elephants, and hangover prevention. The other three essays detail the processes of making saké, shochu, and beer, exploring all of the following (and much more): the ingredients in alcohol, the intricacies of fermentation, modes of distilling and brewing, malt, an old method of making saké by chewing rice and spitting it out, saké as a living entity, the image problem saké once had in Japan, alcoholic offerings to gods, the health benefits of shochu, and using alcohol to make food.

VIEW ESSAYS

23

Rate of Change

徐漸頓勃

This bundle presents life at a range of speeds. Two essays focus on gradual change—for better and for worse—in everything from health to the economy. By contrast, three essays touch on sudden developments, including the outbreak of war, a surge of energy, the rapid rise of subcultures, getting an erection, standing up abruptly, bursts of wit, quick enlightenment, and sudden death. Tying these extremes together, 頓 runs the gamut; when it means "to stay in place" or "stop," this kanji involves setbacks and stalemates, but as "sudden" it pops up in words for wild, crazy behavior.

VIEW ESSAYS

24

Pottery Is Paramount

皿陶鉢丼

In Japanese cuisine, beautiful presentations are paramount, beginning with the pottery. Essay 1650 explains the philosophy of such aesthetics, including the Zen idea that the transformation of clay into teacups is a religion itself. The other three essays provide vocabulary that distinguishes between vessels (dishes, bowls, and cups) of different sizes and depths. Those essays explore the terms donburi, hibachi (not what you might think!), suribachi, and hachimaki. Moreover, those sources show how, from a kanji perspective, the crowns of our heads are upside-down pots or flat dishes, also explaining how one might eat a "big serving of the head"!

VIEW ESSAYS

25

Following Whims

随漂浮浪

All who wander are not lost, at least not with this collection of kanji. They largely represent the happiest forms of aimless wandering, hedonism, freedom from worldly concerns, and wanderlust. Yes, this can veer off into extramarital affairs, restlessness, vagrancy, and unemployment. One kanji figures into a term for "failed college applicant." But another relates to essay writing as "following the pen" wherever it wishes. And two essays in this bundle touch on the Sanka, Japan's homegrown nomads and original hippies. Let freedom ring!

VIEW ESSAYS

26

Crossing Waterways

越沖渡遡

A waterway poses challenges to travelers, but such obstacles are surmountable, as all these kanji demonstrate. Both 越 and 渡involve crossing rivers via bridges or boats, and 越 is in a town name that actually means "crossing the river." As 沖 often pertains to fishing some distance from the shore, crossing that water reaps benefits. With 遡 one goes upstream, either along the shore on foot or in the river itself if one is a salmon looking to spawn. The carp, which famously swims upstream, symbolizes courage, spirit, and achievement for conquering the challenges of a waterway.

VIEW ESSAYS

Thematic Bundles are available for purchase at the discounted price of $8. (Four essays would normally cost $12.) You can also access bundles with essay credits, which are allocated as part of joint Kanshudo + Joy o' Kanji subscriptions.

Joy o' Kanji essays are a great way to deepen your insight into specific kanji, and bundles will introduce you to new connections and more profound meanings. Try a Thematic Bundle today!

We are very excited to announce the latest complement to Kanshudo's AI features: AI Sentence Correct! AI Sentence Correct is your personal Japanese language coach.

Type a Japanese sentence (in kana or kanji form), or click the Speak button and speak the sentence out loud. Kanshudo will analyze your sentence and determine whether it is natural Japanese, and will identify and correct any grammar, kanji or vocabulary mistakes. Additionally, Kanshudo will supply one or two alternative natural Japanese ways to phrase the sentence with equivalent meaning, and provide links to useful grammar points and dictionary entries for the words used.

The ability to get direct feedback on sentences you create yourself, learn from your mistakes (or gain confidence through knowing that there are none!), is a hugely important part of the language learning journey.

With Kanshudo's AI Sentence Correct you can:

Feel confident in your Japanese emails and social media posts
Prepare for job interviews with confidence
Keep a Japanese journal
Practice thinking in Japanese whenever you have a spare moment

Accessing Sentence Correct

AI Sentence Correct can be accessed from the STUDY menu, or from the GRAMMAR section of the site index at the foot of every page. As with most features on Kanshudo, you can also find it using search - just click the search icon at the top right of any page and search for 'correct' (or something similar). As with all Kanshudo features, if you forget where it is, just use Quick Search.

AI Credits and pricing

Along with AI Sentence Correct, we are also introducing a new system of credits for AI functions. AI credits can be used for any of the new AI functions we have planned, starting with Sentence Correct. All existing Pro subscriptions as of today now include 20 AI credits each month, enabling you to use Sentence Correct several times as part of your existing subscription.

Later in April, we will be introducing new pricing for all Pro subscriptions, and you will be able to subscribe to a new Pro + AI subscription plan, which will give you 60 credits per month. And, if you find yourself wanting to use Sentence Correct even more extensively, you will also be able to buy additional credits directly.

Lock in current Kanshudo pricing and 20 AI Credits per month: Go Pro!

Kanshudo's policy is to grandfather existing subscription pricing - in other words, if you subscribe today, you will lock in both current pricing for Pro access and current AI subscription credits. This means that you can lock in 20 AI credits per month today as part of existing prices. Once we switch to new pricing, a basic Pro plan will be more expensive, and AI credits will be additional - so this is an amazing opportunity. If you are not yet a Kanshudo Pro, why not go Pro today?

Here's a summary of AI credits under current and new pricing:

AI Credits	Current	New Pricing
Registered	2	2
Pro	20	4
Pro + AI	-	60

If you are not yet a Pro, now is the time to take advantage of this pricing!

Lock in current Kanshudo pricing and 20 AI Credits per month: Go Pro!

We've bundled 16 more Joy o' Kanji essays to show you the connections between kanji. Bundles 15 and 16 largely focus on water. The first collection presents the pleasures of bathing outdoors, the history of bathhouses, and the nuts and bolts of bathtub terms. Bundle 16 looks at the relationship between mounded-up earth (e.g., embankments and ridges in fields) and the water below (e.g., moats and flooded rice fields). Bundles 17 and 18 focus on intricate systems. The former introduces the way people have conceptually divided the hours in a day. The latter bundle examines hard-working animals that produce items that have boosted the Japanese economy.

15

In Hot Water

栓槽岡呂

Bathing in Japan could mean communing with nature, following rigid procedures in a bathhouse, or soaking in water that other relatives have used. These essays cover all situations. They introduce practical terms for "bathtub," "turning on a faucet," and "overflowing." You'll learn where people bathed before owning bathtubs. You'll see how, in bathhouses, smaller, raised pools and larger pools below floor level respectively represent land and sea. You'll learn which "bathtub" term the Japanese associate with empty basins versus full pools at hot springs. And you'll discover how bathing has connected to religion, family bonds, prostitution, and a famous thief.

VIEW ESSAYS

16

Corduroy Landforms

畝堤畔堀

The Japanese have long corrugated the earth, mounding and trenching it with grand plans. Embankments (堤) rise above rivers to prevent floods. Dug-out moats (堀), whether empty or full, contrast with higher bordering land for castle defense. An agricultural field features ridges (畝) and furrows, with plants in raised areas, irrigation in "valleys." A footpath is just high enough above a flooded rice field (畔) that 畔also represents "causeway, a raised road across low or wet ground." See how the Japanese have gone to great lengths to create "corduroy" landforms.

VIEW ESSAYS

17

Windows of Time

午更宵旦

Rock around the clock with these four kanji. They might seem to represent mere points in a 24-hour stretch. But as 午 appears in terms for "morning" and "afternoon," it applies to a large chunk of the day. Then 宵 takes over, generally meaning "early evening" but also sometimes "evening." We find 更 in terms for the ancient Chinese system of night watches that ran from about 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. Night ends with dawn (旦). These multipurpose kanji also symbolize parts of the year, from New Year's (旦) to late autumn (更).

VIEW ESSAYS

18

Intricate Systems

繭桑巣蜂

These essays detail complex, interdependent systems, both natural and economic. Sericulture was once so essential to Japan's economy that mulberry (桑) fields are marked on maps, as silkworms eat only mulberry leaves. These animals laboriously spin cocoons (繭), producing filaments that become silk kimonos after many financial transactions. Similarly, Japanese apiarists oversee busy bees (蜂) that make not only hives and honeycomb but also honey to be sold and consumed in multiple ways. Animals build intricate nests and webs (both 巣) that inspire terrific Japanese figurative language. People even eat some nests!

VIEW ESSAYS

Thematic Bundles are available for purchase at the discounted price of $8. (Four essays would normally cost $12.) You can also access bundles with essay credits, which are allocated as part of joint Kanshudo + Joy o' Kanji subscriptions.

Joy o' Kanji essays are a great way to deepen your insight into specific kanji, and bundles will introduce you to new connections and more profound meanings. Try a Thematic Bundle today!

We recently introduced Thematic Bundles, which enable you to make connections that you might otherwise miss among groups of Joy o' Kanji essays. We're back with a new bundle o' bundles! By reading Bundles 11 through 14, you can engage deeply with the natural world, from fruit trees and flowers to the hills of Japan, as well as with delicious foods from the fields and seas.

11

Flower Power

菊丹梗藤

In this bouquet of essays, flowers represent far more than beauty. Those showcased here (including the Chinese bellflower of the 梗 essay and the tree peony of the 丹 essay) symbolize everything from the emperor, nobility, and wealth to honor, love, and feminine beauty. The Japanese also associate some of these flowers with hardiness or with grief. People celebrate them in family crests, at festivals, with dolls, and in a range of artistic creations. Supposedly, the flowers even confer health benefits—curing headaches, cooling and invigorating the blood, and removing phlegm.

VIEW ESSAYS

12

Favorite Foods

芋寿麺拉

Sushi comes in infinite varieties (as the 寿 essay shows). Noodles can take many forms and be made from a multitude of flours (as the 麺 and 拉 essays demonstrate). Sweet potatoes differ by region (as the 芋 essay makes clear). In Japan these favorite foods inspire not only cravings but also deep passion, nostalgia, arguments over origin stories, and hairsplitting about the preparation methods particular to certain locales. People also have strong beliefs about these dishes, eating certain noodles for longevity, treating sweet potatoes as guilty pleasures, and regarding uncut sushi as lucky.

VIEW ESSAYS

13

Fruit Basket

桑桃梅柿

This "fruit basket" has caused creative juices to flow in Japan. The trees and fruits connect to colors, haiku, proverbs, myths, folktales, and wordplay. People associate peaches with Shangri-la and instability, Japanese apricots with happiness, and persimmons with Mount Fuji and writing brushes. The Japanese fully use certain trees—the wood in furniture, the leaves in tea (and even in sushi!), and fruit, roots, and bark in dye, paper, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. The juice goes into drinks, alcoholic or tame. And the Japanese and ancient Chinese have viewed these fruits and their trees as warding off misfortune!

VIEW ESSAYS

14

Ups and Downs

凹丘凸岡

This essay collection about hilly topography focuses in part on the physical world: bumpy surfaces, volcanic cones, lens curvature, embossed paper, and especially flat abs! But such topics are also rich in figurative possibilities. One essay first examines objects that stand apart from the rest, then demonstrates how being separated from the main action affords a clear vantage point. That essay also touches on unrequited love. Another illuminates how it feels to be overwhelmed and slightly depressed. A third addresses the ups and downs of life. Uneven ground proves to be fertile!

VIEW ESSAYS

Thematic Bundles are available for purchase at the discounted price of $8. (Four essays would normally cost $12.) You can also access bundles with essay credits, which are allocated as part of joint Kanshudo + Joy o' Kanji subscriptions.

Joy o' Kanji essays are a great way to deepen your insight into specific kanji, and bundles will introduce you to new connections and more profound meanings. Try a Thematic Bundle today!

It's holiday season, and time to celebrate with a fantastic bargain: 50% off one year of Kanshudo Pro access!

2023 has been an exciting year for Kanshudo: we've added lots of new content to some of our core programs, including 20 Topic Lessons, 38 Joy o' Kanji Essays, 24 articles in the Grammar Library, and nearly 1000 example sentences. We've also added two very exciting new features - AI Sentence Correct which provides specific feedback and improvement suggestions for Japanese sentences you enter, and Thematic Bundles, which are linked sets of four in-depth kanji essays.

Take advantage of this very special holiday offer now: Give me 50% off!

Set yourself up for Japanese success in 2024. Kanshudo is the most effective way to learn Japanese:

Kanshudo's AI tutor - custom learning programs for everyone, from beginners to experts
Automatic spaced repetition flashcards - quickly and easily create flashcards for kanji, words, grammar, and example sentences
Graded lessons (Beginner Lessons and Intermediate Lessons) as well as Topic Lessons (each focused on a specific topic). Check out our updated Christmas lesson to put you in a festive mood and learn how Christmas is celebrated in Japan.
Comprehensive kanji, word, name, and Japanese grammar dictionaries (accessible all together in Quick Search)
Optional access to over 500 in-depth kanji essays from our partner Joy o' Kanji

Kanshudo will help you master kanji, hiragana, and katakana, along with Japanese grammar and vocabulary, as fast, effectively, and enjoyably as possible! Kanshudo is used by over 170,000 Japanese learners, with proven results. Act now and get Pro access for less than 10 cents per day!

Take advantage of this very special holiday offer now: Give me 50% off!

We are very excited to announce a new way to access in-depth kanji information: Thematic Bundles, from our partner Joy o' Kanji!

Thematic Bundles are sets of four kanji essays with a common theme. Just as a strong bond between two people produces a whole that's greater than the sum of its parts, the same applies to thoughtfully grouped kanji essays. Considering thematically related essays in one fell swoop enables you to make connections that you might otherwise miss. It illuminates the particular context for each individual essay and creates a structure for your kanji studies. Rather than casting about aimlessly for your next interesting read, you can now proceed systematically. In addition to adding new essays each week, we will be adding new bundles every month or so - a "flavor of the month."

If color captures your imagination, start with Bundle 1 - Color Me Surprised! Here you can find four color kanji, each of which provides a different set of larger related meanings.

If you're interested in the odd tipple, try Bundle 4 - Steeped in Saké. Learn about Japan's most famous drink, and various ways to measure and present it.

If history is your thing, start with Bundle 6 - Prefectures Preserving the Past. These kanji all appear in modern prefecture names, but come with many layers of historical meaning.

Thematic Bundles are available for purchase at the discounted price of $8. (Four essays would normally cost $12.) You can also access bundles with essay credits, which are allocated as part of joint Kanshudo + Joy o' Kanji subscriptions.

Joy o' Kanji essays are a great way to deepen your insight into specific kanji, and bundles will introduce you to new connections and more profound meanings. Try a Thematic Bundle today!

It's been a while since we've posted an update as we've been busy working on some very exciting new features! We will have more to share over the next few weeks, but in the near future we will be bringing you three major new improvements to Kanshudo:

Some amazing AI-powered interactive features which will add a whole new dimension to your Japanese studies
'Thematic Bundles' from our partner Joy o' Kanji which will group and cross-reference kanji in ways that will make them much more meaningful. The first bundle will add 'color' to your studies (quite literally ...)
A new JLPT-focused section of Kanshudo to help and support students for the JLPT

In the meantime, we've made many updates and improvements. A quick summary follows below, but first we'd like to highlight a very special milestone: Joy o' Kanji's essay on 徹 marks the 500th essay! While that means there are still 1636 to go (!), 500 in-depth, visually appealing and linguistically intriguing explorations of 500 kanji is a huge achievement. We're especially excited that the new Thematic Bundles will bring the essays to even more kanji students. Congratulations to Joy o' Kanji's founder, Eve Kushner!

Here's a summary of updates since our last post:

25 new Joy o' Kanji essays: 圏欄娯漏慨撤慕賄繁丘抑浪妄累沙埋潤弧妨占及萎秀徹朱

7 new Topic Lessons:

Holidays by Tsunomaki Watame

UPPER INTERMEDIATE

Hay fever Season

UPPER INTERMEDIATE

お

はなみ

花見

INTERMEDIATE

ころ vs ごろ vs ぐらい/くらい

UPPER BEGINNER

Summer in Japan 1

UPPER BEGINNER

Summer in Japan 2

UPPER BEGINNER

ほんまつてんとう

本末転倒

UPPER INTERMEDIATE

13 new grammar points:

POI

羽（わ）羽（わ）

Why 'wa' 羽 for counting rabbits?

〜なのか〜なのか〜なのか〜なのか

whether ~ or ~

verb stem + 忘れる verb stem + 忘れる

forget to do ~

誰もが〜誰もが〜

〜なのか〜なのか

(question)

でも + question でも + question

POI

解体新書解体新書

detailed analysis

まだしも・ならまだしもまだしも・ならまだしも

better ~, rather ~ than ~

～とも～とも～とも～とも

unable to decide

〜ても〜切れない〜ても〜切れない

can never be ~ enough

国民 vs 国家国民 vs 国家

その他 - そのた and そのほかその他 - そのた and そのほか

かいがある・かいがあってかいがある・かいがあって

to be effective, to be worth doing

Additionally, we made updates to 23 grammar points - you can find the most recent here.

We also added 588 new example sentences and updated another 299!

We hope 2023 is off to a good start for you all, and your Japanese studies are progressing well!

Kanshudo's learning community has been growing fantastically, and we're not far off a big milestone in terms of users. So we're thinking of ways to celebrate by helping one or more lucky learners on their path to Japanese mastery! Stay tuned over the next few months for details.

In the meantime, here's a quick roundup of what's new over the last couple of months.

First, we've added nine new Topic Lessons:

Introducing yourself

BEGINNER

Occupations

BEGINNER

Tie-in: introducing yourself, countries & occupations

BEGINNER

Christmas in Japan

UPPER INTERMEDIATE

An introduction to Christmas COMING SOON!

BEGINNER

Sushi

BEGINNER

Sushi Dining

BEGINNER

Describing Symptoms

INTERMEDIATE

Body Parts

INTERMEDIATE

We've added another 9 new grammar points and POIs and updated 12 more. We've also made the Grammar library index much faster and easier to use.

Our partner, Joy o' Kanji, has published 12 new in-depth kanji essays:

Additionally, the founder and driving force between Joy o' Kanji, Eve Kushner, was recently interviewed on her personal kanji journey (which is more involved than most, as you can imagine). Check out the podcast episode Going Crazy for Kanji, with Eve Kushner ⇗.

Many of you already know we're steadily improving the audio on Kanshudo. Originally, we relied heavily on browser audio, and we still do for most of the system - with nearly 300,000 words and 160,000 example sentences, prerecorded audio is not practical. However, we are steadily implementing a hybrid solution - human audio for certain items, prerecorded high quality AI-generated audio for most, and browser audio for the rest. As part of this initiative, you'll see the ability to 'report' audio problems appear around the site - you can find an example on the details page for any example sentence. When audio for an item is reported, we'll create a prerecorded version for that specific item - that way we can prioritize improvement where it matters.

It's the most wonderful time of the year ... and this is your chance to set up 2023 as a wonderful year for your Japanese, with 50% off one year of Pro access to Kanshudo!

Kanshudo is the most effective way to learn Japanese — for absolute beginners to seasoned learners. Live in Japan or would like to? Planning a trip or an armchair visit? Want to converse with friends or read Japanese novels? Whatever your goals, Kanshudo is your best option for learning Japanese.

Take advantage of this very special holiday offer now: Give me 50% off!

Kanshudo Pro access gives you unlimited access to:

Our AI tutor and personalized study sessions
Unlimited spaced repetition flashcards and learning games
A comprehensive reference library of Japanese grammar
Lessons for all levels of learner: Beginner Lessons, Intermediate Lessons, and our growing library of Topic Lessons — including our new lesson Christmas in Japan
The most comprehensive Japanese dictionaries online
Multiple study and how-to guides for learning Japanese
Optional access to over 450 in-depth kanji essays from our partner Joy o' Kanji

Kanshudo is the broadest and most sophisticated online platform for learning Japanese. It will help you master kanji, hiragana, and katakana, along with Japanese grammar and vocabulary, as fast, effectively, and enjoyably as possible! More than 120,000 Japanese learners use Kanshudo with proven results. Act now and get Pro access for less than 10 cents per day!

Take advantage of this very special holiday offer now: Give me 50% off!

If you've been thinking about Pro access for awhile, now is the perfect time! You will not only get the sale discount on your first year, but you will also lock in current pricing. Our operating costs have risen dramatically this year and Pro prices may rise soon, so take advantage of this offer!

As rain and early evenings descend on our HQ in San Francisco, our Japanese team is looking forward to the next Japanese holiday, 文化の日, so we've put together a new Topic Lesson on it to help you join in! Since our last update we've added three new lessons:

わしょく

和食

UPPER INTERMEDIATE

Countries

BEGINNER

ぶんか

文化

の

ひ

日

UPPER INTERMEDIATE

We've added a new game, currently playable in the 和食 Topic Lesson: Sentence Sort! The goal is to drag sentences from a text into the correct order. This is very useful for helping you develop overall comprehension of a passage and its narrative flow.

If you enjoy testing yourself on our collections, you'll enjoy our new countries of the world collection, which includes the Japanese words for every country in the world!

We're steadily improving our grammar library - although it's only six weeks or so since our last update, we've added another 14 new grammar points and POIs and updated 59 more. We are working on a more structured 'path' through the library and some other improvements - stay tuned!

Additionally, our partner Joy o' Kanji has published 11 new in-depth kanji essays:

We've added several useful new features this month. First, in category searches (for example Word Search, Kanji Search and Grammar Search), you'll see a new flashcard button at the right of every search result, which will let you add a flashcard to the set of your choice immediately. Of course, you can still assign any flashcard set as your favorites bucket so that the favorites star enables you to add a card to that specific set immediately.

In the details page for a flashcard set, there's a new feature in the 'More actions' list which will let you create a study set with cards you have added to the set today - useful if you want to focus on learning material immediately after you've encountered it.

Finally on the flashcards front, you can now create flashcards for grammar points in the Beginner Lessons.

Happy Japanese studying!

We hope you are enjoying our new Topic Lessons! We're continuing to add new lessons, as well as new games and features to the lessons themselves. Since launch we've already added three new lessons:

Introducing yourself

BEGINNER

The 23 wards of Tokyo

ADVANCED

うみ

海

の

ひ

日

INTERMEDIATE

If you've tried the Topic Lessons, you'll have seen several new games featured: Image Match, Kanshudo Cloze, and Audio Spell, as well as the new multiple choice quiz format. We're working on several more new games, and we are aiming to have all the games playable independently, with Boost, and with flashcard sets. Stay tuned!

If you have any feedback or suggestions on our games, we'd love to hear from you. Additionally, we're prioritizing new Topic Lessons according to requests, so if there's anything you'd like to see a Topic Lesson on, please let us know.

Since our last update we've added 14 new grammar points and POIs and updated 56 more.

Additionally, our partner Joy o' Kanji has published 11 new in-depth kanji essays:

Although it's largely 'behind the scenes', we are constantly working on our library of Japanese example sentences, which now contains 156,500 fully parsed, de-conjugated, and translated sentences. Our ultimate goal is to have at least one sentence for every word, conjugation, and even meaning in our dictionary. We're already well on the way - we have examples for the vast majority of the most useful words in Japanese. So far in 2022, we have added 1059 new example sentences, and updated an additional 6583!

We've recently added a new feature in the 'details' display of an example: when an example is linked to a grammar point, we include highlighting of the word(s) relevant to the grammar point. See here for an example (no pun intended!).

Finally, we've added a new Textbook Companion to accompany two of the books in the excellent Practical Kanji series: Practical Kanji 700 I and Practical Kanji 700 II, for intermediate learners. We highly recommend these textbooks, as the readings they include cover a range of topical and useful material in depth.

Happy Japanese studying!

We are very excited to introduce a huge new part of the Kanshudo system for learning Japanese: Topic Lessons. Lessons are available for all levels of learner, on topics of interest concerning the Japanese language, society, culture and geography.

Each topic lesson is unique, with a mix of video, audio, comprehension quizzes, readings and study games designed specifically to help you learn the lesson material effectively:

New video and audio tools add additional immersion to your study.
Our new instant search feature lets you look up any word or phrase without leaving the page.
Our new text, picture and audio multiple-choice quiz format will help you develop your ability to comprehend material quickly.
Three new games focus on key study techniques - Kanshudo Cloze challenges you to identify the correct word from similar alternatives, such as the right particle or the right counter; Audio Spell requires you to listen to words and phrases and then spell them out; Image Match asks you to match words with pictures that represent them.
Lessons also feature many of our other games, including Word Match, Sentence Builder, Kanji Draw and more.

We're launching with 16 topic lessons, including beginner topics such as directions, colors and particles; intermediate topics such as an introduction to a very popular novel,

えたなら, the plum blossom, and Japanese festivals. There are advanced level lessons on the tea ceremony, and on the tremendously popular manga / anime,

. We will be releasing new topic lessons regularly from now on, and we'd love to hear any topics you'd like a lesson for.

Topic Lessons are available in the STUDY menu by default along with the Beginner or Intermediate Lessons, or the Textbook Companion. (We've updated the lesson preference so you can now study as many lesson types as you like in parallel. You can edit your lesson preference in the new Lesson index, or in the study settings section of your Account page.) Topic Lessons will also appear in your study recommendations on your Dashboard. Additionally, you can simply search for lessons in Quick Search from the top right of any page - for example, try a search for directions.

As usual we've been hard at work making improvements and adding features to Kanshudo. To make it easier to find them, here's a quick summary!

Topic Lessons beta

The biggest news is that a major new feature we have been working very hard on is now in beta: Topic Lessons. We have about 30 intrepid learners testing the new lessons and format, and we really appreciate their help. If you would like to try the beta yourself, please let us know.

Additionally, if you have any social media expertise and are interested in helping us develop our social media strategy for the lessons, we'd love to hear from you. Please reach out.

The new lessons are a huge upgrade for Kanshudo - they introduce audio, video, a new 'instant search' feature for text, a new multiple choice quiz format, several new games (Kanshudo Cloze, Image Match, Audio Spell), and of course lots of new learning material. The lessons use an extremely flexible format: each one can include any combination of study material / games / audio / video in a custom order, so each lesson can be uniquely tailored to the content and the intended study level. We're very excited about the new lessons, and we hope you will be too!

Quick Study

Quick Study is a great way to study on Kanshudo: you can create quick tests from almost anything in the system. You can use Quick Study to find what you don't know and need to work on, or you can use it to reinforce material you already know.

We've added a few more features that make Quick Study even more powerful:

You can now Quick Study cards in one or all of your flashcard sets based on date added (visit the Quick Study index and look in the flashcards section, or visit the details page for any of your flashcard sets and look in the Quick Study section).
When you use Quick Study for a flashcard set, you can now modify your settings directly on the page.
When you use Quick Study with words, you can optionally restrict by mastery level - this is a fantastic way to find words you don't know, or practice words you do.

Together, these features help you use the 'list-based' approach to study, which many learners find more effective than spaced repetition alone. (Kanshudo supports both learning approaches, as well as several other learning styles.)

Joy o' Kanji

We've made it easier to find essays from our partner, Joy o' Kanji. You can now search for essays directly within the Joy o' Kanji essay collection using any of the normal terms you use to search for a kanji. Additionally, when you click the JOK badge that indicates an essay is available, you will now see a new link to enable you to view the essay within the collection.

As usual, Joy o' Kanji has been very busy adding essays, and the following new essays have been produced since our last update:

More miscellaneous improvements

In the search options list (the list that appears below the search bar when you click the Quick Search icon on any page), there's now a link directly to your favorites.
Try it now
We've updated the 'Starting Japanese level' (in your Study settings) to be consistent with usefulness levels.
The learn / review totals for flashcards are now consistent between the Dashboard and your flashcard index.
You can now view words tested in a round of Word Match without leaving the game.
Since our last update we've added 8 new grammar points and updated 40 more.

Happy Japanese studying!

Here's a quick round-up of new features and improvements we've made over the last couple of months. Of course, one of the biggest was covered in our last blog post – the new Kaneko Misuzu section of the Reading Corner, along with the new feature article on her life and works. However, we've also made a host of other improvements, so here's an overview.

Study recommendations and betas

We've added a few new features to our flashcard system:

More options for forgotten cards: you can now create sets with only forgotten cards, and can now add forgotten cards directly back to review instead of study
Create word flashcards by usefulness + your mastery level: now you can instantly pinpoint words you don't know or want to review
Copy flashcards from one flashcard set to another
Review flashcards across all sets: in the 'My flashcards' table (below the 'My flashcard sets' table in your flashcard index), there is now a review option, which will enable you to review all your cards without going through them set by set
Reprioritize reviews: reviews piling up can be very disheartening, and we can now take care of that for you! The reprioritize function will adjust timing of your reviews so you have a manageable number each day. The reprioritize function will appear automatically on your consolidated flashcard view (accessible underneath the list of sets on your flashcard home page) if needed.

Suitability analysis

We've added a very useful feature to readings in the Reading Corner: a personalized analysis of the words and kanji in a reading, showing you precisely what you know and don't know, and enabling you to create flashcards or a Quick Study session based on your selection. The new 'suitability analysis' is in the 'Kanji and Vocab' section of each reading.

Joy o' Kanji essays

As always our partner Joy o' Kanji continues to produce high quality in-depth essays on individual kanji. In the last few weeks, the following new essays have been added:

Study recommendations and betas

Our AI study recommendations continue to improve, and we are working on a number of features related to how recommendations are chosen, as well as some new recommendations. If you have any suggestions about your study recommendations as you work on your study sessions on your Dashboard, please let us know.

We have several new games and a major new addition to the system approaching beta stage, so if you are interested in helping to test any of our betas, please let us know.

We are delighted to announce a major new addition to Kanshudo – the poems of Kaneko Misuzu, one of Japan's most famous and enduring children's poets. Kaneko's poems are a fixture in Japanese schools, and a wonderful way to study Japanese. We are very pleased to have partnered with the creators of Are You an Echo?, a bilingual anthology of Kaneko's works, to bring you some of her works on Kanshudo.

To learn more about Kaneko, start with our detailed feature article on her life and works, Welcome to the magical world of poetry by Kaneko Misuzu! When you're ready, visit the new Kaneko section of the Reading Corner, which features eight of her best-loved poems. As with every study piece in the Reading Corner, you can follow the Japanese at your own pace, with or without furigana or English, and you can quickly tag any words or kanji as favorites for later study.

In addition, you can now watch videos that are automatically synchronized with the poems. Following each sentence in Japanese as you hear it spoken is a great way to improve your listening comprehension and speed up your reading. Videos are currently available for two of the poems: Are You an Echo? and Bee and God.

Because reading material tends to incorporate kanji and words of all difficulty levels, we have added another great new feature: personalized suitability assessments. At the top of the 'kanji and words' section of each reading, you'll see a new table with a summary of the kanji and words used. The table shows you totals of kanji and words that you already know and that are new to you, as well as an assessment of how difficult the material you don't know is compared with your current level. This will help you decide which readings to focus on. We also use these suitability assessments when deciding which readings to show you in your study tasks on your [Dashboard](/dashboard), so you can just sit back and let Kanshudo choose readings for you automatically!

We hope you enjoy these wonderful short pieces by Kaneko Misuzu, and we'd love to hear your impressions!

We hope 2022 is treating you well so far! We've had a busy January, and we'll be announcing some big new features soon. In the meantime, here's an overview of several new features we've introduced recently.

Mastery heatmap

We've added a new way to understand your mastery scores for kanji / grammar / words, which will be especially useful to more advanced learners as it will help you identify gaps in your knowledge: your mastery heatmap. The heatmap shows your average mastery score for every usefulness level for kanji, words and grammar in the same chart.

Your personal mastery heatmap is a new section in your Dashboard (just after your Mastery map).

So now you have three ways to visualize your progress with Japanese:

The mastery 'wedge' graphic at the top of your Dashboard, which shows your progress with kanji / words / grammar and study points within your current mastery level
Your three mastery wheels (kanji, grammar and words). Each wheel has one ring for each usefulness level, and each ring shows counts of items by (your) mastery score
Your mastery heatmap (also in the Dashboard), which shows average mastery score for each usefulness level

Flashcard improvements

On the home page for any flashcard set, the colored counts of cards in your current study set, needing review, forgotten etc are now links, enabling you to view the actual cards with a single click.
We've added a new 'retention rate' section to the statistics page for each set, so you can track your current study rate.
In the main collections of words by usefulness level, there is a new button by each word enabling you to add a word to any flashcard set immediately. Very useful for picking up words you missed!
We've improved the home page for each set by grouping some of the buttons into 'more action' pop-up menus.

Kanji keywords level-appropriate word setting

Sometimes a reading for a kanji is only used in words that are much less common than other readings. We've now added a setting to Kanji Keywords, on by default, to test you only on words that are a similar level of usefulness to the kanji itself.

Toggle for example sentence English translations

We continue to add more flexibility to the user interface so that you can customize the display as your Japanese progresses. You can now set English translations for example sentences to be hidden by default wherever they appear on Kanshudo. It's in the study settings section of your account page.

Looking for beta testers!

We are hard at work on a couple of big new features for Kanshudo, and we are looking for beta testers of all Japanese levels. If you'd like to get an early look at the features, please let us know.

Happy New Year to you all! We wish you the best for your Japanese studies in 2022.

We have some exciting plans for 2022, including new games, new study modes, new lessons, and more. In the meantime, here's a quick summary of some small improvements we've made over the last few weeks to flashcards and the component builder.

Flashcards improvements

We've made a few improvements to the flashcards system, including:

Settings are now accessible in a popup on the details page for any flashcard set, so you can make quick changes without leaving the set
We've added two new automatic card creation options, accessible from the details page for any set: you can now automatically create kanji cards for any kanji used in word cards in the set, and you can automatically create word cards for the key words for each reading of any kanji card in the set
We've made the handling of forgotten (lapsed) cards more explicit: you now have a setting to prioritize forgotten cards, which is on by default. When you create a new study set, Kanshudo will choose any cards marked forgotten more than a day ago first, before continuing with your default study order choice (most useful items etc)
The status color code for each card is now included with the card statistics.
You can now remove a card from a set while studying (using a button on the card statistics popup).
Mature cards you forget now have a maximum initial review period of a week when you learn them. (In other words, cards with a long review interval - greater than three weeks - will come up again sooner if you forget them and then re-learn them.)

Component Builder improvements

Kanshudo's Component Builder is, we think, one of the most sophisticated ways to look up a kanji available. The ability to draw each component of a complex kanji one by one is often the fastest way to look up a kanji by far. Plus with Component Builder you can draw a component, look it up by name, or find it in a list.

We've added a very useful improvement to the Component Builder: when you have entered one or more components and get a list of possible kanji, you can now view all of the candidates in Component Search - just click the search icon at the end of the kanji list.

Meanwhile, in Component Search, you can then quickly view your results back in Component Builder. In other words, you can now 'round-trip' between Component Builder (a great way to enter any single kanji in a search field) and Component Search (a great way to view lists of all kanji containing any combination of components).

You can access the Component Builder wherever you see the 部 icon, for example by clicking the Quick Search icon at the top right of every page. For detailed instructions, see our how-to guide.

Save 50% on a Kanshudo Pro subscription!

It's that time of the year ... time to be merry, time to celebrate the successes (the end?) of 2021, and time to plan for how to improve your Japanese in 2022!

Kanshudo is here to help! Kanshudo is the broadest and most sophisticated online platform for learning Japanese. Kanshudo will help you master kanji, hiragana and katakana, along with Japanese grammar and vocabulary, as fast, effectively, and enjoyably as possible! Kanshudo is used by over 90,000 Japanese learners, with [proven results](/testimonials).

This special holiday offer gives you 50% off one year of Pro access - unbeatable value at less than 10 cents per day! Pro access gives you unlimited use of:

Our AI tutor and personalized study sessions
Unlimited spaced repetition flashcards and learning games
A comprehensive reference library of Japanese grammar
The most comprehensive Japanese dictionaries online
Multiple study and how-to guides for learning Japanese
Optional access to over 400 in-depth kanji essays from our partner Joy o' Kanji

Every year Kanshudo gets better and better, and 2021 was no exception - we added pitch accent support, our new game Kanji Keywords, standalone Kanji Draw and Answer Type, and launched a revised and improved series of Intermediate Lessons, the perfect complement to our Beginner Lessons. For 2022 we have a long list of exciting improvements planned, all of which will be available automatically to Pro members.

Take advantage of this very special holiday offer now: Give me 50% off!

We are very excited to announce that our updated Intermediate Lessons are now officially out of beta*, and fully ready to use!

The new Intermediate Lessons provide the perfect stepping stone from beginner level Japanese through to high intermediate. Starting with a recap of all material covered in the Beginner Lessons, the lessons cover 1000 kanji. Additionally, the 55 lessons will introduce you to about 1500 of the most useful words using the lesson kanji. Each lesson also introduces a handful of critical grammar points, covering about 300 in total, illustrated with nearly 2500 example sentences. Completing the series covers all the material you need to pass the JLPT N2 (the second highest level).

You can study an intermediate lesson at any time by visiting the [lesson index](/ilessons). A link to the lesson index is in the top STUDY menu on every page. You can also find the lessons via the [Study index page](/study) in the INFORMATION AND HELP section of the bottom menu on every page.

The lessons use a great new format, with your mastery of the material clearly visible in the home page of each lesson. Each lesson includes a wide range of study activities, including a slideshow introducing all the material, flashcards and kanji drawing practice, as well as around ten fun and engaging study games. You can test yourself on the material at any time for study or revision, and if you know the material, you can take a 'Boost Test' to test up to the next lesson. This makes the Intermediate Lessons great revision material even for advanced students.

Key features of the new Intermediate Lesson series:

55 lessons covering 1000 kanji, 1500 key words, and 300 grammar points
Covers all the material for JLPT N5 through N2
Introductory slideshow covering lesson content with 'points of interest' and notes
Flashcards, kanji drawing practice, 10 study games
Visual summary of your mastery of the kanji, words and grammar in each lesson
Three ways to finish a lesson - complete the lesson exercises, 'Test up', or just get your mastery of the content high enough using any of Kanshudo's study tools and games

If you are using the AI-generated study recommendations on your Dashboard to study on Kanshudo (the recommended way to study), you will automatically see recommendations for Intermediate Lessons as you progress. You can tell Kanshudo to focus your study tasks on the Intermediate Lessons by setting your lesson series to the Intermediate Lessons on your account page. You will start to receive intermediate lesson study recommendations automatically once your Japanese mastery level reaches 20.

* We removed the 'beta' tag from the lessons a few months ago once the lesson content and functionality were complete, but since then we have put a lot of time into improving [Grammar Match](/play/grammarmatch_first) to cover almost all of the 300+ grammar points in the lessons.

We're very excited to introduce our newest game: Kanji Keywords!

Kanji Keywords brings together two of the most important learning techniques for kanji in a super fun and engaging game format: keywords and active recall.

Keywords: the best way to learn readings of a kanji reading is to learn the most important words that use them. Kanshudo introduces you to a kanji's keywords in various ways - for example, we display the keywords for each kanji whenever you click a kanji icon in search results; you can also access a collection of all the most important words for all the readings in the Joyo kanji. Kanji Keywords tests your knowledge of these keywords directly.

Active recall: the best way to learn a word is to actively use it. Second to actual conversation, the best way to actively use a word is to recall it from a definition or translation and then write it out. Kanji Keywords requires you to type out the reading of each keyword.

Kanji Keywords will help you learn kanji and important Japanese vocabularly in tandem. Best of all, your games will increase both your kanji mastery and your word mastery scores, and will earn you study points for free Pro access to Kanshudo!

Play a few rounds of Kanji Keywords today.

Since we introduced the usefulness ranking for Japanese vocabulary four years ago, the most comprehensive analysis of Japanese usage available, we have made many improvements. We now use close to 30 ranking factors to determine how useful words are for Japanese learners in relation to each other, and which form of each word is most useful.

Words with a usefulness level of 9 or better are amongst the most useful 50,000 words in Japanese, and have a colored badge in search results, eg: .

Many useful words have multiple forms, and less common forms have a badge that looks like this: .

Of course, as we have added more data and analysis, the usefulness ratings of many words has changed somewhat. The badges update automatically, but our usefulness collections are a 'snapshot' of the list, and we have now updated the collections to reflect the latest data. You can still access the original collections if you need to. You can also search for words by usefulness level with the special ufn: keyword, for example: ufn:2.

The details of our methodology are set out in depth in our comprehensive how-to guide, How to prioritize Japanese words to study.

Finally, we have added a new 'shadow' JLPT badge. A standard JLPT badge indicates that a word appears in the Wikipedia JLPT vocab list, which in turn was based on the Tanos list. Standard badges look like this: .

However, in many cases, the word in the Wikipedia / Tanos list is not the most useful form of the word. We generally recommend that you learn the most useful form of a word first (and that form is most likely to be tested in the JLPT), so we have now added a lighter colored JLPT badge to the other forms of each word that appears in the JLPT list, which looks like this: .

See for example the entry for

ダメ

. The kana form is the one you will encounter most commonly, and the one we recommend you learn first. However, the kanji form 駄目 appears in the list for JLPT N3, even though the kanji 駄 is not one you would be expected to know until you reach JLPT N1 (the highest level).

Chopsticks are among the most useful and important implements in daily life in Japan - you literally need them to eat! Learn about the history of chopsticks, as well as the Japanese words and kanji used for them, in our new Point of Interest, はし, 箸 and chopsticks. Also learn how to make sure you are not accidentally talking about something entirely different when you use the spoken word!

The crane plays an outsized role in Japanese culture, and we are delighted to present a number of new resources to help you become acquainted with this central theme of Japanese art and literature!

Learn more about cranes and what they symbolize in our new Point of interest,

つる

鶴

cranes in Japanese culture. Then, work through the delightful fairy tale

(The Crane's Flute), our latest addition to the Reading Corner, with a new translation by our partner J.D. Wisgo. Finally, to really cement your knowledge of the kanji 鶴, read the Joy o' Kanji essay on 鶴.

Drawing a kanji by hand is one of the best ways to truly cement it in your memory. We are delighted to announce that Kanji Draw is now available as a standalone game, so you can test yourself and practice drawing kanji as often as you like!

Our new standalone Kanji Draw game has a study mode (with infinite lives) as well as a high score mode so you can compete with yourself. You can draw on kanji with a specific usefulness level, or you can choose kanji from a specific study set. You can also optionally restrict the game by your own mastery, so you can focus on learning kanji you don't know well, or testing yourself on kanji you do.

As with all Kanshudo games, you will earn study points for every round you play, and every kanji you draw correctly will improve your kanji mastery score.

You can find Kanji Draw from the PLAY menu at the top of every page, as well as in the KANJI & KANA menu at the bottom of every page. You can also find it in the Play index page and the site index, or you could just do a Quick Search for 'draw' or 'kanji games' from any page.

Kanji Draw will also appear as a study task on your Dashboard, along with all of Kanshudo's games and learning tools. Let Kanshudo drive you on the road to Japanese mastery!

The Kanshudo Blog - older posts