Study Japanese language, Kanji; learn about Japanese travel, culture, life, music (JPOP) and more

Kanji Study

You can use this page to randomly display a Kanji, display a specific Kanji or display a previous Kanji of the Day from the mailing lists.

Display random Jōyō Kanji

Display random kanji by grade level: Grade 1  |   Grade 2  |   Grade 3  |   Grade 4  |   Grade 5  |   Grade 6

Display random kanji by JLPT level: N1  |   N2  |   N3  |   N4  |   N5

Find a previous mailing list Kanji:    

Find a specific Kanji:  


Random JLPT Level 1 (old system) Kanji  ( PDF version of this Kanji PDF version )

stroke order illustration  
English:
left
On-Yomi:

シャ
Kun-Yomi:
ひだり
Bushu (Radical) Info: 工 (たくみ) – craft
Henshall Mnemonic: left hand steadies carpenter's square
Levels: JLPT N5 | JLPT 4 (old) | Grade 1
Frequency: #630 of the 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

Common Words and/or Phrases Using this Kanji:

Click any individual kanji to view a similar information sheet for it.
Click [K] to look up the word's individual character(s) at WWWJDIC.
Click [D] to look up the word at WWWJDIC (definition is the same but other useful features exist).

Click [Jisho] to look up the word at Jisho.org.

JLPT N5 Words

  •   [ひだり]
    (n) left hand side   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N3 Words

  •   [さゆう]
    (n,vs) (1) left and right; (2) influence; control; domination   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N2 Words

  • なら   [さようなら]
    (conj,int) (uk) good-bye   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

  • き   [ひだりきき]
    (n) left-handedness; sake drinker; left-hander   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

  •   [うおうさおう]
    (n) move about in confusion; go every which way; going right and left; this way and that   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  • かって   [むかってひだり]
    on the left as one faces (it)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [さき]
    (n) undermentioned (statement); following   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ひだりて]
    (n) left hand   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [させん]
    (n,vs) demotion; degradation   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ひだりまえ]
    (n) downward course; being badly off; wearing a kimono with the right side tucked under the left   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ひだりがわ]
    (n) left; left (hand) side   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [さは]
    (n) left wing   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  • なら   [さよなら]
    (conj,int) (uk) good-bye   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [さよく]
    (n) left wing   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [さわん]
    (n) (1) left arm; (2) left-handed (baseball pitcher)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
Find more details for at jisho.org, Yookoso! or WWWJDIC

Acknowledgments

The sofware used to generate this kanji information uses the EDICT and KANJIDIC files. These files are the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group at Monash University and are used in conformance with the Group's license.

NOTE: I converted the sources just mentioned years ago and have never really updated so there may be some missing or incorrect information that has been addressed in the original sources but not here.

The first Stroke Order image used on this page is courtesy of Ulrich Apel's excellent open source KanjiVG project. The second image is from the folks at the excellent Jisho Japanese-English dictionary site and it too is based on KanjiVG.

Classifying the kanji and popular vocabulary by the new JLPT levels was done by consulting Jonathan Waller‘s JLPT Resources page, renshuu, Wictionary, and Nihongo Ichiban.

The Henshall Mnemonics are the copyright of Tuttle Publishing and are the result of the hard work by Professor Henshall. See the list I used here.

If you are curious about the lexicography shown in the word definitions, visit the WWWJDIC abbreviations and codes guide and the JMdict/Edict Lexicographical details page.