Learning Kanji by Radicals: Hen, Tsukuri, Kanmuri and the Other Positions
Hiroki Obara · Developer
海 (sea) and 池 (pond) share the same element on the left, 氵. It is a radical called さんずい (sanzui), and it appears in many kanji to do with water. Japanese children learn both of these in second grade, and both are names of places with water.
A radical (部首, bushu) is the part of a kanji that marks which group it belongs to by shape. Kanji dictionaries are ordered by radical, and the Kanji Kentei test in Japan asks for radicals and their names at levels 6 to 2. This post looks at the seven positions a radical can take in a kanji, with common radicals for each. Each character links to its stroke order page on this site (in Japanese), which also shows its radical.
Why radicals make kanji easier to remember
Knowing radicals leaves less to memorize.
Learning 晴 (clear weather) as twelve separate strokes is hard. Seen as 日 (sun) next to 青 (blue), it is two parts and where they go. If you already know both, there is almost nothing new.
Radicals also hint at meaning. Many kanji combine a part that shows meaning with a part that shows sound. 晴 relates to 日, the sun, and takes the reading せい (sei) from 青. 清 (pure, clear) has the water radical and is also read せい. With a kanji you have never seen, the radical can suggest the meaning and the other part the reading. It does not always work, but having any clue at all makes a kanji easier to hold on to.
The seven positions
Radicals are usually named in seven groups, by where they sit in the kanji. The Japanese name of each radical often ends with the name of its position.
Hen (へん), on the left. The most common position.
- 亻 にんべん (ninben, person): 休 rest, 体 body
- 氵 さんずい (sanzui, water): 海 sea, 池 pond
- 言 ごんべん (gonben, speech): 話 talk, 語 language, 読 read
- 木 きへん (kihen, tree): 校 school, 村 village, 板 board
Tsukuri (つくり), on the right.
- 頁 おおがい (ōgai, head): 頭 head, 顔 face
- 攵 ぼくづくり (bokuzukuri, strike): 教 teach, 数 number
- 阝 おおざと (ōzato, village): 都 capital, 部 section
Kanmuri (かんむり), on top.
- 艹 くさかんむり (kusakanmuri, grass): 花 flower, 草 grass, 茶 tea
- 宀 うかんむり (ukanmuri, roof): 家 house, 室 room, 字 character
- 雨 あめかんむり (amekanmuri, rain): 雪 snow, 雲 cloud, 電 electricity
Ashi (あし), at the bottom.
Tare (たれ), hanging from the top down the left.
Nyō (にょう), wrapping from the left along the bottom.
Kamae (かまえ), enclosing.
- 門 もんがまえ (mongamae, gate): 間 interval, 開 open
- 囗 くにがまえ (kunigamae, enclosure): 国 country, 園 garden, 図 diagram
Which radicals to learn first
If you are starting out, one place to begin is the left-side and top radicals that come up most in early kanji: person, water, speech, tree, grass and roof. They appear in so many of the first few hundred kanji that each new character you meet will feel partly familiar.
Instead of memorizing a list of radical names, you can find radicals inside kanji you are learning. When you meet a new kanji, look for its radical first. Keep doing that, and the radicals settle in by themselves.
Same shape, different name
Some radicals share a shape and change name with position.
阝 on the left is こざとへん (kozatohen), as in 院 (institution). On the right it is おおざと, as in 都 and 部. 月 is つきへん (tsukihen, moon) in 服 (clothes), but にくづき (nikuzuki, flesh) in 胸 (chest) and 腸 (intestines). Nikuzuki is a changed form of 肉 (meat) and appears in kanji related to the body. Because the shapes are identical, telling them apart by meaning is easier.
When dictionaries disagree
Radical names vary a little between dictionaries. 辶 is called both しんにょう and しんにゅう, and a few kanji are filed under different radicals in different dictionaries. English names vary even more. One book’s “movement” radical is another’s “walk”.
For the Kanji Kentei, the guidelines of the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation say radicals follow the foundation’s own published radical table. If you plan to take that test, learn its names.
Otherwise, the differences are not a big concern. What matters is being able to see a kanji as parts. The name is only a label for the part.
Using radicals in KanjiN
KanjiN is a kanji app I make for iPhone and iPad, where you answer by handwriting. It has two games built on radicals.
In Radical Sort, you drag each kanji to the group of its radical. Seeing many kanji gathered by radical shows connections between characters you had learned one by one.
In Radical Builder, two to four radicals and parts appear on screen, and you handwrite the kanji that uses all of them. It is practice in building a kanji from its parts.
Besides school grades 1 to 6 and Kanken levels 10 to 5, you can practice JLPT N5 to N3 kanji. Today’s Drill, Today’s Challenge and the 10-question Skill Check are free. A one-time purchase, Unlock Everything, opens every drill, including Radical Sort and Radical Builder, with no ads and no subscription. The first time you use it, the app downloads what it needs to read handwriting, so you need an internet connection then.
Stroke order rules are in Kanji Stroke Order Rules, and readings in On’yomi and Kun’yomi.
