2.3 N5 Kanji: ~100 Characters & Readings

What N5 Kanji Demands

Kanji (漢字) are logographic characters borrowed from Chinese; each stands for a meaning and can carry several readings. For N5 you are expected to recognise roughly 100 kanji and read the words they build. You never have to write kanji from memory, because the entire JLPT is multiple choice, but you must read them and match spoken or hiragana words to the correct character. The Vocabulary section tests kanji through two dedicated question types described below. Learn each kanji as a package: its shape, its core meaning, its common readings, and one or two N5 words that use it.

On'yomi vs Kun'yomi

Most kanji have two kinds of reading. The kun'yomi (訓読み) is the native Japanese reading, used when the kanji stands alone or takes hiragana endings: 山 by itself is やま (yama). The on'yomi (音読み) is the Chinese-derived reading, used mostly in multi-kanji compounds: 山 in 富士山 is サン (Fujisan). The rule of thumb is that a kanji standing by itself usually takes kun'yomi, while two kanji glued together usually take on'yomi. 人 is ひと alone but にん or じん in compounds (三人 sannin, 日本人 nihonjin). 日 is ひ (day) alone but にち or び in 日曜日 (nichiyoubi). Knowing which reading a context calls for is exactly what 漢字読み questions probe.

The Core ~100 by Theme

Group the characters thematically so the readings reinforce each other:

Okurigana: The Hiragana Tail

Verbs and adjectives written with a kanji stem carry a hiragana ending called okurigana (送り仮名). The kanji holds the meaning, and the okurigana shows the inflection and pins down the reading. 食べる (たべる, to eat) keeps べる outside the kanji, and 大きい (おおきい, big) keeps きい outside 大. Okurigana matters because moving the boundary changes the word: 大きい (ookii, big, an adjective) versus 大きな (ookina, a modifier). In 表記 (orthography) questions the wrong options often attach the right kanji to the wrong okurigana, or the wrong kanji to the right okurigana, so you must control both.

The Two Kanji Question Types

漢字読み (kanji reading) shows a word written in kanji and asks for its reading in hiragana. The stem is typically 「つぎの ことばの よみかたを えらんでください」 (choose the reading of the following word). Example: 火曜日 gives the answer かようび (Tuesday), and the distractors swap in other weekday readings such as げつようび or すいようび. 表記 (orthography) does the reverse: it shows a word in hiragana and asks which kanji spells it, with the stem 「つぎの ことばは かんじで かくと どれですか」. Example: for あめ the answer is 雨 (rain), and the traps are look-alike kanji like 雷 (thunder) or the unrelated 雪 (snow).

Reading Compounds and Numbers

Many N5 words are compounds built from two kanji you already know, and reading them is often a matter of combining the on-yomi of each character. 電 (den, electric) plus 話 (wa, talk) gives 電話 (denwa, telephone); 電 plus 車 (sha, vehicle) gives 電車 (densha, train); 学 (gaku, study) plus 校 (kou, school) gives 学校 (gakkou, school). Because each component carries meaning, learning the parts lets you guess an unfamiliar compound, which is a powerful shortcut for a small kanji pool. Number kanji deserve special drilling because they combine into every price, date, and quantity on the test. The tens, hundreds, and thousands stack predictably: 二十 is にじゅう (20), 三百 is さんびゃく (300, with a sound shift), and 千 is せん (1,000). Watch the readings that shift, such as 四 (よん or し), 七 (なな or しち), and 九 (きゅう or く), because the exam picks the reading that fits the counter or context.

A Worked Example

Consider a 漢字読み item showing 何時 with the options なんじ, なんぷん, いつ, and なんにち. The character 何 means 'what' and 時 means 'hour or o'clock', so 何時 reads なんじ (what time). The distractors are plausible time words but attach the wrong reading or kanji. Now a 表記 item shows でんわ and asks for the kanji, with options 電話, 電気, 会話, and 天気. You know 電 is electric and 話 is talk, so telephone must be 電話; 電気 (denki) is electricity, 会話 (kaiwa) is conversation, and 天気 (tenki) is weather, all built from characters that share a look or a sound. Reasoning from the components, not just rote shape memory, is what makes both question types reliable.

Study Tactics for the ~100

Because the pool is small and fixed, brute-force recognition works. Drill the seven weekday kanji as one block: 月火水木金土日 map to Moon, Fire, Water, Wood, Gold/Metal, Earth, and Sun. Learn the number kanji together with their counter sound shifts, so 一 in 一分 becomes いっぷん (ippun). Then watch the high-frequency reading traps: 上 (ue, up) versus 下 (shita, down) in directions, 大 (ookii, big) versus 犬 (inu, dog) which differ by a single dot, 人 (hito, person) versus 入 (hairu, enter) whose strokes cross differently, and 千 (sen, thousand) versus 干 (hoshi/kan). Always read the okurigana before committing: 見る (miru, to see) versus 見せる (miseru, to show) share 見 but differ only in the tail. If you can recognise the ~100 kanji, tell on'yomi from kun'yomi, and read okurigana correctly, both Vocabulary kanji question types become routine points.