The Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji: (JLPT All Levels) Remembering and Understanding the 2,136 Standard Characters

by Kenneth G. Henshall, Christopher Seely, Jiageng Fan (Contributor)

Learn over 2,000 Japanese Kanji characters with this user-friendly Japanese language-learning book.

This unique Kanji study guide provides a comprehensive introduction to all the Kanji characters on the Japanese Ministry of Education's official Joyo ("General Use") list—providing detailed notes on the historical development of each character as well as all information needed by students to read and write them. As fascinating as it is useful, this is the book every Japanese language learners keeps on his or her desk and visits over and over.

This Kanji book includes:
Clear, large-sized entries
All of the General Use Joyo Kanji Characters
Japanese readings and English meanings
stroke-count
stroke order
usage examples
mnemonic hints for easy memorization
The components which make up each character are detailed and the Kanji are graded in difficulty according to Ministry of Education guidelines, allowing students to prioritize the order in which the Kanji are learned and track their progress. This book is essential to anyone who is planning to take the official Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) and will appeal to beginning students as well as those who wish to attain higher-level mastery of the Japanese language. It is the only book that also provides historical and etymological information about the Japanese Kanji.

This latest edition has been updated to include all of the 2,136 Kanji on the expanded Joyo list issued by the Japanese government in 2010. Many entries have been revised to include the most recent research on character etymologies.

Genres: Japanese Literature, Reference, Japan, Textbooks, Nonfiction, Language

704 pages, Paperback

Published March 22, 2016

About the author

Kenneth G. Henshall is a graduate of the universities of London (B.A.), Sydney (PhD), and Adelaide (Dip. Ed.), and is now a professor of Japanese at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He has also taught at the universities of Auckland, Western Australia, California and Waikato. He is well-known for his translations of literature and history books, and is the author of A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters.

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superior reference for origins of characters. Lots of history packed in the meanings. The mnemonics are useful & fun. I also had the original version before this one & it has about one hundred fewer characters. I decided, some two years ago, to go through 5-7 characters/study-day...I've just about gone through them all (2,136). For the E-book, I couldn't quickly flip back & forth as I would w/the the paperback. They should include hyperlinks in order to make it easier to 'see' some other character that is being referenced within a definition. I also got annoyed with the 'see Note' that was appended in every other definition. It seemed more logical to insert an asterisk, for brevity & space, or to just give the note right then & there, rather than at the end, a couple sentences later. It felt choppy. This version includes several alternative views & this can be useful for the real scholar. There were some primary dictionaries that came out of China. All in all, this is a powerhouse of a book for the in-depth study of kanji. It's not a dictionary. This book enables one to, say, see a (complex) kanji-character & break down its meaning into parts. You'll discern between the radicals and the ways they've evolved in script over time. This book's also rich fare for grammar enthusiasts & linguists.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite kanji book so far. All of the kanji are presented in an order that makes sense to me, there are plenty of details for each kanji, and easy to remember mnemonics for each.

[Harrison Large ラージ • ハリソン · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kanji order felt a teeny bit scattershot, but generally ramp up from 一 to 二 to 三, with the most complex at the end. Very useful resource.