Kanji of the Day

Kanji of the day is a daily Japanese-learning routine where you focus on one new kanji character every 24 hours. This tool shows the same kanji to every visitor on the same UTC date — meaning, on-yomi (Chinese-style) readings, kun-yomi (native Japanese) readings, JLPT level, stroke count, and two to three real example words so you see the kanji in context. The aim is sustainable: one kanji a day adds up to 365 a year, which is enough to cover the JLPT N5 and N4 kanji ranges and most of N3 in well under two years of casual study.

Yes. A new kanji is shown each calendar day in UTC. The selection is deterministic, so two people opening the page from anywhere in the world on the same date see the same character — useful if you want to study with a partner, share the day's kanji in a group chat, or post it to a study log. The selection rotates through the JLPT N5 kanji pool first, and the page also shows yesterday and the day before yesterday so you can catch up if you missed a day.

The tool builds an integer from today's UTC date (year, month, day concatenated as YYYYMMDD), then takes that integer modulo the size of the kanji pool to pick the index. Because the input is just the date, the output is identical for every visitor on the same day — no randomness, no server clock drift, no personalisation. That also means the rotation is fixed and predictable: once the pool is exhausted the cycle simply repeats, so eventually every kanji in the pool gets surfaced as the daily pick.

The daily pool draws from JLPT N5 kanji — the 80 or so most common characters that beginners learn first. These cover everyday numbers, days of the week, directions, body parts, and basic verbs. N5 was chosen because it is the highest-impact set: even one N5 kanji a day measurably improves reading speed on signs, menus, and beginner texts within the first month. The "Try another from this level" button lets you draw a second random N5 kanji without changing today's canonical pick, which is useful when you have extra time and want a bonus.

Most Japanese kanji carry two reading types. On-yomi (音読み) is the Chinese-derived reading, used when the kanji appears inside a compound word — for example 月 in 一月 (いちがつ, January) is read ガツ. Kun-yomi (訓読み) is the native Japanese reading, used when the kanji stands alone or pairs with hiragana — 月 by itself is read つき (moon). Knowing both readings is essential because you cannot predict which one a new compound will use; you have to learn it through exposure. The example words on each card show the kanji in both contexts so you build that intuition over time.

Not yet. The current page is a public web tool — bookmark the URL and reopen it once a day, or pin it as a browser shortcut on your phone home screen. An email and RSS version is on the roadmap, alongside a fuller kanji-a-day course that walks through the N5 then N4 sets in a fixed pedagogical order rather than the deterministic rotation used here. If you want a complete kanji study path right now, the linked JLPT N5 course below covers the entire N5 kanji set with practice exercises and flashcards.