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JLPT N5 Kanji Strategy: The ~100 Kanji You Need
JLPT N5 kanji number about one hundred, but that figure is a prep-publisher estimate, not an official roster. The test organizers do not publish a kanji list.1 This article gives you a practical strategy: it states a realistic target, groups the characters by theme, maps them onto the school-grade kanji table, and gives you an 8-week plan.
Overview
The JLPT measures the ability to use Japanese to communicate, not the memorization of a fixed inventory, so its organizers decline to publish a list of vocabulary, kanji, and grammar items.1 That single fact shapes everything below: any "N5 kanji list" is a reconstruction, and counts vary from one publisher to the next.
This article curates rather than teaches. It organizes a representative N5 set into themes, shows roughly how that set lines up with the school grades where Japanese children learn kanji, and gives a pacing plan.
The deeper method lives in the canonical kanji articles: stroke order, radicals, mnemonics, and the on'yomi versus kun'yomi split. This page points you there rather than duplicating that material.
Why the count is "~100," not a fixed number
There is no official JLPT kanji list. The Japan Foundation does not publish a Test Content Specification, and it discourages studying from kanji and vocabulary lists. Its stated reason is that the goal of studying Japanese is communication, not memorizing items.1
Before the 2010 revision, the test had four levels (1 through 4) and was backed by a Test Content Specification (出題基準, Shutsudai kijun), first published in 1994 and revised in 2004.2 Under that old specification, the easiest tier was Level 4, the rough ancestor of today's N5. It listed approximately 103 kanji alongside about 728 vocabulary items.2
The test was revised to five levels (N5 lowest through N1 highest) and implemented in 2010. Since that revision, no official per-level kanji or vocabulary list has been published.23
Because no current list exists, prep publishers reverse-engineer their N5 kanji sets from past exams and from comparisons with one another. That is why published counts disagree.1 Estimates in circulation span roughly 80 to 112 characters: some guides cite about 80, the most common figure is "around 100," and at least one widely used list runs to 112. For how that target fits into the broader coverage curve, see How Many Kanji Do You Need?.
The honest figure is a range, not a fixed checklist. Aim for the ~100 band, expect any two published lists to differ at the edges, and let your N5 vocabulary deck decide which borderline kanji matter.1
How N5 kanji map to the jōyō grades
Japanese elementary schools teach kanji on a grade schedule set by the Ministry of Education (MEXT) in the 学年別漢字配当表 (Kanji Allocation Table by School Year). This table is part of the Course of Study notified in 2017 and in force from 2020; it assigns 1,026 characters across the six elementary grades.45
Grade 1 (第1学年) is exactly 80 characters.45 A typical N5 set overlaps heavily with grade 1 without being identical to it.
It pulls in a handful of grade-2 characters that are common in beginner Japanese, for example 時 "hour," 分 "minute," 今 "now," 行 "go," 来 "come," 食 "eat," and the four direction kanji 東西南北.5 It also omits some grade-1 characters that beginner courses introduce late, for example 貝 "shellfish," 玉 "ball," 糸 "thread," 竹 "bamboo," and 虫 "insect."5
So the mapping is approximate: roughly grade 1 plus a slice of grade 2, not a one-to-one correspondence.5
Grade 2 (第2学年) is 160 characters.5 A few characters that some N5 lists include, notably 安 "cheap" and 飲 "drink," fall outside grades 1 and 2 entirely. They are grade 3 in the table.5 That is another reason the grade mapping is only approximate.
The ~100 N5 kanji, grouped by theme
This is a curation table, not an official roster. It organizes a representative N5 set into themes, with one primary reading and meaning per character. It does not teach stroke order or mnemonics.
Every kanji below is checked against the Ministry of Education grade table. A grade tag (G1, G2, G3) shows where each falls, so the grade-mapping claim above stays honest.5 The five tables together hold about a hundred characters and sample the high-frequency core of the ~100 band. The set is representative, not authoritative, because no authoritative roster exists. It does not reproduce any single published list in full.
Readings follow the conventional on'yomi or kun'yomi most useful at N5. Many of these kanji carry several readings; each row lists one representative reading only, not the complete set.
Numbers and counters
| Kanji | Reading (representative) | Meaning | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 一 | いち / ひと | one | G1 |
| 二 | に / ふた | two | G1 |
| 三 | さん / みっ | three | G1 |
| 四 | し / よん | four | G1 |
| 五 | ご / いつ | five | G1 |
| 六 | ろく / むっ | six | G1 |
| 七 | しち / なな | seven | G1 |
| 八 | はち / やっ | eight | G1 |
| 九 | きゅう / く | nine | G1 |
| 十 | じゅう / とお | ten | G1 |
| 百 | ひゃく | hundred | G1 |
| 千 | せん / ち | thousand | G1 |
| 万 | まん | ten thousand | G2 |
| 円 | えん | yen / circle | G1 |
| 半 | はん | half | G2 |
These recur constantly in dates, prices, ages, and phone numbers, which is why beginner courses teach them early. The 半 in 半分 "half" and 三時半 "half past three" appears in the same vocabulary.
Time and calendar
| Kanji | Reading (representative) | Meaning | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 日 | にち / ひ | day / sun | G1 |
| 月 | げつ / つき | month / moon | G1 |
| 火 | か / ひ | fire (Tuesday) | G1 |
| 水 | すい / みず | water (Wednesday) | G1 |
| 木 | もく / き | wood / tree (Thursday) | G1 |
| 金 | きん / かね | gold / money (Friday) | G1 |
| 土 | ど / つち | earth (Saturday) | G1 |
| 年 | ねん / とし | year | G1 |
| 時 | じ / とき | hour / time | G2 |
| 分 | ふん / ぶん | minute / part | G2 |
| 今 | こん / いま | now | G2 |
| 週 | しゅう | week | G2 |
| 間 | かん / あいだ | interval / between | G2 |
| 午 | ご | noon | G2 |
| 後 | ご / あと | after / behind | G2 |
| 毎 | まい | every | G2 |
The day-of-week names reuse the five element kanji (火水木金土), plus 日 for Sunday and 月 for Monday. Because the calendar set and the element set overlap, learning one partly teaches the other.
Basic verbs
The kanji carries the stem. The okurigana, the trailing hiragana, carries the conjugation. The dictionary form is shown to anchor the reading.
| Kanji | Dictionary form (reading) | Meaning | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 行 | 行く (いく) | go | G2 |
| 来 | 来る (くる) | come | G2 |
| 見 | 見る (みる) | see / look | G1 |
| 聞 | 聞く (きく) | hear / ask | G2 |
| 食 | 食べる (たべる) | eat | G2 |
| 読 | 読む (よむ) | read | G2 |
| 書 | 書く (かく) | write | G2 |
| 話 | 話す (はなす) | speak | G2 |
| 買 | 買う (かう) | buy | G2 |
| 出 | 出る (でる) | exit / leave | G1 |
| 入 | 入る (はいる) | enter | G1 |
| 言 | 言う (いう) | say | G2 |
| 飲 | 飲む (のむ) | drink | G3 |
| 会 | 会う (あう) | meet | G2 |
| 休 | 休む (やすむ) | rest | G1 |
| 立 | 立つ (たつ) | stand | G1 |
The 飲 "drink" here is one of the grade-3 outliers noted above. It appears on common N5 lists yet sits outside grades 1 and 2 in the MEXT table.5
Basic adjectives
Listing antonym pairs together makes them easier to remember.
| Kanji | Reading (representative) | Meaning | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 大 | だい / おお | big | G1 |
| 小 | しょう / ちい | small | G1 |
| 高 | こう / たか | tall / expensive | G2 |
| 安 | あん / やす | cheap / safe | G3 |
| 新 | しん / あたら | new | G2 |
| 古 | こ / ふる | old | G2 |
| 長 | ちょう / なが | long | G2 |
| 多 | た / おお | many | G2 |
| 少 | しょう / すく | few | G2 |
| 白 | はく / しろ | white | G1 |
The pairs 大 / 小, 高 / 安, 新 / 古, and 多 / 少 are antonyms. Pairing them reduces the conceptual load.
Basic nouns, people, places, directions
| Kanji | Reading (representative) | Meaning | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 人 | じん / ひと | person | G1 |
| 男 | だん / おとこ | man | G1 |
| 女 | じょ / おんな | woman | G1 |
| 子 | し / こ | child | G1 |
| 学 | がく | study / learning | G1 |
| 校 | こう | school | G1 |
| 先 | せん / さき | ahead / previous | G1 |
| 生 | せい / う | life / birth | G1 |
| 国 | こく / くに | country | G2 |
| 名 | めい / な | name | G1 |
| 前 | ぜん / まえ | before / front | G2 |
| 上 | じょう / うえ | up / above | G1 |
| 下 | か / した | down / below | G1 |
| 中 | ちゅう / なか | middle / inside | G1 |
| 外 | がい / そと | outside | G2 |
| 東 | とう / ひがし | east | G2 |
| 西 | せい / にし | west | G2 |
| 南 | なん / みなみ | south | G2 |
| 北 | ほく / きた | north | G2 |
| 友 | ゆう / とも | friend | G2 |
| 父 | ふ / ちち | father | G2 |
| 母 | ぼ / はは | mother | G2 |
| 本 | ほん / もと | book / origin | G1 |
| 語 | ご | language / word | G2 |
| 社 | しゃ | company / shrine | G2 |
| 店 | てん / みせ | shop | G2 |
| 駅 | えき | station | G3 |
| 車 | しゃ / くるま | car | G1 |
| 電 | でん | electricity | G2 |
| 気 | き / け | spirit / air | G1 |
| 力 | りょく / ちから | power | G1 |
| 雨 | う / あめ | rain | G1 |
| 何 | なに / なん | what | G2 |
| 右 | う / みぎ | right | G1 |
| 左 | さ / ひだり | left | G1 |
| 口 | こう / くち | mouth | G1 |
| 手 | しゅ / て | hand | G1 |
| 目 | もく / め | eye | G1 |
| 足 | そく / あし | foot / leg | G1 |
| 耳 | じ / みみ | ear | G1 |
| 花 | か / はな | flower | G1 |
| 空 | くう / そら | sky / empty | G1 |
| 山 | さん / やま | mountain | G1 |
Several of these are most useful as compound parts: 学 + 校 = 学校 "school," 先 + 生 = 先生 "teacher," 男 + 子 = 男子. That is the argument for learning kanji inside vocabulary rather than alone.
How to actually learn them: point to the method
This section points you to the method; it does not teach the method here. The recommended approach is to learn each kanji inside an N5 vocabulary word rather than as an isolated character, because most N5 kanji have several readings and the word fixes the one you actually need.
The deeper technique lives in the canonical articles: how to choose between memory systems, how to read kanji through their components, how to build a daily study routine, and how the on'yomi and kun'yomi readings differ. This page gives you the curated set and sends you there for the method.
The vocabulary that carries these kanji is also a curated set worth studying alongside this one. Learning the word and the character together is the point of the kanji-in-context approach.
A sample 8-week N5 kanji plan
A ~100-character target over seven learning weeks is roughly 14 to 16 new kanji per week. Spread across five study days, that is about 3 new kanji per day, leaving weekends for review.
The sequence starts with the most regular sets that beginner courses teach early: numbers and time. It then moves into nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and reserves the final week for consolidated mock review.
| Week | New kanji (approx.) | Theme focus | Daily load (5 days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ~15 | Numbers and counters (一〜万, 円, 半) | 3/day |
| 2 | ~16 | Time and calendar (日〜週, days of week, 間午後毎) | 3/day |
| 3 | ~15 | Nouns: people, family, study (人, 男, 女, 子, 学, 校, 先, 生, 名, 友, 父, 母, 語, 本, 何) | 3/day |
| 4 | ~14 | Nouns: places and directions (国, 前, 上下中外, 東西南北, 山, 空, 雨, 花) | 3/day |
| 5 | ~14 | Nouns: daily life and body parts (社, 店, 駅, 車, 電, 気, 力, 右, 左, 口, 手, 目, 足, 耳) | 3/day |
| 6 | ~16 | Basic verbs (行, 来, 見, 聞, 食, 読, 書, 話, 買, 出, 入, 言, 飲, 会, 休, 立) | 3/day |
| 7 | ~10 | Basic adjectives (大小, 高安, 新古, 長, 多少, 白) | 2/day |
| 8 | 0 new | Mock review: cumulative recall, weak-spot drilling | review only |
A roughly 3-kanji daily load with spaced-repetition review of the backlog takes about 15 to 25 minutes a day at this level. The figure scales upward as the backlog grows.
This is only the kanji slice of N5 preparation. The kanji work fits inside the full N5 study budget rather than standing alone. The 4-month N5 study plan shows where these eight kanji weeks fall on the wider timeline.
Good to know
Don't trust any single "official" N5 list
No current official list exists. Published N5 kanji counts disagree (roughly 80 to 112) precisely because each publisher reverse-engineers its own set from past exams.1
Treat ~100 as a target band. Prioritize whichever kanji actually appear in your N5 vocabulary deck over completeness against any one published list.
Recognition beats handwriting for the N5 exam
The JLPT is entirely multiple-choice. There is no handwriting or composition section at any level.3 For passing N5, recognizing and reading a kanji is what counts; producing it by hand from memory does not.
Handwriting has separate, non-exam benefits, so the case for practicing it stands apart from exam strategy.
Learn the reading that your vocab uses first
Many N5 kanji carry several readings. The character 日, for instance, reads にち in 日曜日. In the weekday pattern, 火 is read か in 火曜日, while the everyday word 今日 "today" is an irregular reading entirely.5
Learn the single reading tied to the word where you first met the kanji, rather than memorizing the full reading set up front. The other readings accumulate naturally as you meet more vocabulary.
See also
- JLPT N5 Prep Overview: What's on the Test
- JLPT N4 Kanji and Vocabulary Strategy
- How Many Kanji Do You Need? A Realistic Count
- Learning Kanji Through Vocabulary: The Kanji-in-Context Approach
- JLPT N5 Vocabulary List: ~800 Words by Category, Kanji Coverage, and Decks
- On'yomi vs. Kun'yomi: The Two-Reading System Behind Every Kanji