Grade 1 Jōyō Kanji (小1): All 80 First-Grade Characters with Readings, Stroke Counts, and JLPT Mapping
The grade 1 jōyō kanji are the 80 characters that Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) assigns to the first year of Japanese elementary school in the 学年別漢字配当表 (gakunenbetsu kanji haitōhyō, "grade-by-grade kanji distribution table").1 They are the entry point of the 1,026-character kyōiku kanji set and the 2,136-character jōyō kanji list. They also form the core kanji vocabulary a beginner meets before any other.23
Overview
The 80 grade 1 kanji are the smallest and most stable slice of the elementary curriculum. The set has not changed across the 1989, 1992, 2008, and 2017 revisions of the 学習指導要領 (course of study). That makes it the most settled of the six grade allocations.4 The current table dates to the 2017 告示 (official notice) and was fully implemented on 1 April 2020.14
"Grade 1 kanji" and "JLPT N5 kanji" are not the same set. MEXT's grade allocation is built around the spoken vocabulary of a Japanese 6-year-old. JLPT N5 (as reconstructed by community projects) targets adult second-language reading at the absolute-beginner level.35 About 60% of the two lists overlap.
Where grade 1 sits inside the 1,026 kyōiku kanji and the 2,136 jōyō set
The 学年別漢字配当表 distributes the 1,026 kyōiku kanji across six elementary grades. The grade counts are 80, 160, 200, 202, 193, and 191 characters from grade 1 through grade 6.3 The kyōiku set is itself a subset of the 2,136-character jōyō kanji list, which adds 1,110 characters covered in secondary school.23
For the full structure of the 2,136-character set, see "The Jōyō Kanji List (常用漢字): The 2,136-Character Set Explained". Grade 1 is the entry point of that hierarchy.
The character form (字体) and the on/kun reading set (音訓) for each character are governed by the 常用漢字表 (jōyō kanji table), not by the distribution table.12 The distribution table only specifies which grade introduces which character.
What gets learned in year 1 (numbers, body parts, days, nature, basic verbs)
The 80 grade 1 characters fall into five thematic clusters that match the everyday vocabulary of a 6-year-old: numbers, body parts and people, nature and time, direction and basic verbs, and school and everyday life.6 MEXT does not issue an official grouping. The clustering used in this article follows the dominant Japanese elementary-textbook ordering.6
The 80 grade 1 kanji
How to read the table
Each character row has seven fields. Kanji shows the character in its standard 常用漢字表 form.2 Meaning gives only the dominant English gloss. On'yomi is shown in katakana. Kun'yomi is shown in hiragana, with okurigana hyphenated where applicable.
The pairing convention follows J-Compass's "On'yomi vs. Kun'yomi: The Two-Reading System Behind Every Kanji" article.
Strokes (画数) are from KANJIDIC2 and match the MEXT-endorsed tally. The eight basic strokes behind these counts are covered in "How to Count Kanji Strokes (画数): The Eight Basic Strokes…".71 Top-2 vocabulary lists two high-frequency words a beginner meets early, compiled from JMdict frequency-tagged headwords and standard dictionary attestation.8910
JLPT is the level at which Wikibooks' community reconstruction first introduces the character.1112
The JLPT has not published an official kanji list since the 2010 revision.5 Every "N5 kanji list" or "N4 kanji list" online is an unofficial reconstruction maintained by a third party. These reconstructions disagree on roughly 30 of the 80 grade 1 kanji. The column in this table follows the Wikibooks reconstruction1112 because it gives the most internally consistent N4/N5 split. The Tanos13 and JLPTsensei1415 reconstructions place 17 grade 1 kanji at higher levels. Read the column as "the level Wikibooks places this character at", not as an authoritative JLPT assignment.
For a fuller account of how many kanji a learner needs at each milestone, see "How Many Kanji Do You Need? A Realistic Count". For an absolute-beginner introduction to the writing system itself, see "What Is Kanji? A Complete Beginner's Introduction".
Master table: all 80 first-grade kanji
The table is sorted by the five-cluster teaching order. On'yomi appear in katakana, kun'yomi in hiragana, and okurigana is hyphenated where applicable.
Numbers and counting
| Kanji | Meaning | On'yomi | Kun'yomi | Strokes | Top-2 vocabulary | JLPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 一 | one | イチ、イツ | ひと-つ | 1 | 一つ (ひとつ) "one (thing)"; 一人 (ひとり) "one person" | N5 |
| 二 | two | ニ | ふた-つ | 2 | 二つ (ふたつ) "two (things)"; 二人 (ふたり) "two people" | N5 |
| 三 | three | サン | み-つ、みっ-つ | 3 | 三つ (みっつ) "three (things)"; 三日 (みっか) "the 3rd / three days" | N5 |
| 四 | four | シ | よ-つ、よっ-つ、よん | 5 | 四つ (よっつ) "four (things)"; 四月 (しがつ) "April" | N5 |
| 五 | five | ゴ | いつ-つ | 4 | 五つ (いつつ) "five (things)"; 五月 (ごがつ) "May" | N5 |
| 六 | six | ロク | む-つ、むっ-つ | 4 | 六つ (むっつ) "six (things)"; 六月 (ろくがつ) "June" | N5 |
| 七 | seven | シチ | なな、なな-つ | 2 | 七つ (ななつ) "seven (things)"; 七月 (しちがつ) "July" | N5 |
| 八 | eight | ハチ | や-つ、やっ-つ、よう | 2 | 八つ (やっつ) "eight (things)"; 八月 (はちがつ) "August" | N5 |
| 九 | nine | キュウ、ク | ここの-つ | 2 | 九つ (ここのつ) "nine (things)"; 九月 (くがつ) "September" | N5 |
| 十 | ten | ジュウ、ジッ | とお | 2 | 十 (じゅう) "ten"; 十月 (じゅうがつ) "October" | N5 |
| 百 | hundred | ヒャク | (もも) | 6 | 百 (ひゃく) "hundred"; 百円 (ひゃくえん) "100 yen" | N5 |
| 千 | thousand | セン | ち | 3 | 千 (せん) "thousand"; 千円 (せんえん) "1,000 yen" | N5 |
| 円 | circle, yen | エン | まる-い | 4 | 円 (えん) "yen"; 千円 (せんえん) "1,000 yen" | N5 |
Body parts and people
| Kanji | Meaning | On'yomi | Kun'yomi | Strokes | Top-2 vocabulary | JLPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 人 | person | ジン、ニン | ひと | 2 | 人 (ひと) "person"; 一人 (ひとり) "one person" | N5 |
| 口 | mouth | コウ、ク | くち | 3 | 口 (くち) "mouth"; 入口 (いりぐち) "entrance" | N4 |
| 目 | eye | モク、ボク | め | 5 | 目 (め) "eye"; 二人目 (ふたりめ) "second person" (ordinal suffix) | N4 |
| 耳 | ear | ジ | みみ | 6 | 耳 (みみ) "ear"; 中耳炎 (ちゅうじえん) "middle-ear inflammation" | N4 |
| 手 | hand | シュ | て、た | 4 | 手 (て) "hand"; 上手 (じょうず) "skilful" | N4 |
| 足 | foot, leg, suffice | ソク | あし、た-りる、た-す | 7 | 足 (あし) "foot, leg"; 足りる (たりる) "to be enough" | N4 |
| 名 | name | メイ、ミョウ | な | 6 | 名前 (なまえ) "name"; 有名 (ゆうめい) "famous" | N5 |
| 男 | man, male | ダン、ナン | おとこ | 7 | 男 (おとこ) "man"; 男の子 (おとこのこ) "boy" | N5 |
| 女 | woman, female | ジョ、ニョ | おんな、め | 3 | 女 (おんな) "woman"; 女の子 (おんなのこ) "girl" | N5 |
| 子 | child | シ、ス | こ | 3 | 子 (こ) "child"; 子供 (こども) "child(ren)" | N5 |
| 先 | ahead, previous | セン | さき | 6 | 先生 (せんせい) "teacher"; 先 (さき) "ahead, earlier" | N5 |
Nature, weather, and time
| Kanji | Meaning | On'yomi | Kun'yomi | Strokes | Top-2 vocabulary | JLPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 日 | sun, day | ニチ、ジツ | ひ、か | 4 | 日 (ひ) "day, sun"; 日本 (にほん) "Japan" | N5 |
| 月 | moon, month | ゲツ、ガツ | つき | 4 | 月 (つき) "moon, month"; 一月 (いちがつ) "January" | N5 |
| 火 | fire | カ | ひ、(ほ) | 4 | 火 (ひ) "fire"; 火曜日 (かようび) "Tuesday" | N5 |
| 水 | water | スイ | みず | 4 | 水 (みず) "water"; 水曜日 (すいようび) "Wednesday" | N5 |
| 木 | tree, wood | ボク、モク | き、こ | 4 | 木 (き) "tree"; 木曜日 (もくようび) "Thursday" | N5 |
| 金 | gold, money, metal | キン、コン | かね、かな | 8 | お金 (おかね) "money"; 金曜日 (きんようび) "Friday" | N5 |
| 土 | earth, soil | ド、ト | つち | 3 | 土 (つち) "soil"; 土曜日 (どようび) "Saturday" | N5 |
| 山 | mountain | サン | やま | 3 | 山 (やま) "mountain"; 富士山 (ふじさん) "Mt. Fuji" | N5 |
| 川 | river | セン | かわ | 3 | 川 (かわ) "river"; 川岸 (かわぎし) "riverbank" | N5 |
| 田 | rice field | デン | た | 5 | 田 (た) "rice field"; 田中 (たなか) "Tanaka (surname)" | N4 |
| 雨 | rain | ウ | あめ、(あま) | 8 | 雨 (あめ) "rain"; 大雨 (おおあめ) "heavy rain" | N5 |
| 空 | sky, empty | クウ | そら、あ-く、から | 8 | 空 (そら) "sky"; 空気 (くうき) "air" | N4 |
| 天 | heaven, sky | テン | あめ、あま | 4 | 天気 (てんき) "weather"; 天 (てん) "heaven, sky" | N5 |
| 草 | grass | ソウ | くさ | 9 | 草 (くさ) "grass"; 草花 (くさばな) "grasses and flowers" | N4 |
| 花 | flower | カ | はな | 7 | 花 (はな) "flower"; 花見 (はなみ) "flower-viewing" | N4 |
| 林 | woods, grove | リン | はやし | 8 | 林 (はやし) "woods"; 山林 (さんりん) "mountain forest" | N4 |
| 森 | forest | シン | もり | 12 | 森 (もり) "forest"; 森林 (しんりん) "forest" | N4 |
| 石 | stone | セキ、シャク、コク | いし | 5 | 石 (いし) "stone"; 石油 (せきゆ) "petroleum" | N4 |
| 夕 | evening | セキ | ゆう | 3 | 夕方 (ゆうがた) "evening"; 夕日 (ゆうひ) "evening sun" | N4 |
| 年 | year | ネン | とし | 6 | 年 (とし) "year, age"; 来年 (らいねん) "next year" | N5 |
Direction, position, and basic verbs
| Kanji | Meaning | On'yomi | Kun'yomi | Strokes | Top-2 vocabulary | JLPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 上 | up, above | ジョウ、ショウ | うえ、うわ、かみ、あ-げる、あ-がる、のぼ-る | 3 | 上 (うえ) "above, top"; 上手 (じょうず) "skilful" | N5 |
| 下 | down, below | カ、ゲ | した、しも、もと、さ-げる、さ-がる、くだ-る、お-りる | 3 | 下 (した) "below, under"; 地下 (ちか) "underground" | N5 |
| 中 | middle, inside | チュウ | なか | 4 | 中 (なか) "inside"; 中国 (ちゅうごく) "China" | N5 |
| 左 | left | サ | ひだり | 5 | 左 (ひだり) "left"; 左右 (さゆう) "left and right" | N5 |
| 右 | right | ウ、ユウ | みぎ | 5 | 右 (みぎ) "right"; 右側 (みぎがわ) "right side" | N5 |
| 出 | exit, go out | シュツ、スイ | で-る、だ-す | 5 | 出る (でる) "to leave, go out"; 出口 (でぐち) "exit" | N5 |
| 入 | enter | ニュウ | い-る、い-れる、はい-る | 2 | 入る (はいる) "to enter"; 入口 (いりぐち) "entrance" | N5 |
| 立 | stand | リツ、リュウ | た-つ、た-てる | 5 | 立つ (たつ) "to stand"; 国立 (こくりつ) "national" | N4 |
| 休 | rest | キュウ | やす-む、やす-まる、やす-める | 6 | 休む (やすむ) "to rest"; 休日 (きゅうじつ) "holiday" | N5 |
| 見 | see | ケン | み-る、み-える、み-せる | 7 | 見る (みる) "to see"; 花見 (はなみ) "flower-viewing" | N5 |
| 早 | early, fast | ソウ、サッ | はや-い、はや-める | 6 | 早い (はやい) "early, fast"; 早朝 (そうちょう) "early morning" | N4 |
| 正 | correct, right | セイ、ショウ | ただ-しい、ただ-す、まさ | 5 | 正しい (ただしい) "correct"; 正月 (しょうがつ) "New Year" | N4 |
| 大 | big | ダイ、タイ | おお-きい、おお-いに | 3 | 大きい (おおきい) "big"; 大学 (だいがく) "university" | N5 |
| 小 | small | ショウ | ちい-さい、こ、お | 3 | 小さい (ちいさい) "small"; 小学校 (しょうがっこう) "elementary school" | N5 |
School and everyday life
| Kanji | Meaning | On'yomi | Kun'yomi | Strokes | Top-2 vocabulary | JLPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 学 | study | ガク | まな-ぶ | 8 | 学校 (がっこう) "school"; 大学 (だいがく) "university" | N5 |
| 校 | school | コウ | (none) | 10 | 学校 (がっこう) "school"; 高校 (こうこう) "high school" | N5 |
| 文 | sentence, writing | ブン、モン | ふみ | 4 | 文 (ぶん) "sentence"; 文字 (もじ) "character, letter" | N4 |
| 字 | character, letter | ジ | あざ | 6 | 字 (じ) "character"; 漢字 (かんじ) "kanji" | N4 |
| 本 | book, origin, counter | ホン | もと | 5 | 本 (ほん) "book"; 日本 (にほん) "Japan" | N5 |
| 車 | vehicle, car | シャ | くるま | 7 | 車 (くるま) "car"; 電車 (でんしゃ) "train" | N5 |
| 町 | town, ward | チョウ | まち | 7 | 町 (まち) "town"; 下町 (したまち) "downtown" | N4 |
| 村 | village | ソン | むら | 7 | 村 (むら) "village"; 漁村 (ぎょそん) "fishing village" | N4 |
| 王 | king | オウ | (none) | 4 | 王 (おう) "king"; 王子 (おうじ) "prince" | N4 |
| 玉 | jewel, ball | ギョク | たま | 5 | 玉 (たま) "ball, jewel"; お年玉 (おとしだま) "New-Year money gift" | N4 |
| 力 | power, strength | リョク、リキ | ちから | 2 | 力 (ちから) "strength"; 電力 (でんりょく) "electric power" | N4 |
| 気 | spirit, mind, air | キ、ケ | (none) | 6 | 元気 (げんき) "well, healthy"; 天気 (てんき) "weather" | N5 |
| 音 | sound | オン、イン | おと、ね | 9 | 音 (おと) "sound"; 音楽 (おんがく) "music" | N4 |
| 青 | blue | セイ、ショウ | あお、あお-い | 8 | 青 (あお) "blue, green"; 青空 (あおぞら) "blue sky" | N4 |
| 白 | white | ハク、ビャク | しろ、しろ-い、しら | 5 | 白 (しろ) "white"; 白い (しろい) "white (adj.)" | N5 |
| 赤 | red | セキ、シャク | あか、あか-い | 7 | 赤 (あか) "red"; 赤ちゃん (あかちゃん) "baby" | N4 |
| 生 | life, raw, birth | セイ、ショウ | い-きる、う-まれる、なま、は-える、き | 5 | 先生 (せんせい) "teacher"; 学生 (がくせい) "student" | N5 |
| 貝 | shellfish | (none) | かい | 7 | 貝 (かい) "shellfish"; 貝殻 (かいがら) "seashell" | N4 |
| 虫 | insect | チュウ | むし | 6 | 虫 (むし) "insect"; 弱虫 (よわむし) "weakling" | N4 |
| 犬 | dog | ケン | いぬ | 4 | 犬 (いぬ) "dog"; 子犬 (こいぬ) "puppy" | N4 |
| 竹 | bamboo | チク | たけ | 6 | 竹 (たけ) "bamboo"; 竹林 (ちくりん) "bamboo grove" | N4 |
| 糸 | thread | シ | いと | 6 | 糸 (いと) "thread"; 毛糸 (けいと) "wool yarn" | N4 |
A few notes on the table data. All 80 character forms are from the 常用漢字表, and the grade-1 allocation follows the H29 学習指導要領.21 Reading sets are limited to the most frequent on'yomi and kun'yomi. The full 常用漢字表 reading sets for 生, 上, 下, 出, 入, 日, 月 each run to 5–10 readings.2
貝 has no on'yomi at the grade-1 reading level and is read kun-only here.26 校, 王, and 気 carry only on'yomi at the grade-1 reading level. Their kun'yomi appear in some compounds but fall outside the grade-1 allocation.26 字 has an irregular kun reading あざ, used almost exclusively for rural place-name subdivisions. Everyday usage is through the on'yomi ジ (漢字, 文字).9
A short example puts the table in context:
一年生は八十字の漢字を学びます。9
"First-graders learn eighty kanji."
Patterns within grade 1
Numbers and counting (一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 百 千 円)
This is the only fully closed numeric subset in the entire kyōiku list. The 13 characters cover every cardinal-number atom up to 千, plus 円 (yen) for money.6 Each of 一–十 has both on and kun readings, and the choice depends on use. On'yomi (イチ, ニ, サン...) appear in compound numbers and time and date expressions. Kun'yomi (ひと-つ, ふた-つ, みっ-つ...) appear with the native-counter suffix つ for general counting.29
Both readings are taught simultaneously in grade 1, so the dual-reading habit starts at the very first kanji.1
円 also carries the kun reading まる-い ("round") alongside its dominant on'yomi エン ("yen"). The original Sinitic sense of "round, complete" is preserved in compounds like 円形 (えんけい, "circular").9
Body parts and people (人 口 目 耳 手 足 名 男 女 子 先)
This is a heavily pictographic cluster. 人, 口, 目, 耳, 手, and 足 are all 象形 (shōkei, pictographic) under the 六書 (rikusho) classification. They are among the most visually transparent kanji in the entire jōyō list.36
目 also works as a frequent ordinal suffix, as in 一人目 "first person" and 二日目 "second day". This is a high-yield grammar use for a kanji that beginners first learn as "eye".9
先 ("ahead") combined with 生 ("life, birth") gives 先生 (せんせい, "teacher"), one of the first two-character compounds a learner meets. The literal "born ahead / one who came before" etymology is preserved in the modern reading.910
子 has a productive role as a diminutive and personal-name suffix. You see it in 男の子 (boy), 女の子 (girl), and as the second character in many traditional women's names such as 花子 and 洋子.10
Nature, weather, and time (日 月 火 水 木 金 土 山 川 田 雨 空 天 草 花 林 森 石 夕 年)
The seven days-of-the-week kanji are all in this cluster: 日 (Sun), 月 (Mon), 火 (Tue), 水 (Wed), 木 (Thu), 金 (Fri), 土 (Sat). Each combines with 曜日 (ようび, "day of the week") to form the day name, as in 月曜日 (げつようび, "Monday").9
This cluster also contains some grade-1 kanji with many readings. 日 carries at least 8 distinct readings across compounds: ひ, か, にち, じつ, plus 熟字訓 readings in 今日 きょう, 明日 あした, and 一日 ついたち. 月 carries つき, げつ, or がつ depending on whether the context is moon, month name, or counter.29
林 and 森 are a clean 会意 (kaii, compound-ideograph) pair: same component, different counts. 林 (りん, はやし) = 2× 木 = "woods / grove"; 森 (しん, もり) = 3× 木 = "forest". The compound 森林 (しんりん, "forest") uses both characters together.910
田 anchors the surname cluster: 田中 (Tanaka), 山田 (Yamada), and 本田 (Honda) are all formed from grade-1 kanji.9
Direction, position, and basic verbs (上 下 中 左 右 出 入 立 休 見 早 正 大 小)
This cluster contains the first verbs a Japanese learner can write with kanji: 出る (deru, "to leave"), 入る (hairu, "to enter"), 立つ (tatsu, "to stand"), 休む (yasumu, "to rest"), and 見る (miru, "to see").26
The okurigana behavior of these verbs appears in the 常用漢字表 okurigana table: 出る・出す, 入る・入れる, 立つ・立てる, 休む・休まる・休める, 見る・見える・見せる.2 These productive patterns recur across higher-grade verb kanji.
上 alone carries 10 readings on the 常用漢字表 (ジョウ, ショウ, うえ, うわ, かみ, あ-げる, あ-がる, のぼ-る, のぼ-せる, のぼ-す). 下 carries 11.2 Together, these two grade-1 characters show why "one kanji, one reading" is a poor mental model.
正 ("correct") appears early in two distinct readings: 正しい (ただしい, kun, "correct") and 正月 (しょうがつ, on, "New Year").9 Here, the on/kun split aligns with the adjective/noun register split.
School and everyday life (学 校 文 字 本 車 町 村 王 玉 力 気 音 青 白 赤 生 貝 虫 犬 竹 糸)
This final cluster covers the earliest school-life vocabulary: 学校 (school), 文字 (character), 本 (book), 一年生 (first-grader), and 先生 (teacher).96
The cluster contains the colour kanji 青 (blue / green), 白 (white), and 赤 (red). Grade 1 covers exactly these three; 黒 (black), 黄 (yellow), and 緑 (green) are deferred to grade 2.3
Traditional Japanese 青 spans modern English "blue" and certain modern English "green" usages: 青信号 (あおしんごう) is the "green" traffic light, and 青葉 (あおば) is "green leaves".910 If you come from a European-language background, expect 青 to suggest freshness or unripeness as well as the literal color blue.
生 has the most readings in the entire grade-1 set: at least 12 on the 常用漢字表 (セイ, ショウ, い-きる, い-かす, い-ける, う-まれる, う-む, お-う, は-える, は-やす, き, なま).2 First-graders meet only 先生 (せんせい) and 学生 (がくせい). The full reading load is spread across later grades.1
How grade 1 maps to JLPT N5
The overlap: most of grade 1 sits inside N5
The Wikibooks reconstruction places 49 of the 80 grade-1 kanji on N5, making it the most generous reconstruction. Tanos and JLPTsensei place slightly fewer.111314 The 49 cover all 13 numeric kanji, the days-of-the-week set, the basic position kanji, and the highest-frequency people and place kanji.
The overlap exists because both lists prioritize concrete, high-frequency vocabulary. MEXT is built around a Japanese 6-year-old's everyday Japanese. The unofficial N5 reconstruction, designed for the absolute-beginner adult second-language learner, covers approximately the same vocabulary band.35
For a JLPT N5 candidate, the practical implication is that covering the grade-1 kanji is necessary but not sufficient. A handful of N5 kanji are grade 2 or later in the MEXT order: 何, 今, 時, 分, 半, 前, 後, and 友 are all N5 but not grade 1.1113
Where it diverges: grade 1 kanji that JLPT delays, and N5 kanji that are not grade 1
The Wikibooks reconstruction places 14 grade-1 kanji at N4 rather than N5: 力, 夕, 字, 文, 早, 村, 林, 森, 犬, 田, 町, 赤, 青, and 音.12 These are kanji that a Japanese child meets in grade 1. The JLPT reconstruction defers them because the main second-language vocabulary they appear in, such as 文化 "culture" and 音楽 "music", sits at N4 rather than N5.
A larger group of 17 grade-1 kanji is placed at higher levels by the more conservative JLPTsensei reconstruction: 口, 手, 正, 玉, 王, 目, 石, 空, 立, 竹, 糸, 耳, 花, 草, 虫, 貝, 足. Wikibooks treats most of these as N4.1415 The conservative reconstruction reflects how often a kanji appears in N5-level compounds rather than as a bare character. Kanji used mostly in compounds with later-introduced characters get pushed up.
The reverse mismatch (N5 kanji that are not grade 1) includes 31 characters on the Wikibooks N5 list that fall in grades 2–4 in the MEXT order. Most of these are grade 2 (e.g. 何, 今, 後, 前, 時, 友, 父, 母).113
The bottom line: the grade-1 set and the N5 set overlap by about 60%, but they are not interchangeable.11143 If you are studying for N5, use a JLPT-list deck rather than a grade-1 deck, and vice versa.
Cross-walk table: grade 1 ↔ N5 mismatches
| Direction | Count | Kanji |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 1 AND N5 (overlap) | 49 | 一二三四五六七八九十百千上下中左右大小日月火水木金土年女男子学校先生休円気山川天雨白本車人入出見名 |
| Grade 1, not N5 (Wikibooks puts these at N4) | 14 | 力夕字文早村林森犬田町赤青音 |
| Grade 1, JLPTsensei puts higher than N5 (disputed) | 17 | 口手正玉王目石空立竹糸耳花草虫貝足 |
| N5, not grade 1 | 31 | 万今何分前北午半南友国外後時書来東母毎父聞行西話語読長間電食高 |
Set arithmetic is drawn from the Wikibooks N5 and Tanos / JLPTsensei reconstructions.11121415
Good to know
Grade order is not frequency order
The 学年別漢字配当表 is built around a Japanese 6-year-old's already-known spoken vocabulary, not adult second-language reading frequency.13 A child learning to write 犬 (dog) and 虫 (insect) at age 6 may already say these words many times a day. An adult second-language learner reading news may not encounter 犬 for weeks while encountering 何, 今, and 時 (all grade-2 kanji) in every paragraph.
The mismatch is structural. If you use grade 1 as a starting deck, expect its usefulness for adult reading to lag actual frequency.16
Most grade 1 kanji are pictographs or simple ideographs
The 六書 (rikusho, "six writing-types") is the traditional Chinese-character taxonomy, or classification system. It places kanji into 象形 (pictographic), 指事 (simple ideograph), 会意 (compound ideograph), 形声 (phono-semantic compound), 転注 (extension), and 仮借 (loan).910
Grade 1 is dominated by the first two categories. 山 ("mountain") is 象形, a stylized three-peaked silhouette; 木 ("tree") is 象形, a stylized trunk-and-branches; 人 ("person") is 象形, a stylized standing figure.9 一, 二, and 三 are 指事, abstract tally marks.9 林 (= 木+木 "woods") and 森 (= 木+木+木 "forest") are 会意, semantic compounds built from a repeated pictograph.9
Only a handful of grade-1 kanji are 形声 (phono-semantic). Those phonetic series do not yet pay off because the related kanji are mostly in later grades. The phonetic-component shortcut starts to repay learners from grade 3 onward.9
The "easy stroke count" myth
Low stroke counts can make a kanji easier to write, but they say nothing about how easy it is to read or use in compounds. Two grade-1 examples show the gap.
口 (3 strokes) carries multiple readings (コウ, ク, くち) and appears in dozens of high-frequency compounds: 人口 (じんこう, "population"), 入口 (いりぐち, "entrance"), and 口語 (こうご, "spoken language"). The on'yomi splits unpredictably between コウ and ク across these compounds.29
力 (2 strokes) likewise carries リョク, リキ, and ちから. The on/kun split is lexicalized: 電力 (でんりょく, "electric power") sits next to 馬力 (ばりき, "horsepower") with no fully predictable rule.9
The takeaway is that stroke count predicts only writing-time effort, not reading complexity, mnemonic difficulty, or compound load. For the eight basic strokes that the count itself is built from, see "How to Count Kanji Strokes (画数): The Eight Basic Strokes…".
Readings beginners will meet immediately
The grade-1 kanji with the most readings are 生 (12 readings), 下 (11), 上 (10), 日 (8 including 熟字訓), 出 (5), 入 (5), and 月 (3).2 First-graders meet these characters with only 1 or 2 readings each. The full reading load is distributed across higher grades.1
For second-language learners, the implication is direct: mastering one reading of 生, such as セイ in 学生, does not let you handle 生まれる (うまれる), 生きる (いきる), 生 (なま, "raw"), or 弥生 (やよい, "third lunar month"). All four are 常用漢字表-listed readings of the same character.2
For the underlying two-reading system, see "On'yomi vs. Kun'yomi: The Two-Reading System Behind Every Kanji".
How to actually study this list
The master table is a reference, not a study order. Two sound study orders differ from the table's teaching clusters.
Frequency order (NINJAL BCCWJ rankings) starts with the kanji that appear most often in modern written Japanese.16 Among grade-1 kanji, the BCCWJ frequency leaders are roughly 日, 一, 人, 年, 大, 十, 二, 本, 中, and 出. All of them sit inside the JLPT N5 set.
Component-build order, used by Heisig and WaniKani, starts with pictographic primitives (一, 二, 三, 人, 口, 日, 月, 木, 山, 川) and builds outward to compound characters (林, 森, 男 = 田 + 力).3
Whichever order you choose, the table itself serves as the coverage checklist for the grade-1 milestone. For an overview of kanji-learning methods, see "How Many Kanji Do You Need? A Realistic Count" and J-Compass's other strategy articles in the kanji-learning cluster.
See also
- Jinmeiyō Kanji (人名用漢字): The 863 Name-Use Characters Beyond Jōyō
- Hyōgaiji (表外字): The Kanji Beyond Jōyō and Jinmeiyō
- The History of Kanji: From Oracle Bones to the Jōyō List
- How to Learn Kanji: A Strategic Overview of Heisig, WaniKani, and Kanji-in-Context
- A Daily Kanji Study Routine: How Many Kanji per Day, Review-Load Math, and the Three-Block Schedule