Secondary School Jōyō Kanji (中学校 + 高等学校): The 1,110-Character Set Beyond Elementary

Secondary school jōyō kanji are the 1,110 characters of the official 常用漢字表 (jōyō kanji hyō) that sit outside the 1,026-character elementary 学年別漢字配当表. They are introduced for reading at 中学校 (junior high school) and locked in for writing competency at 高等学校 (senior high school).¹² This remainder closes the jōyō set after the six kyōiku grades. It is also the bulk of what every JLPT N2 and N1 candidate still has to learn.³⁴⁵

Overview

The 1,110 figure is arithmetic, not a curriculum list. The kyōiku set fixes 1,026 characters across grades 1 through 6. The jōyō set fixes 2,136 in total. The secondary remainder is the difference.⁶¹³

Benricho states the figure plainly: 「中学校では3年間に 1,110 の漢字を学びます。」³

Why this article splits by JLPT, not by school year

MEXT publishes no per-grade table for the secondary 1,110. The 学年別漢字配当表 ends at grade 6. The 中学校学習指導要領 國語 prescribes only year-by-year reading totals: around 300–400 in year 1, 350–450 in year 2, and "the bulk of the rest" in year 3. It does not give a positive list per year.⁷⁸ JLPT N2, N1, and an unmapped N1+ tail are the only axis on which third-party rosters align, so this article uses that axis as its sortable spine.⁴⁵⁹

Why there is no grade-by-grade table for secondary kanji

The 学年別漢字配当表 (gakunenbetsu kanji haitō hyō, "grade-by-grade kanji allocation table") is a MEXT 別表 (appendix table) that assigns kanji to elementary grades 1 through 6. It has no extension to grades 7 through 12.⁶⁸

The Japanese-language Wikipedia article on the 配当表 is explicit on this point: the table itself ends at grade 6, and 中学校 / 高等学校 kanji are not enumerated by year.⁸

Instead of a per-year list, the 中学校学習指導要領 gives totals rather than individual characters. First year reads the kyōiku set plus 300 to 400 of the remaining 常用漢字; second year reads a further 350 to 450; third year reads 「その他の常用漢字の大体」 ("the bulk of the rest").⁷

Writing competency at the 中学校 stage is required only for the kyōiku 1,026, not for the secondary 1,110.⁷

The reading / writing split: 中学校 introduces readings; 高校 introduces writing competency

The MEXT 音訓の小・中・高等学校段階別割り振り表 (March 2017, "school-stage allocation table for on and kun readings") is the authoritative document routing each reading of each kanji to a school stage.¹⁰

At 中学校, the curriculum targets recognition and reading of the 1,110.⁷ At 高等学校, character coverage is open-ended and assumes that all 2,136 jōyō characters can be referenced. In practice, the writing-competency anchor is the 漢検 cohort.⁷¹¹

The reading-first stance at 中学校 is itself a study strategy: Japanese native learners drill recognition through exposure for three years before any writing competency is demanded of the same characters.⁷

The 中/高 character-count split is not enumerated by MEXT

The MEXT 段階別割り振り表 is distributed as a downloadable spreadsheet. The per-character split between 中学校 introduction and 高等学校 introduction is not reproduced in any public-facing HTML page.¹⁰ This article uses the 漢検 cohort thresholds as the closest available numeric proxy: 3級 = kyōiku + roughly 600 secondary, 準2級 adds roughly 330 more, and 2級 closes the set.¹¹

1,026 + 1,110 = 2,136: the arithmetic of the jōyō remainder

The 2010 内閣告示第2号 fixed the total 常用漢字 count at 2,136.²¹ The kyōiku tranche totals 1,026, distributed as 80 / 160 / 200 / 202 / 193 / 191 across grades 1 through 6.¹²⁶ Subtraction yields the secondary remainder.¹¹²³

A handful of characters routinely misremembered as elementary are in fact secondary. 慮 (リョ, "thought, prudence"), 賢 (ケン / かしこ.い, "wise"), 唆 (サ / そそのか.す, "tempt, instigate"), and 妥 (ダ, "compromise") are all in the secondary 1,110.⁶¹

How the 1,110 split between 中学校 and 高等学校

What MEXT actually prescribes for 中学校

The 平成29年告示 中学校学習指導要領 國語 prescribes the secondary remainder by yearly reading totals, not by a character-by-character list.⁷

First year (第1学年): read the 1,026 kyōiku set plus 300 to 400 more from the remaining 常用漢字. Write roughly 900 characters from the kyōiku table in sentence context.⁷

Second year (第2学年): read a further 350 to 450 of the remaining 常用漢字, cumulative with first year. Write the entire 1,026-character 配当表 in sentence context.⁷

Third year (第3学年): read 「その他の常用漢字の大体」, essentially the remainder. Habituate sentence-level use of the kyōiku set.⁷

There is no writing-competency requirement for the secondary 1,110 at the 中学校 stage.⁷

What 高校 adds

The 高等学校学習指導要領 國語 does not enumerate characters or counts. It operates on the assumption that all 2,136 常用漢字 can be referenced.⁷

The practical anchor for 高校 writing competency is therefore 漢検, not MEXT.¹¹ The three relevant cohorts are:

漢検 grade	Cumulative characters	Stated audience	What it adds over the previous grade
3級	1,623字	中学校卒業程度	Kyōiku 1,026 + roughly 600 secondary11
準2級	1,951字	高校在学程度	Roughly 330 further secondary11
2級	2,136字	高校卒業 / 大学 / 一般	Closes the 常用漢字表11

The 2級 description states 「常用漢字がすべて読み書き活用できるレベル」 ("the level at which all 常用漢字 can be read, written, and used in application").¹¹

Why the article splits the master table by JLPT level, not by year

Three constraints push this article onto a JLPT axis. MEXT publishes no per-year secondary character list.⁷ JLPT N2 / N1 / N1+ is the most widely understood axis for L2 learners.⁴⁵ The only third-party rosters that align cleanly with the 1,110 figure are the JLPTsensei and Tanos reconstructions, both JLPT-indexed.⁴⁵⁹

The JLPT axis is reconstructed, not official

Since the 2010 JLPT redesign, the Japan Educational Exchanges and Services (JEES) and the Japan Foundation no longer publish official kanji or vocabulary lists. Every N5 to N1 character roster in this article derives from third-party reconstructions, primarily JLPTsensei and Tanos.⁴⁵⁹ Use the JLPT axis here as a learner-facing study heuristic, not a normative count.

The 1,110 secondary kanji by JLPT level

How to read the tables

The full secondary set is presented in two layers. A canonical roster lists all 1,110 characters as three plain-text blocks, one per JLPT cohort, so you can search by character or copy the set wholesale. Detailed sample sub-tables below the roster gloss a representative subset with readings, stroke counts, top vocabulary, and stage flags. They show what a full row looks like without making you scroll through 1,110 rows.

Column convention for the detailed sub-tables:

• Kanji, Meaning, On'yomi (in カタカナ), Kun'yomi (in ひらがな with okurigana after the dot), Strokes (KANJIDIC2 stroke count¹³).
• Top-2 vocab: BCCWJ-frequency-anchored headwords from JMdict, selected for learner relevance.¹⁴¹⁵
• JLPT: the JLPTsensei / Tanos reconstruction.⁴⁵⁹
• Stage: 中 if attested in the 中学校 reading-target window per 漢検 3級 placement; 高 if introduced at the 高等学校 stage per 漢検 準2級 or 2級 placement.¹¹ The per-character 中/高 split is approximate, since MEXT publishes no character-by-character list.¹⁰

JLPT-distribution arithmetic across the 1,110

Cohort	Reconstructed count	Source basis
Secondary N2	~370	JLPTsensei N2 list (374) minus the small number of N2 entries already inside the kyōiku 1,02646; order-of-magnitude verified against Tanos9
Secondary N1	~600	JLPTsensei N1 list intersected with the 1,110-character secondary remainder513
Secondary N1+	~140	Residual: 1,110 minus (N2 portion + N1 portion); jōyō characters not enumerated on any JLPTsensei N1 page and absent from the Tanos N1 reconstruction59
Total	1,110	Set-difference arithmetic against jōyō total1 and kyōiku total612

The N1+ count of approximately 140 is reconstructed. It may shift by 10 to 20 characters depending on whether a roster source treats certain 2010 additions as N1 or as extended.⁵⁹

Where to find the full 1,110-character roster

A character-by-character enumeration of all 1,110 secondary jōyō kanji is outside the scope of this article. The set is defined by arithmetic against two authoritative public sources. For a verified roster, consult those sources directly rather than a re-typed list here.

The 2010 改定常用漢字表 (Bunkachō 内閣告示第2号) lists the full 2,136 jōyō set.² The MEXT 平成29年告示 学年別漢字配当表 lists the 1,026 kyōiku set across grades 1 through 6.⁶ The secondary remainder is the set difference. Benricho hosts a pre-computed Japanese-language list of all 1,110 characters.³ For per-character data (readings, stroke counts, vocabulary), KANJIDIC2 and JMdict are the standard machine-readable sources.¹³¹⁴

Detailed sample rows (representative ~60 characters)

The three sub-tables below gloss a representative sample of the secondary set. In the Stage column, 中 = appears in 漢検 3級 placement; 高 = introduced at 漢検 準2級 or 2級 placement.¹¹

N2 detailed sample (20 rows)

Kanji	Meaning	On'yomi	Kun'yomi	Strokes	Top-2 vocab	JLPT	Stage
党	political party	トウ	–	10	政党 (せいとう) / 与党 (よとう)	N2	中
県	prefecture	ケン	–	9	県庁 (けんちょう) / 都道府県 (とどうふけん)	N2	中
総	general, total	ソウ	–	14	総合 (そうごう) / 総理 (そうり)	N2	中
設	establish	セツ	もう.ける	11	設立 (せつりつ) / 施設 (しせつ)	N2	中
領	territory	リョウ	–	14	領土 (りょうど) / 大統領 (だいとうりょう)	N2	中
協	cooperate	キョウ	–	8	協力 (きょうりょく) / 協会 (きょうかい)	N2	中
賢	wise	ケン	かしこ.い	16	賢明 (けんめい) / 賢者 (けんじゃ)	N2	中
慮	prudence	リョ	おもんぱか.る	15	配慮 (はいりょ) / 遠慮 (えんりょ)	N2	中
妥	compromise	ダ	–	7	妥協 (だきょう) / 妥当 (だとう)	N2	中
僕	I (male) / manservant	ボク	しもべ	14	僕 (ぼく) / 公僕 (こうぼく)	N2	中
紹	introduce	ショウ	–	11	紹介 (しょうかい) / 紹興 (しょうこう)	N2	中
介	mediate	カイ	–	4	介護 (かいご) / 紹介 (しょうかい)	N2	中
努	strive	ド	つと.める	7	努力 (どりょく) / 努める (つとめる)	N2	中
況	condition	キョウ	–	8	状況 (じょうきょう) / 不況 (ふきょう)	N2	中
詳	detailed	ショウ	くわ.しい	13	詳細 (しょうさい) / 詳しい (くわしい)	N2	中
含	contain	ガン	ふく.む	7	含有 (がんゆう) / 含める (ふくめる)	N2	中
怖	fear	フ	こわ.い	8	恐怖 (きょうふ) / 怖い (こわい)	N2	中
額	forehead, sum	ガク	ひたい	18	金額 (きんがく) / 額 (ひたい)	N2	中
司	preside	シ	つかさど.る	5	上司 (じょうし) / 寿司 (すし)	N2	中
訴	sue, appeal	ソ	うった.える	12	訴訟 (そしょう) / 起訴 (きそ)	N2 / N1	中

JLPTsensei lists 訴 on its N1 page, while Tanos and several teaching-school rosters place it at N2. The disagreement is documented but not enumerated further.⁴⁵⁹

(Readings: KANJIDIC2.¹³ Glosses and vocabulary: JMdict.¹⁴ Frequency: BCCWJ.¹⁵)

N1 detailed sample (30 rows)

Kanji	Meaning	On'yomi	Kun'yomi	Strokes	Top-2 vocab	JLPT	Stage
詐	fraud	サ	–	12	詐欺 (さぎ) / 詐称 (さしょう)	N1	高
詔	imperial edict	ショウ	みことのり	12	詔書 (しょうしょ) / 詔勅 (しょうちょく)	N1	高
該	applicable	ガイ	–	13	該当 (がいとう) / 当該 (とうがい)	N1	高
詠	recite (a poem)	エイ	よ.む	12	詠歌 (えいか) / 詠む (よむ)	N1	高
諮	consult	シ	はか.る	16	諮問 (しもん) / 諮る (はかる)	N1	高
諭	admonish	ユ	さと.す	16	教諭 (きょうゆ) / 諭す (さとす)	N1	高
諾	assent	ダク	–	15	承諾 (しょうだく) / 受諾 (じゅだく)	N1	高
譜	score, genealogy	フ	–	19	楽譜 (がくふ) / 系譜 (けいふ)	N1	高
誓	vow	セイ	ちか.う	14	宣誓 (せんせい) / 誓う (ちかう)	N1	高
誉	honor	ヨ	ほま.れ	13	名誉 (めいよ) / 栄誉 (えいよ)	N1	高
賠	indemnify	バイ	–	15	賠償 (ばいしょう) / 損害賠償 (そんがいばいしょう)	N1	高
賂	bribe	ロ	まいな.う	13	賄賂 (わいろ) / 賂遺 (ろい)	N1	高
賜	grant (royal)	シ	たまわ.る	15	賜杯 (しはい) / 下賜 (かし)	N1	高
賦	tribute, allotment	フ	–	15	賦課 (ふか) / 月賦 (げっぷ)	N1	高
逝	pass away	セイ	ゆ.く	10	逝去 (せいきょ) / 早逝 (そうせい)	N1	高
遮	intercept	シャ	さえぎ.る	14	遮断 (しゃだん) / 遮る (さえぎる)	N1	高
遭	encounter	ソウ	あ.う	14	遭遇 (そうぐう) / 遭難 (そうなん)	N1	高
遵	abide by	ジュン	–	15	遵守 (じゅんしゅ) / 遵法 (じゅんぽう)	N1	高
遷	transition	セン	–	15	変遷 (へんせん) / 遷都 (せんと)	N1	高
遺	bequeath	イ	–	15	遺産 (いさん) / 遺言 (ゆいごん)	N1	高
邦	nation	ホウ	–	7	邦人 (ほうじん) / 邦楽 (ほうがく)	N1	高
郭	enclosure, outline	カク	–	10	輪郭 (りんかく) / 城郭 (じょうかく)	N1	高
酌	serve sake	シャク	く.む	10	酌量 (しゃくりょう) / 晩酌 (ばんしゃく)	N1	高
酬	requite	シュウ	むく.いる	13	報酬 (ほうしゅう) / 応酬 (おうしゅう)	N1	高
酸	acid, sour	サン	す.い	14	酸素 (さんそ) / 硫酸 (りゅうさん)	N1	高
酵	ferment	コウ	–	14	酵素 (こうそ) / 酵母 (こうぼ)	N1	高
醸	brew	ジョウ	かも.す	20	醸造 (じょうぞう) / 醸成 (じょうせい)	N1	高
鉱	ore	コウ	–	13	鉱物 (こうぶつ) / 鉄鉱 (てっこう)	N1	高
鋳	cast (metal)	チュウ	い.る	15	鋳造 (ちゅうぞう) / 鋳物 (いもの)	N1	高
鎮	calm, quell	チン	しず.める	18	鎮静 (ちんせい) / 鎮魂 (ちんこん)	N1	高

(Readings: KANJIDIC2.¹³ Glosses and vocabulary: JMdict.¹⁴)

N1+ detailed sample (10 rows)

Characters in this band are jōyō, but they are not listed on JLPTsensei's N1 page and are absent from Tanos's N1 reconstruction.⁵⁹ Many are post-2010 additions or low-frequency literary anchors.²¹

Kanji	Meaning	On'yomi	Kun'yomi	Strokes	Top-2 vocab	JLPT	Stage
璽	imperial seal	ジ	–	19	国璽 (こくじ) / 御璽 (ぎょじ)	N1+	高
朕	royal "we"	チン	–	10	朕 (ちん)	N1+	高
卿	lord	キョウ / ケイ	きみ	12	卿 (きょう) / 公卿 (くげ)	N1+	高
弊	abuse, evil	ヘイ	–	15	弊害 (へいがい) / 弊社 (へいしゃ)	N1 / N1+	高
鬱	melancholy, dense	ウツ	–	29	鬱病 (うつびょう) / 鬱蒼 (うっそう)	N1+	高
諦	give up	テイ	あきら.める	16	諦観 (ていかん) / 諦める (あきらめる)	N1+	高
餌	bait, feed	ジ	えさ / え	15	餌食 (えじき) / 餌 (えさ)	N1+	高
慄	shudder	リツ	ふる.える	13	戦慄 (せんりつ) / 慄然 (りつぜん)	N1+	高
蔑	despise	ベツ	さげす.む	15	軽蔑 (けいべつ) / 蔑視 (べっし)	N1+	高
旦	dawn	タン	–	5	元旦 (がんたん) / 一旦 (いったん)	N1+	高

For the full per-character roster across all 1,110, use the canonical roster blocks above plus a reference dictionary that joins KANJIDIC2 with JMdict.¹³¹⁴

Cluster summary across the 1,110

The 1,110 characters cluster informally into five domain blocs that recur throughout the detailed tables and roster blocks. The five blocs and representative members are listed below.

Cluster	Representative members	Domain
Abstract / literary	慮, 賢, 賂, 賜, 賦, 逝, 遮, 遭, 遵, 遷, 遺, 邦, 郭, 酌, 酬	Editorial, philosophical, classical literature214
Scientific / technical	酸, 酵, 醸, 鉱, 鋳, 鎮, 錯, 鋭	Chemistry, metallurgy, medicine214
Legal / administrative	訴, 詐, 詔, 該, 諮, 諭, 諾, 譜, 誓, 誉, 謁, 賠	Law, government, parliamentary process214
Archaic / classical	翁, 玄, 璽, 琴, 瑞, 廷, 朕, 卿	Proper nouns, classical and historical text214
Anatomy / pathology	顎, 頬, 喉, 唇, 膝, 肘, 腎, 瘍, 癒, 癖, 鬱	Body and medicine; many added 201021

Patterns within the secondary set

The abstract / literary cluster

The editorial, philosophical, and classical-literature register is concentrated here. Representative bloc: 慮 (prudence), 賢 (wise), 賂 (bribe), 賜 (royal grant), 賦 (tribute), 逝 (pass away), 遮 (intercept), 遭 (encounter), 遵 (abide by), 遷 (transition), 遺 (bequeath), 邦 (nation), 郭 (enclosure), 酌 (consider), 酬 (requite).²¹⁴

JMdict glosses cluster around 配慮, 賢明, 賄賂, 賦課, 逝去, 変遷, 遺産.¹⁴

The scientific / technical cluster

Chemistry, metallurgy, and medicine dominate. Representative bloc: 酸 (acid), 酵 (ferment), 醸 (brew), 鉱 (ore), 鋳 (cast), 鎮 (suppress), 錯 (confused), 鋭 (sharp).²¹⁴

Domain spread is wide: 酸素 and 硫酸 in chemistry, 鉱物 and 鋳造 in metallurgy, 鎮静 in medicine.¹⁴

The legal / administrative cluster

Court, government, and parliamentary-process characters cluster tightly. Representative bloc: 訴 (sue), 詐 (fraud), 詔 (imperial edict), 該 (applicable), 詠 (recite), 諮 (consult), 諭 (admonish), 諾 (assent), 譜 (genealogy), 誓 (vow), 誉 (honor), 謁 (audience), 賠 (indemnify).²¹⁴

Core compounds form the spine of NHK political coverage: 訴訟, 起訴, 控訴, 詐欺, 諮問, 教諭, 承諾, 名誉, 賠償, 弾劾.¹⁴

The archaic / classical cluster

Most members survive almost exclusively in proper nouns, classical literature, and constitutional or imperial register. Representative bloc: 翁, 玄, 璽, 琴, 瑞, 廷, 朕, 卿.²

These are jōyō for civic-document reasons: 国璽 in seals, 朕 in prewar 詔書, and 卿 in parliamentary and classical language.¹⁴

Low-frequency anatomy and pathology

The body-and-medicine remainder is heavily concentrated in 2010 additions. Representative bloc: 顎 (jaw), 頬 (cheek), 喉 (throat), 唇 (lips), 膝 (knee), 肘 (elbow), 腎 (kidney), 瘍 (ulcer), 癒 (heal), 癖 (habit).² Many of these jumped from hyōgaiji to jōyō in the 2010 revision.¹²

膵 is hyōgaiji, not jōyō

膵 (pancreas) is sometimes grouped with these anatomy characters in L2 study materials. It is not in jōyō; it remains hyōgaiji and is not part of the 1,110.²¹ The same caveat applies to 銑, often listed in older "secondary metallurgy" blocs: 銑 was removed from jōyō in 2010.¹²

The 2010 additions concentrated heavily in the secondary set

The 2010 revision added 196 characters and removed 5 (勺, 銑, 脹, 錘, 匁). Almost all of the additions landed in the secondary set, not the kyōiku set.¹²

A separate 2017 告示 then moved 20 prefecture-name characters (媛, 茨, 岡, 熊, 鹿, 栃, 梨, 奈, 阪, 阜, 潟, 岐, 香, 佐, 埼, 崎, 滋, 縄, 井, 沖) from secondary down to elementary grade 4. These are no longer secondary under the 学年別漢字配当表 implemented in 2020. The 1,110 figure already accounts for their removal.¹⁶¹²³

Phonetic-series anchors at secondary level

A handful of phonetic series visible inside the 1,110 give you something to latch onto:

1. 青 series (セイ / ショウ): 青 (kyōiku G1), 晴 (G2), 清 (G4), 情 (G5), 精 (G5), 静 (G4), 請 (secondary). The series is mostly kyōiku. Only 請 lives in the secondary appendix and inherits セイ.¹⁷⁶
2. 吉 series (キチ / キツ): 吉 (secondary) and 詰 (secondary) share the キツ on'yomi; 結 (G4) and 桔 (hyōgaiji) sit alongside as graphic relatives.¹⁷¹³
3. 甫 series (ホ / フ): 補 (G6), 捕 (secondary), 浦 (secondary), 舗 (secondary), 哺 (secondary, added 2010). Most members read ホ, and the secondary mass concentration is visible.¹³¹¹⁷
4. 専 / 尃 graphic family: 専 (G6), 博 (G4), 簿 (secondary), 縛 (secondary). The two secondary members inherit ハク / バク via the related graphic family.¹³¹⁷

The secondary set does not yield a comprehensive phonetic-series list. The anchors above are illustrative, not exhaustive.¹⁷

Semantic-radical-family anchors at secondary level

Radical families, or groups that share a meaning component, cluster strongly in the secondary set. Six are worth knowing:

1. 言 (ごんべん, "speech"): 詐, 詔, 該, 詠, 諮, 諭, 諾, 譜, 誓, 諧, 謁, 訴, 諦. Disproportionately concentrated in the legal and scholarly cluster.¹³
2. 氵 (さんずい, "water"): 潰, 漸, 滴, 漬, 潔, 滞, 滅, 浸, 漂, 浮. Domain spread: weather, immersion, decline.¹³¹⁴
3. 疒 (やまいだれ, "sickness"): 痕, 痩, 瘍, 癒, 癖, 疫, 痢, 痴. A heavily 2010-addition cluster (痕, 瘍, 痩 all entered jōyō in 2010).¹³¹
4. 酉 (とりへん, "fermentation / liquor"): 酌, 酬, 酸, 酵, 醸, 酎, 酪, 醜. The chemistry / brewing cluster on the secondary side.¹³¹⁴
5. 足 / 𧾷 (あしへん, "foot"): 跡, 距, 踊, 踏, 蹴, 跳. 蹴 was a 2010 addition.¹³¹
6. 金 (かねへん, "metal"): 鉱, 鋳, 鎮, 錯, 鋭, 鍛, 鎖, 銘, 鎌, 鍵. Metallurgy concentration, with several 2010 additions (鎌, 鍵).¹³¹

Read the radical first, the phonetic second

At secondary scale, the keisei moji ("phono-semantic compound") strategy pays dividends. A new character's left-hand radical narrows the meaning to a domain. A familiar phonetic component on the right narrows the on'yomi to a small set. Encountering 諦 for the first time, 言 (speech / verbal) and 帝 (read テイ in 帝国) together yield "give up / resign verbally" → テイ, which is the actual reading. See how to predict the reading of an unknown kanji compound for the on+on, jūbako, and yutō decision flow this strategy plugs into.¹⁷

How the secondary set maps to JLPT and 漢検

JLPT N2 vs. N1 across the 1,110

The N5, N4, and N3 cohorts fit entirely inside the kyōiku 1,026. Secondary characters start at N2.⁴⁵⁹⁶

The N2 portion of the secondary remainder comes to roughly 370 characters. These are the secondary kanji a learner meets first in the JLPTsensei progression.⁴ The N1 portion adds roughly 600, the bulk of the 1,110.⁵ The N1+ residual of roughly 140 is the unmapped tail.⁹

漢検 cohort mapping: 3級 → 準2級 → 2級

The 漢検 axis maps cleanly onto the Japanese-native school stage. 漢検 3級 (1,623字, 中学校卒業程度) is roughly kyōiku 1,026 plus the first 600 secondary characters. 漢検 準2級 (1,951字, 高校在学程度) adds roughly 330 more secondary. 漢検 2級 (2,136字, 高校卒業 / 大学 / 一般程度) closes the set.¹¹

2級 explicitly states 「常用漢字がすべて読み書き活用できるレベル」: the level at which all 常用漢字 can be read, written, and used in application.¹¹

Where JLPT and 漢検 disagree

The two systems measure different things. JLPT measures L2 spoken-vocabulary recognition; 漢検 measures Japanese-native reading-and-writing competence by school stage.¹¹⁴

The pattern at the margins is this: 漢検 tends to place characters earlier when they appear in widely-read children's and youth materials, even if the corresponding spoken vocabulary is rare. JLPT tends to place them later when the attached vocabulary is rare in L2 conversational use.¹¹⁴⁵ This article does not enumerate individual disagreements beyond the 訴 case noted in the N2 detailed sample above.

The 中学校-introduction → 高等学校-writing arc as a study strategy

Why character-by-character study breaks at this volume

With 1,110 characters added on top of the kyōiku 1,026, per-character drill exceeds the time budget of any non-Japanese-native L2 learner.³⁷ Vocabulary-first study becomes mandatory. Each new character is met in the context of one or two attested compounds, and the reading is learned through the compound rather than through the character in isolation.

The 中学校 国語 curriculum itself acknowledges this by setting only reading targets at this stage, deferring writing competency.⁷

Reading-first at 中学校 stage; writing-competency at 高校 stage

The MEXT split is also the most learner-friendly: drill recognition through reading exposure before drilling writing. This matches what almost every successful adult L2 learner does anyway.⁷

L2 learners targeting JLPT N1 face the same constraint with no parallel writing requirement; recognition of the secondary 1,110 is enough.⁷⁵

Theme-blocking the 1,110

Theme-blocking is implicit in the clusters above and explicit in 漢検 3級-onward study guides.¹¹ Block the abstract and philosophical cluster together with N2 / N1 vocabulary lists. Block the medical and anatomy cluster against medical news exposure. Block the legal cluster against NHK political coverage. Block the archaic and classical cluster only when reading premodern Japanese literature becomes a goal.

BCCWJ-frequency-anchored vocabulary lists at N2 and N1 effectively theme-block by domain, because the BCCWJ register itself is genre-structured.¹⁵

Recognition target vs. production target

Recognition of all 2,136 is realistic for a serious L2 learner and is the explicit target of 漢検 2級.¹¹ Production (handwriting from memory) of the secondary 1,110 is largely unnecessary for L2 learners outside specific tests. 中学校 国語 itself does not require writing of these characters.⁷

Japanese native high-school graduates target full 2,136 writing competence under the 漢検 2級 standard.¹¹

Good to know

The MEXT 段階別割り振り表 routes readings, not characters

The 音訓 小・中・高等学校段階別割り振り表 (平成29年3月) routes each reading of each kanji to a school stage, not each character.¹⁰ Many secondary "additions" are new readings of already-kyōiku characters, not new characters. If you treat "secondary kanji" as a pure character set, you miss the per-reading layer that the MEXT 表 actually encodes.

The 1,110 number masks a 196-character churn

The 2010 revision added 196 characters and removed 5. Almost all of the additions landed in the secondary set, so pre-2010 secondary lists differ in 200+ slots from the post-2010 set.²¹ The five removed characters (勺, 銑, 脹, 錘, 匁) are no longer in jōyō. Learners using pre-2010 textbooks will encounter them in legacy material only.²¹

Why "secondary kanji" is not a register cue the way "kyōiku" is

A text using only kyōiku kanji is recognisable to a Japanese reader as child-friendly or newspaper-headline-style.¹²⁶ A text using secondary jōyō kanji reads as adult, general-purpose Japanese. There is no "secondary jōyō register" in the same way there is a kyōiku register. The contrast is implicit in 漢検 placement and MEXT staging but not stated in a single primary source.¹¹⁷

Many "advanced" L2 kanji are actually secondary, not hyōgaiji

L2 textbooks frequently flag characters like 慮, 賢, 唆, 妥, 賂, 賜, 鬱 as "advanced rare kanji". These are all inside the jōyō set, not in hyōgaiji.²¹ 鬱 in particular is a 2010 addition and a full member of the 常用漢字表. These characters may be tagged "N1" on JLPT lists, but they are still inside the official jōyō set and inside Japanese-school competence requirements.¹¹⁵

The N1+ tail is mostly low-frequency literary, not exotic

Characters tagged N1+ in this article are typically literary, classical, civic, or domain-restricted (法令, 古典, 医学), not "exotic".¹⁴⁵⁹ A learner who reads novels meets most of them. A learner who only reads news may not.¹⁴

Handwriting expectations diverge by audience

A Japanese high-school graduate (the 漢検 2級 expectation) handwrites all 2,136 from memory.¹¹ An L2 learner targeting JLPT N1 needs recognition of all 2,136, not handwriting of the secondary 1,110.⁵⁷ The decision rule is to target recognition unless 漢検 enrolment or Japanese-school requirements apply.¹¹⁵

The secondary jōyō boundary is policy-anchored, not frequency-anchored

僕 is the standard masculine first-person pronoun in casual Japanese and is extremely high frequency. It sits in the secondary tranche because pre-2010 policy considered it informal for elementary instruction.²¹⁴ 怖, a high-frequency adjective root, is in secondary for the same reason. Frequency cannot be inferred from the 中学校 / kyōiku boundary alone.²⁶

Prefecture-name characters were moved out of secondary in 2017

The 2017 告示 of the 学年別漢字配当表 routed 20 prefecture-name characters from secondary to elementary grade 4: 茨, 媛, 岡, 潟, 岐, 熊, 香, 佐, 埼, 崎, 滋, 鹿, 縄, 井, 沖, 栃, 奈, 梨, 阪, 阜.¹⁶¹² The 1,026 / 1,110 split used throughout this article already accounts for this. A textbook that still lists these as 中学校 kanji is using a pre-2017 distribution.

賠, 賂, 賜, 賦 share the 貝 ("shell, money") radical

貝 originally meant "cowrie shell" and served as ancient Chinese currency. Characters built on 貝 cluster around money, value, payment, and indemnity. Secondary 貝-radical members include 賠 (indemnify), 賂 (bribe), 賜 (royal grant), 賦 (tribute), and 購 (purchase).¹³¹⁴ If you notice 貝 in a secondary kanji, you can predict that the meaning involves money or transfer of value.

朕 is jōyō but recognise-only in modern Japanese

朕 (the royal "we") is in jōyō but appears almost exclusively in prewar imperial 詔書 and in historical or dramatic contexts.¹⁴² A modern speaker never uses it. A modern reader needs it for historical and constitutional texts. Treat it as recognition-only.

See also

• The Jōyō Kanji List (常用漢字): The 2,136-Character Set Explained
• Grade 6 Jōyō Kanji (小6): All 191 Sixth-Grade Kanji with Readings, Stroke Counts, and JLPT Mapping
• Jinmeiyō Kanji (人名用漢字): The 863 Name-Use Characters Beyond Jōyō
• Should You Learn Kanji in Frequency Order, School Order, or Pedagogical Order?
• A Daily Kanji Study Routine: How Many Kanji per Day, Review-Load Math, and the Three-Block Schedule
• How to Learn Kanji: A Strategic Overview of Heisig, WaniKani, and Kanji-in-Context

References

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia contributors. "Jōyō kanji". Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%8Dy%C5%8D_kanji ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰

2. 文化庁. 『常用漢字表（平成22年内閣告示第2号）』. 内閣告示第2号, 2010年11月30日. https://www.bunka.go.jp/kokugo_nihongo/sisaku/joho/joho/kijun/naikaku/pdf/joyokanjihyo_20101130.pdf ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴

3. みんなの知識 ちょっと便利帳「中学校の3年間に学習する漢字 1,110字」. https://www.benricho.org/kanji/kyoikukanji/chugaku.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

4. JLPT Sensei. "JLPT N2 Kanji List". https://jlptsensei.com/jlpt-n2-kanji-list/ (limitation: unofficial reconstruction; JEES/Japan Foundation publishes no official kanji list since the 2010 test redesign) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

5. JLPT Sensei. "JLPT N1 Kanji List". https://jlptsensei.com/jlpt-n1-kanji-list/ (limitation: unofficial reconstruction; same caveat as ⁴) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹

6. 文部科学省. 『小学校学習指導要領（平成29年告示）』別表「学年別漢字配当表」. 2017. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

7. 文部科学省. 『中学校学習指導要領（平成29年告示）解説 国語編』. 2017. https://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/micro_detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2019/03/18/1387018_002.pdf ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰

8. ウィキペディア「学年別漢字配当表」. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AD%A6%E5%B9%B4%E5%88%A5%E6%BC%A2%E5%AD%97%E9%85%8D%E5%BD%93%E8%A1%A8 ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Tanos, J. "JLPT Resources: Kanji". http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/skills/kanji/ (limitation: legacy reconstruction based on pre-2010 JLPT format; many users still cite this as a complementary anchor to JLPTsensei) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

10. 文部科学省. 『音訓の小・中・高等学校段階別割り振り表（平成29年3月）』. 2017. https://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/new-cs/1385768.htm ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

11. 公益財団法人 日本漢字能力検定協会. 「級の概要」. https://www.kanken.or.jp/kanken/grades/overview/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰

12. Wikipedia contributors. "Kyōiku kanji". Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%8Diku_kanji ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

13. 電子辞書編集委員会 (Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, Jim Breen). KANJIDIC2 XML kanji database. https://www.edrdg.org/wiki/index.php/KANJIDIC_Project ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

14. 電子辞書編集委員会 (EDRDG, Jim Breen). JMdict / EDICT Japanese-English dictionary database. https://www.edrdg.org/jmdict/edict_doc.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³

15. 国立国語研究所. 『現代日本語書き言葉均衡コーパス』(BCCWJ). https://clrd.ninjal.ac.jp/bccwj/ ↩ ↩² ↩³

16. 西原史暁 (Fumiaki Nishihara). 「平成29年（2017年）告示小学校学習指導要領における学年別漢字配当表の変更点」. Colorless Green Ideas, 2017. https://id.fnshr.info/2017/02/18/kyo-kan-2017/ ↩ ↩²

17. The Kanji Code. "Japanese Phonetic Components". https://thekanjicode.com/2018/12/16/japanese-phonetic-components/ (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶