Kanji Anatomy is an ‘anatomical’ study of the relationship between the GRAPHIC SHAPE OF A KANJI and its MEANING, developed for university students in the Japanese language　by Noriko K. Williams, Ph.D.
It dissects each kanji into meaningful parts and examines how the idea (meaning) and the image (shape) were transformed over time into the kanji used in present-day Japanese writing.


 
This website contains 580 kanji introduced in elementary and pre-intermediate level courses (please see the Kanji List). It can be used by a learner as a dictionary of kanji formation or by a teacher as the supplementary teaching materials in introducing new kanji.
In addition to meaning, sounds (On and Kun readings), stroke order, and sample words for each kanji, this website provides an illustration and an English explanation of how the kanji came to its present form (please see the example below).
 
 
You can look up any one of the 580 kanji by following the steps below:
To Find Your Kanji

Step 1 Click Begin Search at the top or bottom of this page. A blank Four-Kanji Page will appear.
Step 2 Click Look-up Kanji. Kanji Selection Page will appear.
Step 3 There are three different ways of selecting a kanji. You can use any one of the three ways (a, b or c):
　a Type the Kanji Number.
　b Type in the On-reading in katakana.
　or c Type in the Kun-reading in hiragana
Step 4 Click Enter Kanji.　Four-Kanji Page will reappear with the kanji you have selected.
Step 5 You can change (Click Change), delete (Click Delete) or leave it as it is if the kanji is correct.
Step 6 Click the second Look-up Kanji. Repeat Step 2 through Step 4, until four kanji boxes are filled.

To Print

Step 1 Click Preview.
Step 2 Click OK, if correct. If you decide not to print, click Cancel.
Step 3 Click Print Out This Page.
  For the teachers who would like to adapt the Kanji Anatomy as their supplementary learning materials, a PDF version (in print form or PDF files) pre-sorted by chapter or lesson in the textbooks will be available at your request. Each page contains six kanji in a much clearer resolution. The materials may be printed for your students or be uploaded on your university courseware during the term in which you are teaching.

Please contact us at visualnihongo@aol.com with the following information: Your name; your contact e-mail address; the name and address of your institution; the name of your textbook and the number of lessons or chapters); and your preference on an E-mail attachment or a printed version by post.

Kanji Anatomy for GENKI Users (Lessons 3 through 23) is now available at your request (August 2005).

 




Author: Noriko Kurosawa Williams, Ph. D.
Illustrators: Hiromi Kishimizu; Ayako E. L. Williams
Staff: Chinami Lay; Kazuko Osada; Mark S. L. Williams

 
Your comments and feedback will be greatly appreciated.
E-mail: visualnihongo＠aol.com

(August 2005)