Questions about Shodo, Japanese Calligraphy: Why Does Japanese Use So Many Characters?
I’ve been teaching Japanese to an Australian early teen boy. Watching him learn hiragana, katakana, and kanji, I can’t help but think, “Wow, Japanese really does have a lot of characters!”
I remember days with my own son before he started elementary school — spending months practicing how to write each hiragana and katakana character. Now, he’s in second grade, and every day he studies kanji as part of his homework. He uses a workbook where he practices each character by writing it over and over — a familiar scene in many Japanese households.
Japanese truly is a language rich in written forms.
How Many Characters Does Japanese Really Have?
In Japanese, we mainly use three writing systems:
Hiragana (46 basic characters)
Katakana (46 basic characters)
Kanji (2,136 “Joyo kanji,” or commonly used kanji characters)
Japanese children learn hiragana and katakana in their first year of elementary school, and begin learning kanji at the same time. Throughout the nine years of compulsory education, they study a total of 2,136 kanji characters.
By contrast, English uses the alphabet, which has 26 letters — each with both an uppercase and a lowercase form.
At first glance, Japanese may seem overwhelmingly complex!
But Is It Really “Too Many”?
Languages like English, Spanish, and French all use versions of the Latin alphabet— about 26 letters. Arabic seems to have about 28 letters too, although each one changes shape depending on its position in a word.
However, according to a BBC News article, native English speakers typically know 15,000–20,000 words (lemmas), and it takes about 8,000–9,000 words to read their articles.
So, while English has fewer letters, it relies on a vast number of words.
Japanese, on the other hand, has meaning inside the kanji characters themselves.
Each kanji has its own meaning, so rather than thinking of them as “letters,”
you can think of them more like “words”.
When viewed that way, the number doesn’t seem excessive at all.
Comparing with Chinese
A Chinese friend once told me that there are over 8,000 Chinese characters,
though only about 3,500 are commonly used.
In comparison, Japan’s 2,136 common kanji suddenly don’t feel so intimidating!
Discovering the Beauty of Japanese Characters Through Calligraphy
What makes Japanese writing so fascinating is its diversity —
the soft curves of hiragana, the sharp lines of katakana, and the meaningful symbols of kanji.
In shodo (Japanese calligraphy), you can choose your favorite character —
perhaps your name, a word you love, or a concept that inspires you —
and express it freely with brush and ink.
It’s not just writing; it’s an art form that connects meaning and beauty.
Why not discover your favorite Japanese character and try writing it yourself?
Join us for a calligraphy session — we’d love to help you experience the beauty of Japanese writing.
