10 Most Difficult Japanese Kanji Characters

What are the most difficult Japanese kanji characters? Japanese Kanji are hard to learn – do you know what the world’s most difficult Japanese Kanji are? This blog will show you some of them.

Originated from China, kanji takes a significant part in the Japanese language.  It is widely used in the daily life of the Japanese people.  Usually, a Japanese person grown up speaking Japanese knows about 3500 to 4000 Kanji.

Although Kanji can be replaced with Hiragana or Katakana, it only makes a sentence harder to read and comprehend. For example, how do you differentiate between 橋 (はし), 箸(はし) or 端(はし) if expressing them in hiragana? 
As a result, learning Kanji is very important. In this article, we will show you the most complicated Japanese Kanji. You will understand how fascinating Kanji is.

Just started learning Japanese? Head to our main article about the Japanese writing system for a more comprehensive guide on hiragana, katakana and kanji!


The most difficult kanji iIlustration

The Most Difficult Japanese Kanji on Record: たいと(Taito)

たいと(taito) is the most difficult Japanese Kanji on the record with a total of 84 strokes. It is formed by combining 3 雲 (くもkumo)  with 3 龍 (りゅうRyuu). 雲 means cloud and 龍 means dragon in English.  たいと is said to be a type of Japanese surname. Although this kanji is recorded in the <Rare Surname Dictionary>,  its true existence is still unverifiable.
Feeling mindblown? There are more extremely difficult Japanese kanji! Take a look at each of them and you will understand how complicated kanji can be.

The most difficult kanji illustration
The most difficult kanji
The most difficult kanji illustration
The most difficult kanji
The most difficult kanji illustration
The most difficult kanji

Download the ppt version of these infographics in here:

The Most Difficult Kanji

If you have some basic knowledge in Japanese kanji, you may understand how the meanings of some of these kanji came about. So interesting, aren’t they? We also have another article on the best apps to learn kanji, so check it out!

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What is the hardest kanji in Japanese?

たいと(taito) is the most difficult Japanese Kanji on the record with a total of 84 strokes. It is formed by combining 3 雲 (くもkumo)  with 3 龍 (りゅうRyuu). 雲 means cloud and 龍 means dragon in English.  たいと is said to be a type of Japanese surname. Although this kanji is recorded in the <Rare Surname Dictionary>,  its true existence is still unverifiable.

Where does kanji characters come from?

Originated from China, kanji takes a significant part in the Japanese language. It is widely used in the daily life of the Japanese people. 

How many kanji characters do you need to know?

Usually, a person who grow up speaking Japanese knows about 3500 to 4000 Kanji.


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