2/2 The Most Frequent 1000 Kanji of the Japanese Language

Here are the most frequently used 1000 Kanji in the Japanese language according to a survey of 55 million characters done by the National Language Research Institute. It includes 993 main entry characters found in levels A and B of the Joyo Kanji lists. Presented for you are the individual Kanji and below the English root word, that is the keyword that gives the most concise meaning. Some of the English meanings have additional words in parentheses, this was added to clarify certain meanings. For example, in English "light" can mean light in weight, light in color, or light from the sun. There are also entries in brackets, these are not actual root words, but used to indicate conceptual Kanji such as counters or grammatical stems. If you can see, there are numbers on the bottom, the middle number is the character entry number found in _The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary_ which is the source material and a very useful book, and the frequency number on the right.
I don't know how else to climb this mountain of Kanji other than to take it one step at a time. There are no readings presented here, since each Kanji has anywhere from one reading to a dozen. This presentation is just the first 1000 Kanji, there are more than 1000 to go. Combinations of two or more Kanji make up over 10,000 words and form the majority of concepts in the Japanese language. Please leave any comments or questions. Will consider suggestions for further projects.
MUSIC: Sigur Ros ( ) Untitled track #3, and Explosions in the Sky "Your Hand in Mine"

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Kanji
• Japanese
• Language

[twlight76]

Correction #1: Kanji #913 is repeated twice.

Kanji #914 should be 板 which also means "board" or "plate". If you see any other errors please let me know. ありがとう.

[thuzardpipz]

im totally brain dead now,..

[ping1200]

You are my hero!! What a great video and probably took lots of work. I also love the choice of music.  Have you considered doing a video for the remaining kanji of the jouyou kanji to help the people studying for the JLPT 1?

[gc3k]

this is pretty cool to get your feet wet and familiarize yourself with the kanji that you have to study

[allhailstentor]

I would go so far as to say that the English is actually completely worthless, given how many entries are only technically correct. (That is, one of the English meanings of the English word matches the kanji, but not the most common or an unambiguous meaning.)

(Also, 航 is repeated. Once it's correct. Once it's incorrect. Perhaps you meant 船 for ship?)

Again, for 伊, you described its usage, but not its meaning. That is, you said, "Italy/phonetic I" but it should be, "chic/chivalrous man."

[allhailstentor]

障 is also wrong. It says, "hindrance," but this is only technically correct, as it more accurately means, "to hinder." i.e. It is not in the way, but does harm.

従 is also only technically correct as, "follow." It doesn't mean follow in its most obvious meaning of following someone, it means follow as in, to follow the rules. More accurately, it should be, "to abide," or, "to obey."

寮 also is desrcibed as, "treat," when it could more accurately be described as, "treatment."

[allhailstentor]

航 is incorrect. It says, "ship," but it means, "sail," or, "travel."

Example words:

運航 - Operation of a ship

航空 - Airlines/Aviation

航海 - Voyage

処女航海 - Maiden Voyage

[kiraraperson]

Thank you so much.

Another video(s) with those same kanji with just their onyomi and kunyomi readings would be icing on the cake!!

(Both meaning and reading would probably too much visual clutter=brain mess)

[waigisan]

Lol woulda been better if the pronounciation was available

[hoshino27]

@twlight76

I wonder about 阪, which you translated to Osaka. I think it means "heights" though. Similar to 坂。

[Archimagister]

Sweet! Just letting this baby go and reciting on and kun readings at this pace is almost like LSD. Wow baby...

Ten minutes of these every day and you'll be sure to burn tons of useful kanji in the few neurons you have left...

[jamilhh]

Big THANKS- even the music is very relaxing

[shadowss05]

your videos are vry helpful,i am a beginner..hop u can make more videos also with KUN or ON yomi .THNKS A LOT!!