Kanji refers to a Chinese character or letter. The writing was designed by Chinese and was taken up by Japanese around mid-6th century. Kanji letters imply that the entire character communicates with meaning and not sound only. Originally, Kanji characters were depicted by images from nature but with time, they changed to more widespread presentations. In Japan, students learn some 1945 kanji by the end of nine years. These are the kanji recommended by the Ministry of Education in Japan. More than 5000 kanji are less popular and not frequently used. Each kanji has a categorizing radical which forms its component. In most cases, the radical adds meaning to the kanji. For instance, a fundamental for hand 扌 appears in a kanji that seems to create the term ‘grasp’ written as (把持) and the single kanji for the term ‘throw’ written as (投). Identifying kanji radicals helps in remembering what a kanji means.

The History of Kanji

Kanji letters were designed and used as part of the writing process in China and other Asian countries. It is reported that people who use Kanji form the biggest race across the globe. However, it not confirmed where Kanji was first seen and when it first appeared. The ancient patterns such as characters that look like symbols were engraved on parts of clay items and have been exhumed from remains in prehistoric China around 4500 BC. The symbols on these remains are categorized into 22 patterns. They still haven’t been decoded but it is widely thought that they represent a form of statement which is a type of character. During ancient China time, the ruler of a state known as IN, which rose around 1600 BC, used the fortune telling custom to forecast politics. He did so by burning animal bones or tortoise shells as well as looking at cracks that formed on bones or shells. To document the outcomes of his fortune telling, a letter referred to as KOUKOTUMOJI was engraved on the bones and shells.