Japanese Stroke Order: Seven Rules That Predict Nearly All

Stroke order: why every kanji is written the same way

Each frame adds one stroke in red. The dotted guide lines help you place strokes inside an even square, which is how Japanese practice paper is printed.

Short answer: every kanji and kana has a fixed stroke order (the sequence and direction of the lines you draw) and seven rules predict almost all of it. Following them makes your handwriting balanced and readable, lets you count strokes to look characters up, and helps you read other people’s fast handwriting, where strokes run together in that order.

The seven rules

Work through each rule with its example. The red stroke is the one being added; earlier strokes are dark.

Rule 1Top to bottom三

Strokes higher up come first. 三 (three) is written top line, middle line, bottom line.

Rule 2Left to right川

Left strokes before right ones. 川 (river) goes left curve, middle, right.

Rule 3Horizontal before vertical十

Where two strokes cross, the horizontal one usually comes first.

Rule 4Centre before the sides小

When a character has a middle stroke with smaller strokes either side, the middle comes first.

Rule 5Outside before inside, close last口

Draw the frame’s left and top-right, then whatever is inside, then the bottom line that closes it.

Rule 6Left-falling before right-falling人

Of two diagonals that meet, the one sweeping down-left comes first.

Rule 7A stroke through everything goes last中

A vertical line that cuts through the whole character is the final stroke.

A few common characters break a rule. 右 (right) and 左 (left) share a top but start with different strokes, and the dictionary or a stroke-order app settles any doubt. Learn the order once, with the character, and it becomes automatic.

Three ways a stroke can end

Japanese teachers mark not just the order but how each stroke finishes. Printed fonts show it, and so does good handwriting.

Stop, flick or sweep: the ending is part of the character, the way the tail of an English “g” is.

Stroke counts and dictionaries

Every kanji has a fixed number of strokes, and paper dictionaries and many apps let you find a character by radical and stroke count. A line that changes direction without lifting the pen, like the top-right of 口, counts as one stroke.

Kanji	Meaning	Strokes
ichi	one	1
kuchi	mouth	3
ki	tree	4
yasu(mu)	rest	6
mori	forest	12
go	language	14

Kana have stroke order too

Hiragana and katakana follow the same rules. Write each kana in its order from the first day and you will not need to relearn it.

How to practise

Ten minutes a day on squared paper is better than an hour once a week.

✓Use squared paperGenkō yōshi (Japanese manuscript paper) or any grid. One character per square, centred.
✓Say the reading as you writeWrite 木 and say “ki”: sound, shape and meaning stick together.
✓Write five, then readFive copies of a new kanji, then read three words that use it.
✓Check the endingsStop, flick or sweep: look at a printed version and compare.
✓Write words, not just charactersAfter a week, write 木曜日 (Thursday) or 大きい木 (a big tree) instead of 木 alone.

Characters with surprising orders

These break the rules you might expect. Learn them by heart.

Stroke counts in practice

Count strokes for a dictionary search.

Check yourself

Try each one, then open the answer to check and hear it.

How many strokes in 口?
Show answer
kuchi3
Which comes first in 十?
Show answer
jūThe horizontal stroke.
Which comes first in 小?
Show answer
chiisaiThe centre stroke.
Which comes last in 中?
Show answer
nakaThe long vertical stroke.
Which comes first in 右?
Show answer
migiThe diagonal ノ.

Words to write first

Every kanji on this page in a real word or sentence.

川かわkawariverのno’s中なかnakainsideにniin小さいちいさいchiisaismall魚さかなsakanafishがga(subject)いますimasuare there

Kawa no naka ni chiisai sakana ga imasu.“There are small fish in the river.”Why: Literally “river’s inside, in, small fish exist”. の links 川 and 中 like English ’s; います is “exist” for living things.