Can You Read These? Quiz on Kanji with Many Strokes

Taito, Daito, Otodo

The total stroke count is 84. Amazingly, this was apparently used as a person’s surname. It’s hard enough to write, and you certainly can’t read it at a glance. People with this surname may have had a tough time… In reality, though, there’s no conclusive proof that it ever existed, and it’s known as one of the so-called “ghost surnames.”

hail; also can mean 'table/list' (表) or 'leopard' (豹) depending on kanji/context

The total stroke count is 30. It’s said to depict horses running in a herd. Once you know the meaning, it’s a kanji that looks just like what it represents. Since you only write the same character three times, it’s easy to memorize. However, it doesn’t seem like there will be many chances to use it.

Run

It has a total of 30 strokes, and its radical is “bird.” It’s a character that represents a divine bird, a type of phoenix. Like “驫,” it’s one of the kanji with the highest stroke count among JIS characters. It may seem difficult, but it’s composed only of “thread” (糸), “speech” (言), and “bird” (鳥), so once you remember that, even children can write it.

Tetsu

The total stroke count is 64. It carries the meaning of being talkative. It has many strokes, but as long as you remember “dragon” (龍), you can write this character. It isn’t often used in everyday life, but there’s a junmai daiginjo sake made in Yamagata with the same name. If you’re interested, please try looking for it.

Bian

The total stroke count is 57. It’s said that this character is only used when writing “biangbiang noodles” in kanji. Biangbiang noodles are wide, flat noodles commonly eaten in China’s Shaanxi Province. You can sometimes see the character on shop signs, so look out for it when you visit China.