The world’s toughest! A collection of insanely hard-to-read kanji
The kanji that we Japanese use as a matter of course come naturally to us not only when writing sentences but even when we’re calling something to mind.
In fact, texts written only in hiragana or katakana are very hard to read, and just thinking about that shows how convenient kanji are.
Even for us, who are so familiar with kanji in our daily lives, there are many characters that make us scratch our heads and ask, “How do you read this?”
In this article, we’ve picked out kanji that not only people overseas studying Japanese but even a large majority of Japanese people can’t read.
We include their readings as well as the origins of the words, but first, have fun seeing how many you can read—like a kanji quiz!
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The World’s Toughest! A Collection of Super Difficult Kanji (1–10)
Ulva (green laver)
Even ingredients we casually eat all the time can become unrecognizable when written in kanji, right? “石蓴” might be one of those.
Let me present it as a quiz.
Hint 1: It’s found in the sea.
Hint 2: It’s closely related to wakame and kombu.
Got it? Yes—the answer is aonori/sea lettuce (aosa).
You often see it on sushi restaurant menus.
There’s even a theory that the name aosa came from “aokusa” (green weed) that grows on rocks, with the “ku” dropped.
After all, the kanji for 石蓴 includes the character for “stone” (石).
walrus
Let’s read this kanji in a quiz format.
Hint 1: It’s the name of an animal.
But “animal” is too broad, isn’t it? Okay, Hint 2: It’s an animal that lives in the sea.
Squid? Octopus? Hmm, still too broad.
Then, Hint 3: It’s not a fish.
We’re getting closer.
Final hint: This animal belongs to the Otariidae (eared seal) family.
That’s right—the answer is a fur seal.
It’s said that the fur seal’s penis was valued in traditional Chinese medicine, and because of that, the kanji using the character for “navel” (臍) was applied, since it’s close in meaning or association.
Originally, 膃肭臍 (ottosei) was the name of a medicinal substance.
Uma Daitō
Since the kanji for “horse” is used, you might first think of an animal, but this is actually the name of an insect.
The kanji “馬” (horse) carries the meaning of “large,” and it describes the shape as having a “horse-like large head.” If the pattern using “馬大頭” doesn’t help, seeing another pattern that uses different kanji—“鬼蜻蛉”—will likely lead you to the answer.
The correct answer is the “onikyanma,” the largest dragonfly found in Japan.
Once you hear the answer, the use of the kanji for “horse” makes sense given its size.
Entering the imperial court (especially the act of a woman entering the court as an imperial consort)
It’s a pattern where commonly seen kanji are combined to give them an unusual reading that we don’t normally use.
If you read it straightforwardly, you might think of iriuchi or nyūnai, but let’s consider the alternative readings.
The hint lies in the era when this term was used—if you picture the Heian period or Hina dolls that take it as a motif, you’ll likely arrive at the answer.
The answer is judai, a term that referred to consorts such as the Chūgū or Nyōgo entering the imperial palace (Dairi).
There are other words in which 入 is read as ju and 内 is read as dai, so knowing those is also an important clue.
pea
Many of you might already know the word “豌豆.” Some supermarkets even use this kanji on their product labels.
The answer is “endō.” If you answered “endō-mame,” that’s incorrect.
We can understand the “bean” (豆) part, but what does “豌” mean? Apparently, it’s said to come from the name of a large country called “Daiwan-koku” that once existed in what is now Uzbekistan, the supposed place of origin of peas.
Incidentally, “Daiwan” means “a very large oasis.” Everything has an origin, doesn’t it?