About
Understand Kanji,
Don't Just Memorize Them
We teach kanji through composition and history so you can truly get to know these characters and their storied lives.
Welcome to Kanjimori! Here, we are dedicated to teaching you how to understand kanji, not just memorize them. We feel confident that given the right tools to get to know kanji and their long and storied lives, you will come to love them as much as we do.
In contrast to other kanji learning methods centered around simple mnemonics for kanji characters, we focus instead on understanding the composition and components of modern kanji within the context of how they have appeared for thousands of years before.
When Chinese characters were first invented, their brilliant creators started with pictures of objects in their lives (pictographs). These initial characters were then borrowed and combined to form more complex characters with new meanings. Some characters were added to others to suggest meaning, while others were added as hints for pronunciation. Knowing why a character was added to another can be really helpful for both remembering a kanji and predicting the meaning and sound of new kanji you haven't learned yet.
Though it might surprise you, the people who designed kanji long ago were not so different from us here today. If you were to create a writing system, you'd probably want it to be as logical as possible, wouldn't you? Well, that's what they did too! By understanding how kanji were systematically composed and learning to see the ancient pictures within each kanji character, we unlock the stories they tell and come to known a character's meaning from its story, not from memorization.
So, welcome! Embark on this journey with us and let's start learning kanji together – the right way.