N5 → N1 · 2,135 kanji
Learn the kanji.For good.
A method that makes you understand each character instead of drilling it into you.
The whole N5 level is free, forever. No card required.
- 2,135
- kanji, N5 to N1
- 25,000+
- vocabulary words
- 3
- skills tracked separately
- $0
- for the whole N5 level
The method
Kanji aren’t learned by heart.
They come apart. 明 “bright” is 日 the sun and 月 the moon. Once you see the pieces, you stop forgetting them.
Memory hooks
A memory hook for every kanji.
Every kanji comes with one. Learners add their own and the best get adopted: keep the one that clicks, or write yours.
休to rest
- 249250
A person 人 leaning against a tree 木 — they’re resting.
- 187
The worker takes their break in the tree’s shade.
- 94
Person + wood: a nap in the woods.
Three skills
Recognizing a kanji isn’t knowing it.
Meaning, reading, vocabulary: Kanzen tracks each skill separately and brings each one back just before you forget it.
Meaning
2 memories
Kanji to meaning, and meaning to kanji. Two memories, not one.
Reading
2 memories
Recognising the readings, and finding the kanji from them.
Words
1 memory
The kanji inside real vocabulary, not alone on a card.
Your progress
You always know where you stand.
Not a bar filling up. A mountain, and your position on it.
ReadingFrench version only
Real sentences, not exercises.
Thousands of authentic Japanese sentences at your level. The furigana fade out as your reading catches up.
Your goal
You know when you’ll be ready.
Pick your JLPT level and exam date. Kanzen works out how many new kanji to learn each week, then compares your real pace to the plan.
- 01
Set your target
A JLPT level and an exam date — or free progress, at your own pace.
- 02
Follow the pace
Kanzen tells you how many new kanji per week, and introduces them one at a time.
- 03
See your arrival date
Your real pace is compared to the plan: you know whether you’re ahead or behind.
Duel Mode
Seven leagues to climb, one yokai unlocked per milestone.
Asynchronous duels against other learners: you climb the leagues by mastering each JLPT level, from the trickster Tanuki all the way to Kami.
Tanuki
The start
Kitsune
70% of N5
Kasa-obake
40% of N4
Tengu
40% of N3
Oni
40% of N2
Ryū
40% of N1
Kami
80% of N1
Live
The Kanzen community, in real numbers.
Every review done in the app makes these counters go up.
- cards reviewed
- 11,972
- every question answered in review
- kanji learned
- 962
- meaning, reading and vocabulary moved on to review
- tips written
- 11
- by players, to remember a kanji
- duels played
- 66
- head-to-head or in the Daily Duel
Study the JLPT kanji
The 2,135 kanji you need, level by level and from most to least useful: meanings, readings, stroke order. N5 as full pages, with memory hooks and vocabulary. Free, no sign-up.
Test my level in 2 minutes →Guides
All guides →How many kanji do you need to know? The honest numbers, from N5 to reading a novel
There are 50,000+ kanji in the biggest dictionaries, 2,136 on the official jōyō list, and about 2,000 between you and a Japanese newspaper. Here is what the numbers actually mean — and which ones matter at each stage.
Spaced repetition: the science of remembering more, with less effort
How spaced repetition works, where it comes from, and why it let me learn 300 kanji and 1,000+ Japanese words in 18 months — with Anki for vocabulary and Kanzen for kanji.
A look inside
The app, screen by screen.
The real product, not concept art: home, explorer, cards, review, dōjō.
Explorer 
Kanji card 
Review 
Mnemonics 
Dōjō
When you want to go further
Kanzen Plus
Every level up to N1, every game mode, every league. From $6.99 a month, with a 7-day trial.
Hear about the launchThe two questions we get asked most
Is Kanzen really free?
Do I need to already know Japanese?
Learn wherever you are.
Phone and tablet. Your progress follows you.
Phone and tablet · iOS in the works
Be there on day one.
Drop your email and we’ll tell you the day it ships. The first level will be free, no card required.
The long version
The full comparison and the questions we get asked, on a page of their own.
Legal documents
Terms of use, data processing, and account deletion procedure for the Kanzen application.
The animated kanji strokes on this page come from KanjiVG © Ulrich Apel — CC BY-SA 3.0.