Day 1 — 日 (sun, day)
Days 1-10
R-report
Day 1 — 日 (sun, day)
How does the kanji 日 show both 'sun' and 'day' in everyday words?
Meet the kanji: 日
The kanji 日 means “sun” and by extension “day.” It is one of the most common and oldest characters in Japanese. Visually it is a simple rectangle with an inner horizontal stroke that suggests a sun disk or a calendar day block. Because of its clear shape and frequent use, 日 appears in many basic words about time (today, yesterday, every day) and in weekday names. As a learner, recognize two everyday senses: the natural object (sun) and the temporal unit (day). Both senses are mainstream and found in dictionaries and beginner textbooks. This lesson focuses only on this kanji and five everyday words that use it.
Readings, stroke notes, and writing tips
- Visually it is a simple rectangle with an inner horizontal stroke that suggests a sun disk or a calendar day block. Because of its clear shape and frequent use, 日 appears in many basic words about time (today, yesterday, every day) and in weekday names. As a learner, recognize two everyday senses: the natural object (sun) and the temporal unit (day).
- Both senses are mainstream and found in dictionaries and beginner textbooks. This lesson focuses only on this kanji and five everyday words that use it. Common readings: “ひ (hi)” is the native reading often used when the kanji stands alone (e.g., いい日 — a good day), while “にち / じつ (nichi / jitsu)” are Sino-Japanese readings that appear in compounds (e.g., 日曜日, 毎日).
- Context tells you which reading to use. Stroke count and order: standard printed stroke count for 日 is four strokes. Writing it cleanly with slightly rounded corners and a clear middle horizontal stroke helps recognition.
- When you practice, write the outer box first, then the inner horizontal stroke, or follow the standard order: top horizontal, left vertical and bottom horizontal, then middle horizontal (stroke-order diagrams clarify this). 1) 日 — ひ (hi) — sun / day. Example: 今日はいい日だ。 (きょうはいいひだ。) — Today is a good day.
- 2) 今日 — きょう (kyou) — today. (Written with 今 + 日.) Example: 今日は暑いです。 (きょうはあついです。) — It's hot today. 3) 日曜日 — にちようび (nichiyoubi) — Sunday.