Kanji by school year, from Japan's official list
The 1,026 kanji Japanese children learn in elementary school, year by year, from the Ministry of Education's own table, with the readings taught at that stage. Each school year matches a Kanken grade, from 10級 for year 1 to 5級 for year 6. Quiz the readings, check the writing, or print a tracing sheet. Free, no sign-up.
How to use it with your child
- Pick the school year (the Kanken grade is shown next to it), then the whole year or a block of 20 kanji.
- Read: your child sees a kanji and picks one of its readings. A wrong pick shows the right one, and every reading of that kanji is shown after each answer.
- Write: your child sees the readings, writes the kanji on paper or a whiteboard, then taps Show the kanji and marks it honestly. When another kanji of the same year has the same readings (園 and 遠 are both エン), they look at the kanji first, hide it and write it from memory.
- Print sheet gives a tracing sheet (one model, three grey copies, two empty squares) or a 20-kanji reading test with the key on page 2.
Which school years it suits
Elementary school, years 1–6 in Japan, and children learning Japanese at a Japanese school abroad or at home. Year 1 = Kanken 10級, year 6 = Kanken 5級.
Where the list comes from
The kanji and their school years are the 学年別漢字配当表 in Japan's elementary curriculum guidelines (小学校学習指導要領, 2017). The readings are the ones the Ministry assigns to elementary school in its table of readings by school stage (March 2017). Readings for junior high and high school are left out.
Japan's Copyright Act, Article 13, says official notices (告示) are not protected by copyright, and the curriculum guidelines are one. The Ministry's site terms also allow reuse with a source line, so every sheet names the source and says Pencilhop arranged it. This page is not made by the Ministry. The sources are listed on the Kanken facts page.
School years and Kanken grades
Kanken 10級 to 5級 cover the same kanji as school years 1 to 6: 80, 160, 200, 202, 193 and 191 new kanji a year. Kanken tests also use the kanji in words and sentences, so this is practice for the kanji themselves, not a mock test.
Ready-made links
Questions parents ask
Which readings are shown?
Only the readings the Ministry assigns to elementary school. A kanji's junior-high readings are left out, so year 1 children are not asked about readings they won't meet until later.
Why do four kanji show a prefecture name?
媛, 岐, 滋 and 阪 were added for prefecture names, and in elementary school they are learned in those names (愛媛, 岐阜, 滋賀, 大阪), so the card shows the name and its reading.
Is this the Kanken list?
The kanji for Kanken 10級 to 5級 are the same as school years 1 to 6. Kanken questions also test words, okurigana and stroke order, which this page doesn't.