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Ritual

On’yomiさい
Kun’yomiまつ.る・まつ.り・まつり
MeaningsRitual, Offer Prayers, Celebrate, Deify, Enshrine, Worship
JLPT N2 11 strokes #1099 most common Grade 3 Radical spirit
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 祭

Stroke order is not decoration — it determines how the character looks handwritten and how dictionaries index it.

11 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 祭

Almost every kanji is built from a small set of reusable parts. Learn the parts once and you stop memorising thousands of unrelated shapes.

radical show =
Ritual
部首 · Radical

The radical of 祭

Radical 113 of 214
Spirit

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 祭 is filed under (spirit) — radical number 113 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 示

練習 · Practice

Drill 祭 right now

Three quick games built from this character's real data. Your streak is kept in this browser.

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Ritual さい まつ.る・まつ.り・まつり
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 祭

Kanji are almost never met alone. These are the most common words built from this character, ordered by how often they actually appear in Japanese.

祭り まつり festival; feast; matsuri
祭りごと まつりごと rule; government; administration
祭典 さいてん festival
芸術祭 げいじゅつさい art festival
葬祭 そうさい funerals and ceremonial occasions
慰霊祭 いれいさい memorial service
祭壇 さいだん altar
冠婚葬祭 かんこんそうさい important ceremonial occasions in family relationships
前夜祭 ぜんやさい event held the night before another event; eve (of a festival) (e.g. Christmas Eve)
大祭 たいさい grand festival
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 祭

Japanese has far more kanji than syllables, so one reading is shared by many characters. These are the ones you will confuse with 祭 — learn them together, not separately.

地名 · In place names

Japanese towns written with 祭

Place names are where kanji readings get strange — and where you meet this character in the wild.

画数 · 11 strokes

Other 11-stroke kanji

Useful when looking a character up by stroke count — and a common source of visual mix-ups.

頻度 · Frequency

Next in the frequency list

祭 is the 1099th most common kanji in written Japanese. Learning in frequency order is the fastest route to reading real text.

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質問 · Questions

About the kanji 祭

What does the kanji 祭 mean?

祭 means Ritual, Offer Prayers, Celebrate, Deify, Enshrine, Worship. It is the 1099th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 祭?

祭 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) さい; kun'yomi (native Japanese) まつ.る、まつ.り、まつり.

How many strokes does 祭 have?

祭 is written with 11 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 祭?

It appears at JLPT level N2, and Japanese schoolchildren learn it in grade 3.

What is the radical of 祭?

The radical of 祭 is 示 (spirit), radical number 113 of the 214 Kangxi radicals. The radical is the component a dictionary files the character under, and it usually points at the character's meaning.

What words use the kanji 祭?

Common words written with 祭 include 祭り (まつり, festival; feast; matsuri); 祭りごと (まつりごと, rule; government; administration); 祭典 (さいてん, festival).

Which kanji sound the same as 祭?

祭 shares a reading with 最 (さい), 済 (さい), 際 (さい), 西 (さい), 歳 (さい), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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