A Guide to Reading & Writing Japanese
Third Edition

by Kenneth Henshall, Christopher Seeley & Henk de Groot
Originally compiled by Florence Sakade

For years I used the previous edition as a favorite for practicing kanji. The only problem was the book itself was a little out dated. Many examples were not commonly used and some kanji had been replaced by other kanji.

I was very excited to see this new version. See below for my review on the original book.

Based on the order of kanji set by the Ministry of Education, this book is a remarkable value for its size and price. It contains ALL 1,945 daily use kanji! The first 881 kanji (learned by elementary school 6th graders!) are drawn in steps to show the correct stroke order [See below]. Stroke order is important as writing kanji is seen as an art in Japan. Also drawing a character incorrectly often makes it look strange to Japanese. This book helps to get it right from the beginning. Most common pronunciations of the kanji are given and there are at least three examples of the kanji combined with other kanji. The best part of the book is that it shows the basic English meanings for each pronunciation of the kanji. The second part of the book is a list of all 1,945 kanji used in daily life in Japan by stroke number (kanji with one stroke is first, then two strokes...). The kanji previously covered in part one references the page number. Kanji above the 881 kanji show the pronunciations and English meanings. Lastly there is an index of the kanji's readings in alphabetical order; very easy to find what you are looking for.

This is one of the few Japanese books that rarely stays on my shelf. For a kanji reference book and study guide this book is hard to beat.

The index in the back is a must! All readings are referenced and easy to find.

From Clay:
This book is very similar to Kanji & Kana. Both are excellent resources and either would work for kanji study. Kanji & Kana's advantage is it is more radical based which may help you recognize similar kanji and quickly look up kanji. A Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese's advantage is it draws out every stroke for most kanji but Kanji & Kana also numbers each stroke. Both have good indexes and both give good examples and the core meaning of each kanji. Simply put, either book is excellent. You don't need both, but having one or the other is certainly a help.