Kanji Stroke Order
Type or paste kanji and watch each one drawn stroke by stroke, in the correct order. Works for hiragana and katakana too. Free, no signup.
Try 食, 水, or a whole word like 勉強.
How kanji stroke order works
Every Japanese character is written in a fixed order, one stroke at a time. Almost all of it follows a handful of rules: top to bottom, left to right, horizontal before vertical when strokes cross, outside before inside, and enclosures sealed last. Once those rules feel natural, you can guess the order of most characters you have never seen.
The animations on this page draw each character exactly the way it is taught in Japanese schools, with a faint outline underneath so you can see where every stroke lands. Watch a character once, then write it two or three times on paper or in the app, and the order sticks surprisingly fast.
Keep going
- The 10 kanji stroke order rules, explained with examples
- Printable practice sheets with blank kanji grids
- Writing kanji by hand and why it locks readings into memory
Stroke order diagrams from KanjiVG by Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0. kanjivg.tagaini.net
Stroke order by kanji: JLPT N5 & N4
Every kanji below has its own step-by-step page: numbered stroke diagrams, readings, and a printable practice row.
JLPT N5 (103)
Frequently asked questions
What is the correct stroke order for kanji?
Most kanji follow a few core rules: top to bottom, left to right, horizontal before vertical, outside before inside, and enclosures closed last. Type any character into the tool above to watch its exact order animated stroke by stroke.
Does stroke order really matter?
For handwriting, drawing-based dictionary lookup, and telling look-alike characters apart, yes. If you only read on a screen it matters less, but learning the order early makes your writing faster, cleaner, and easier to remember.
How many kanji does this tool cover?
2,126 kanji, the same set taught in the Kana Conbini app, plus all 46 hiragana and 46 katakana. That covers the full JLPT range from N5 to N1.
Does it show stroke order for hiragana and katakana too?
Yes. Type any kana character and it animates the same way. Kana follow the same top-to-bottom, left-to-right logic as kanji, so they are a gentle place to start.
Where does the stroke order data come from?
From KanjiVG, an open dataset of stroke order diagrams created by Ulrich Apel and used by many dictionaries and study tools. It reflects the standard order taught in Japanese schools.