Learn to read Japanese.
Kimariji teaches kana, kanji and everyday words a few at a time, schedules every review with FSRS spaced repetition, and puts what you know to work on real signs, menus and sentences.
Free to start: all hiragana and katakana, the first 100 kanji and 100 starter words.
Android first, iOS later.
What you learn
Every character and word has one review record. Lessons and tests both update it, and the mastery map reads it.
- あFree
Kana
All hiragana and katakana, with audio for each sound. Look-alikes such as シ and ツ come side by side.
- 駅2,136
Kanji
Every kanji on the commonly used JLPT N5 and N4 lists, then optional tiers up to all 2,136 jōyō kanji.
- 安い888
Words
888 everyday words. 778 come with an example sentence, most of them from Tatoeba with its human translation.
- 東口60
Real reading
60 short signs, menu items and station texts. Each one opens once you have its characters.
How it works
Current screens from the app, in the order you meet them.
Learn a few at a time
A lesson brings in a few characters or words. You hear each one, and kanji are shown inside a real word.
Recognise, then recall
Pick the sound from a few options first. Later you type the reading yourself.
Meet it in a sentence
Most words come with an example sentence and its English translation.
Read the real thing
Short signs, menu items and station texts, built from the characters you have learned.
Each card comes back when FSRS spaced repetition schedules its next review.
Signs are not set in textbook type.
A station board, a handwritten menu and a game screen draw the same kana differently. Kimariji shows each kana in several real typefaces, so you learn the shape rather than one font.
- ようこそTextbook
- ようこそPrint
- ようこそHandwritten
- ようこそMarker
- ようこそPixel
Can you read these?
1 / 10Ten kana, each in a different typeface. Nothing is recorded, and the answers do not affect app progress.
Choose the reading.
Free to start. One payment for the rest.
The free part is a complete first chapter, not a trial. Full adds depth; it never takes away what you learned for free.
Free
No time limit, no account
- All hiragana and katakana
- The first 100 kanji: all 80 JLPT N5 kanji and 20 from N4
- 100 starter words in three packs: First Words, Transit + Street, Conbini + Menu
- Real signs and menu items written with those characters
- Tests, certificates, the mastery map and the Anki CSV export
Full
€9.90 early-bird lifetime · €14.90 regular lifetime
- Every kanji tier, up to all 2,136 jōyō kanji
- All 888 words, including the Everyday Core pack
- All 60 signs, menus and station texts as you learn their characters
- Everything in Free stays free
One payment. No subscription. Local store prices may vary.
Calm, local, and plain about its limits.
- No daily streak, no XP, no leaderboard.
- A missed week is not a failure state.
- No account.
- Progress stays on your device. You can back it up to a file you keep.
- No ads, no analytics, no tracking.
- What the app and this site send is listed on the privacy page.
- Reading only.
- There is no handwriting or stroke-order practice.
- Text-to-speech audio.
- It is bundled with the app and plays offline.
- Sourced sentences.
- They come from Tatoeba or are hand-written. None has had a native-speaker check yet; each card has a button to report an odd one.
Get one email when Kimariji launches.
Android comes first; iOS follows later. Learn all kana, the first 100 kanji and 100 starter words free, then unlock the rest with one payment if you want it.
One email at launch. Nothing else, ever.
Your email is used for the launch notification. Privacy and removal requests.