This appendix is a complete index of the approximately 100 kanji encountered in Stage 1 of 道. It is divided into two sections.
Section 1 lists the 25 kanji taught explicitly in Chapter 4, where each character was introduced with full radical analysis, stroke descriptions, and reading explanations. If you studied Chapter 4 carefully, these kanji should already be familiar.
Section 2 lists the approximately 75 additional kanji that appear in vocabulary items across Chapters 5 through 26. Many of these were written in hiragana within the chapters themselves, since the textbook prioritizes reading fluency over kanji density at this level. This index shows the standard kanji forms of those words so you can begin recognizing them in native materials, where hiragana substitution is far less common.
For both sections, the table provides:
漢字 — The kanji character.
部首 — The radical under which the kanji is classified.
おんよみ — The Chinese-derived reading(s). Readings separated by a なかぐろ(・)are distinct readings used in different compounds.
くんよみ — The native Japanese reading(s). Parentheses indicate おくりがな — the trailing hiragana that accompanies the kanji in inflected words.
意味 — The core English meaning.
用例 — Example compounds or words using the kanji.
章 — The chapter in which the kanji (or a word containing it) first appears.
A dash (—) in the おんよみ or くんよみ column means that reading is either nonexistent or not encountered at the N5 level.
These 25 kanji were introduced with full analysis in Chapter 4. They form the core set you should be able to recognize, decompose, and read in any context.
The following kanji appeared in vocabulary items across Stage 1. Even where the textbook wrote them in hiragana, these are the standard kanji forms you will encounter in native Japanese text. They are grouped by semantic category for ease of reference.
Kanji you "know" versus kanji you recognize. At the end of Stage 1, you should be able to recognize all 100 kanji in this index — that is, when you see them in a word you have studied, you should be able to read the word. You are not expected to write any of these kanji from memory, nor to produce them in isolation without context. Recognition is the goal. Production comes later.
Readings are context-dependent. Many kanji in this index have multiple readings. The correct reading depends on the word, not on the kanji in isolation. 生 is read せい in 学生, しょう in 一生, い in 生きる, う in 生まれる, and なま in 生ビール. Attempting to memorize all readings separately is counterproductive. Learn words, and the readings follow.
Stage 2 expands this set significantly. Stage 2 (N4) introduces approximately 150 additional kanji, brings the total to roughly 250, and begins systematic phonetic-component analysis. The analytical habits established in Chapter 4 — identifying radicals, noticing phonetic components, learning readings through vocabulary — will scale to meet that larger set without requiring any change in approach.