Kanji Alchemy I: A Strategy for Reading Japanese Characters

Rather than studying Japanese characters one by one, it is more efficient to focus on multiple Japanese characters from the start. So instead of covering 2136 singular Kanji, learning clusters of Japanese characters that share similar aspects would greatly facilitate the learning process and make memorization less burdensome. This textbook has been designed to reduce the number of forms needed to learn around 2136 Jouyou Kanji to approximately 500 characters, that is about 25% of the total.

Characters that are graphically similar have been selected to make distinct groups or clusters that form the basis of the system. Through careful selection 490 characters and their clusters represent close to 2000 Jouyou Kanji. Each of these characters represents on average three to four other characters that share the same features; that means that over 90% of General Use Kanji are related in a meaningful, learner-friendly way.

The same approach has been used to allocate Japanese characters for Jinmei Kanji (862 Kanji that are used for names) and Hyougai Kanji (more that 3460 Kanji that are not part of the first two categories), see Kanji Alchemy II and Kanji Alchemy III.