祭
祭 — Ritual
ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship
On’yomiサイ (sai)
Kun’yomiまつる (matsuru)
Kun’yomiまつり (matsuri)
Kun’yomiまつり (matsuri)
Stroke order (11 strokes)
Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).
Common words using 祭
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 祭り | まつり matsuri | festival; feast; matsuri |
| 祭典 | さいてん saiten | festival |
| 芸術祭 | げいじゅつさい geijutsusai | art festival |
| 慰霊祭 | いれいさい ireisai | memorial service |
| 冠婚葬祭 | かんこんそうさい kankonsousai | important ceremonial occasions in family relationships |
| 祭る | まつる matsuru | to deify; to enshrine; to pray |
Study notes
祭 is a JLPT N2 kanji written with 11 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 3), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #1124 of the 2,500 most frequent kanji in newspapers. On’yomi (音読み) are Chinese-derived readings mostly used in compound words; kun’yomi (訓読み) are native Japanese readings, with any highlighted part written in hiragana after the kanji (okurigana).
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