How to Use The Workbook

Kanji Discovery Grid

Japanese Discovery Kanji Grid First Year

This section features all 80 kanji characters typically taught to first-year students in Japan. Each square in the grid includes:

Checkmark Tracker (top-left corner): A small outline of the kanji 正. This symbol is used in Japan as a tally mark. Every time you encounter and log an example of the kanji in real-world media, add one stroke. After five discoveries, the full character 正 will be complete.

To help you get started, I’ve included the basic stroke order used to write each tally kanji.
These characters follow standard stroke rules:

  • Horizontal strokes go from left to right (see blue arrows).

  • Vertical strokes go from top to bottom (see brown arrows).

Following the correct stroke order not only helps with memorization—it also makes it easier to recognize handwritten or stylized kanji in the real world.

kanji tracker box

Note Page Description and Example

note page instructions
example page full