JLPT N5 Kanji – 川 – kawa

This is 5-Minute Kanji, and today, we will go over a singing kanji: the kanji for river.

Mnemonic:
LisSEN to the singing KAWAlas along the RIVER.

Onyomi:

サン
sen

Kunyomi:

かわ
kawa

Much like a lot of other nature kanji. This is visually easy to remember. It looks like a river running vertically. The SEN reading isn’t often used. You will find it in 河川, a more formal term used to refer to rivers and streams. It is a lot like the word waterways in English. However, 河川 will not appear on the N5 test. You might see it on N1. You’ll most likely only see かわ on the N5 and in most places.

Mnemonic Factory

Visually, this is pretty simple, right? It looks like a river. It could also be a waterfall, falling into a river.

We have the せん sound for the onyomi. There are a good number of words that start with the SEN sound, like SENd, SENtence, etc There are also a few good ones that have it halfway through, like LisSEN (listen) or lesSEN (lesson or lessen). So, one possibility for a mnemonic could be something like ‘Take a fishing lesSEN on the river.’ or the old phrase “to SENd someone up the RIVER.”

For kunyomi, which is the more commonly used reading for this kanji, you will have to get a little creative, like we did for 山. You can use KAWAla (Koala) which is very visual and easy to remember. Another possibility is aQUA, and another WA sound like aQUA WAll. Another possibility is CAr WAsh spoken in a Boston accent. Another mnemonic is to imagine a CAr WAsh so powerful that it’s like a river, and you can smell the SCENt of soap.

Example Words

How about a few example words where this kanji is used?

Onyomi

Let’s take a look at some of the most common words that use 川:

• 河川（かせん） “rivers, streams, waterways”

Again, it is not commonly used.

Kunyomi

Let’s take a look at some of the most common words that use 山:

• 川（かわ） “mountain”
• 川口（かわぐち） “mouth of the river, also a common last name”*
• 小川（おがわ） “small river”*

かわ and がわ are commonly used in names of prefectures, towns and people.

Commonly confused with

Story Review

Can you remember the story from the beginning? Let’s give it a try and yell out the words that are missing.

Lis___ to the singing ____las along the _____.

Perfect? Let’s give it another try.

Lis___ to the singing ____las along the _____.

Word Review

Can you read these? I’ll give you the kanji, and please yell out the reading for each word

川

河川*

小川*

川口*

*Not N5 Word

That’s it for the kanji for time. Please let me know in the comments below if you have any questions. If you’d like to learn more kanji, hit the subscribe button and hit the bell mark to get a notification every time I send out a new video. Also, be sure to check out my other 5 Minute Kanji videos.