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The Key To Kanji: A Visual History of 1100 Characters Bilingual Edition

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Noriko Kurosawa Williams (Author)
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Noriko Kurosawa Williams (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 16 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0887277368
ISBN-10: 0887277365
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 353 pages
  • Publisher: Cheng & Tsui; Bilingual edition (January 1, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0887277365
  • ISBN-13: 978-0887277368
  • Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 8 x 10 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #419,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsSpecifically designed to be a 'user friendly' reference for students of Kanji
By Midwest Book Review on April 15, 2010
Format: Paperback
Specifically designed to be a 'user friendly' reference for students of Kanji from novice beginners to graduate school students, "The Key to Kanji: A Visual History of 1100 Characters" by Noriko Kurosawa Williams is founded on her etymological research. The result is an impressive compendium of eleven hundred essential kanji, each with an illustrated entry accompanied by a succinct summary in English explaining the evolution of its written form and meaning from ancient to modern times. It should also be noted that these kanji images are also provided with on- and kun- pronunciations, a section header in a traditional kanji dictionary, a clear stroke order illustration, and sample words that are useful for learners. An essential instructional reference, "The Key To Kanji" is a core addition to academic library and curriculum language studies reference collections, and ideal for personal use by anyone seeking to master kanji.
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5.0 out of 5 starsGreat book
By Anonymous on March 28, 2011
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I had originally started with the "Remembering the Kanji" series by James W. Heisig, and while I enjoyed familiarizing myself with the different particles that make up kanji, I wasn't learning pronunciation or actual history but rather creating my own stories.

The Key to Kanji is everything the previously mentioned series isn't. You get a simplified breakdown of how the kanji originated, pronunciation, example words and more. It appears the pages are layed out to look like reference / flash cards, and I think I'd prefer having cards instead of the book. No doubt the pages will be pretty worn out by the time I'm done with it.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA must have for anyone who wants a strong understanding of Kanji
By Anonymous Student of Japanese on May 3, 2012
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I used this book to study for the N2 Exam of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) this past year and found it absolutely amazing. Learning kanji as a unified system using it's etymology as apposed to blunt memorization or mnemonics is definitely the way to go.

When I set out to begin studying for the exam I really wanted to deepen my understanding of kanji using a systematic approach rather just trying to "memorize" each one, as was the approach taught to me in my university Japanese classes. Anyone really looking to attain a high level of Japanese skill will soon find that the blunt memorization approach to learning kanji drops off in effectiveness rather quickly. This is partially because there are many kanji that contain similar radicals, and this makes distinguishing one kanji from another difficult if you don't understand why each radical is present and what they "mean". For example, there are multiple kanji with the same on-reading of han but each is used in very different words, and being able to distinguish between when each is used is crucial in order to read and write them effectively. Another reason is because in general learning things by understanding them as a part of a system is more effective than learning disparate facts at random. Learning random kanji via drilling flashcards can be a great supplement to a systematic understanding of kanji, but in my experiences that alone can't get all 1000+ kanji in the Kyouiku series or the 2000+ kanji in the Jouyou series to really "stick" into one's brain. For me blunt memorization caused a sort of snowball effect where I would forget old kanji after learning new one's, causing an ever-increasingly long series of review and relearning.Read more ›
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2.0 out of 5 starsPoorly conceived reference work
By Amazon Customer on February 18, 2016
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Pros
* Some explanations of origins are helpful.
* Good selection of sample words
* There are several solid chapters on the historical development of kanji forms, although this is really not necessary for learning the characters in this book and is something you would easily find on the Internet.

Cons
* The book does not give you an order for learning the kanji (the kanji are listed in order of their readings, using gojuon order, like alphabetical order for Japanese). This means you can't use it for self-teaching. It is designed as a reference tool for people who are using another textbook that would tell you which kanji to learn next.
* The vocabulary is good, but they don't provide the meanings of the other kanji in the compounds, or have any reference for where you could look these up. This means you can't learn the new words from breaking down the meanings of the different kanji, unless you already know the other kanji. Whether you know it or not is left to chance, because there is no order for learning the kanji.
* The book is laid out as a reference for looking up the origin of a kanji and various other pieces of information about it, but this type of information is available in many electronic resources for kanji, like hand-held electronic dictionaries or specialized websites, which have more and better information and make it easier to look up the kanji than this book does. I do not see the value or benefit of having this paper resource for this particular purpose (it would be different if it was a workbook or something where I could practice writing out the characters).
* The book has 1100 characters, corresponding to the Education Kanji list for Japanese elementary school students.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThis book is an AWESOME resource. I use it often to look up ...

This book is an AWESOME resource. I use it often to look up newly learned Kanji. The breakdown of each part of a kanji helps me to understand and memorize each one much easier than... Read more

Published 1 month ago by La'Teef evans
5.0 out of 5 starsgreat buy!

Would! What a detailed and informative book. My husband and I are moving to Japan and this will be super helpful!

Published 3 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsA VERY HELPFUL BOOK!

It might sound cheesy and unbelievable, but this bushu system makes kanji fun and fascinating!

Before I studied this method kanji just seemed like just a bunch of... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Jason Velez
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great layout!

Published 15 months ago by CocciChristine
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat learning tool!

I love this book! I'm not good at just memorizing kanji by writing them a million times. Having the visual history of the characters really helps them stick in my mind. Read more

Published on October 8, 2013 by Anna Bammerlin
5.0 out of 5 starsOutstanding book!

Excellent reference for learning chinese characters. Highly recommended!

Published on August 24, 2013 by Marco Marrero
5.0 out of 5 starsCan you enjoy the kanji learning?

Until I received this book, I thought the kanjis are too difficult, hard to learn things and I hated them. Thanks for the "The Key.. Read more

Published on May 16, 2013 by Endyran
5.0 out of 5 starsI love it! Why don't made onther volume with more kaji?

This book is awesome. It's really useful to learn kanji, it's user friendly, clear and easy. For each kanji you have stroke order, meaning, On and Kun reading (with katakana and... Read more

Published on May 11, 2013 by Michela
5.0 out of 5 starsKey to Kanji

Great and very helpful. Wish to have same kind of book for Chinese Mandarin character. It really helping me to further understand the original of each character.

Published on January 28, 2013 by Zaki
4.0 out of 5 starsGood information

I like this book because it shows you and tells you the origin of the kanji as well as how to write it but only draw back to this book is that there is no place to practice.

Published on October 14, 2011 by rAnd0mn3ss

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