The unique appearance of Chinese and Japanese characters comes in part from using a brush to write. Each kanji and kana symbol is made up of one or more distinct brush strokes. One way to look up a kanji in a Japanese dictionary is to count how many strokes it has.
When writing characters, it is important to draw each stroke in the proper order. In general, strokes proceed from top to bottom, and left to right.
Below are three examples of kanji written in the block style, that mean "flower," "gate," and "oneself." Place your mouse over each to see the kanji written for you in the proper stroke order.
