What is the Kanji for "Festival"?

If you are wondering what is the Japanese Kanji for "Festival", you've come to the right place!

The Japanese Kanji for "Festival" is "祭".

This kanji has 3 readings:

Its kunyomi readings are "Matsu" and "Matsuri".

Its onyomi reading is "Sai".

kunyomi readings are based on the pronunciation of native Japanese words, and onyomi readings are based on the Chinese pronunciation of the character.

If you visually breakdown this kanji, you can see is made up of 3 parts:

The kanji "示" means "Show" and "Indicate" and can be read as "Ji", "Shi", and "Shime". The kanji "月" means "Moon" and "Month" and can be read as "Tsuki", "Getsu", and "Gatsu". And The kanji "又" means "Again" and can be read as "Mata" and "Mata".

Now, let's make sure you understand this kanji the other way around too.

What does the kanji "祭" mean in japanese?

"祭" means "Festival".

Japanese School Students learn this kanji in Third Grade, while foreigners may learn this kanji in preparation for the JLPT N2 exam.

Here are some words that use this kanji:

祭り: "Festival". The Japanese noun '祭り (まつり)' means 'festival'. This word refers to a large public celebration or event, often with traditional or religious elements. Festivals in Japan are usually held to honor deities, mark important seasons, or celebrate cultural heritage. For example: We went to the summer festival - (私たちは夏祭りに行きました). There are many festivals in Japan throughout the year - (日本では一年を通して多くの祭りが開かれています).

祭日: "Holiday". The Japanese noun '祭日 (さいじつ)' refers to a public or national holiday. This includes official government-designated days off work or school, such as New Year's Day, National Foundation Day, and Labor Thanksgiving Day. These holidays are typically observed by businesses and schools closing for the day. For example: Today is a national holiday - (今日は祭日だ). We get a day off work for the holiday - (祭日なので仕事がお休みだ).

祭: "Festival". The Japanese suffix '祭 (さい)' is used to indicate a festival or celebration. It is commonly attached to the end of a word to denote a specific event or holiday, such as 花火祭 (hanabisai) 'fireworks festival' or 夏祭り (natsu matsuri) 'summer festival'. This suffix conveys a sense of joy, community, and cultural tradition associated with these celebratory occasions. For example: 春祭り (haru matsuri) - (Spring festival) or 七夕祭 (tanabata matsuri) - (Tanabata festival)

祭る: "Celebrate". The Japanese verb '祭る (まつる)' means 'to celebrate'. This verb is used to describe the act of honoring or commemorating a special event, person, or deity. It can be used in the context of religious festivals, ceremonies, and other cultural celebrations. For example: They celebrated the festival - (彼らは祭りを祭った). The town celebrates their founding every year - (その町は毎年建立を祭る).

To make really sure you learn this Kanji, I've prepared an interactive lesson for you. You are going to learn the readings and meanings of this kanji.

But first, you need to know a little bit about Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and katakana are japanese syllabaries, this means that each character represents a syllable.

This are the characters you need to know for this lesson:

The hiragana "さ" is read as "sa". The hiragana "い" is read as "i". The hiragana "ま" is read as "ma". The hiragana "つ" is read as "tsu". And The hiragana "り" is read as "ri".

Heres a quick tutorial on how to use it. You'll be asked three type of questions: meaning, reading, and writing.

For meanings questions all you have to do is type the english meaning. If there is more than one meaning, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Reading questions you have to type the reading in romaji (roman letters, our normal alphabet) and it'll be automatically converted to hiragana if necessary. If there is more than one reading, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Writing questions some options will appear and all you have to do is select the correct ones.