King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “army”

Romaji: gun
army; armed forces; troops

In Japanese, army is , read (gun).

Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.

Meanings

  1. n army; armed forces; troops
  2. n military authorities
  3. n team; group; troupe

Kanji and stroke order

army, force, troops
on: グン
kun: いくさ
9 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “army”

WordReadingMeaning
りくぐん rikugunarmy
いちぐん ichigunan army
へい heiarmy; troops
ぐんぜい gunzeimilitary forces; army; troops
アーミー aamiiarmy

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
ぐんじ gunjimilitary affairs
しょうぐん shougungeneral
ぐんたい guntaiarmed forces; military; troops
かいぐん kaigunnavy; naval force
ぐんじん gunjinserviceman; servicewoman; soldier
りくぐん rikugunarmy

See also: Chinese symbol for “army”.

Data: JMdict (CC BY-SA 4.0); KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.