Japanese symbol for “basking”

甲羅干し

こうらぼし

Romaji: kouraboshi

basking (of animals with a shell or carapace, esp. turtles)

In Japanese, basking is 甲羅干し, read こうらぼし (kouraboshi).

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

n basking (of animals with a shell or carapace, esp. turtles)
n sunbathing on one's stomach

Kanji and stroke order

甲

armor, high (voice), A grade

on: コウ、カン
kun: きのえ

5 strokes · JLPT 1

羅

gauze, thin silk, Rome

on: ラ
kun: うすもの

19 strokes · JLPT 1

干

dry, parch, ebb

on: カン
kun: ほ.す、ほ.し-、-ぼ.し、ひ.る

3 strokes · JLPT 2

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
甲板	かんぱん kanpan	deck (of a ship)
装甲	そうこう soukou	armoring; armouring; armor
甲状腺	こうじょうせん koujousen	thyroid (gland)
甲子園	こうしえん koushien	Koshien Stadium (baseball park in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture)
甲羅	こうら koura	shell (of a crab, tortoise, etc.); carapace; plastron
甲高い	かんだかい kandakai	high-pitched; shrill
網羅	もうら moura	encompassing; covering (exhaustively); including (all of)
羅列	られつ raretsu	enumeration; citation; listing
若干	じゃっかん jakkan	some; few; a number of

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.