King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “birch”

Romaji: kaba
birch (esp. Japanese white birch)

In Japanese, birch is , read (kaba).

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 birch (esp. Japanese white birch)

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

birch, dark red
on: カ
kun: かば、かんば
14 strokes · JLPT 1

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
しらかば shirakabaJapanese white birch (Betula platyphylla var. japonica)
からふと karafutoKarafuto (Japanese name for Sakhalin)
かばのき kabanokibirch tree (esp. the Japanese white birch, Betula platyphylla var. japonica)
かばいろ kabairoreddish yellow
からふとます karafutomasupink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha); humpback salmon
うだいかんば udaikanbamonarch birch (Betula maximowicziana); Japanese birch

See also: Chinese symbol for “birch”.

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.

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