King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “emulate”

Romaji: narau
to imitate; to follow; to copy; to emulate

In Japanese, emulate is , read (narau).

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. v5u, vi to imitate; to follow; to copy; to emulate

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

emulate, imitate
on: ホウ
kun: なら.う
10 strokes · JLPT 1

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
もほう mohouimitation; copying
もほうしゃ mohoushaimitator
もほうはん mohouhancopycat criminal; copycat crime
もほうひん mohouhincounterfeit goods; knock-off; imitation

See also: Chinese symbol for “emulate”.

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.