King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “front”

Romaji: shoumen
front; frontage; facade; main

In Japanese, front is , read (shoumen).

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. adj-no, n, pref front; frontage; facade; main

Kanji and stroke order

correct, justice, righteous
on: セイ、ショウ
kun: ただ.しい、ただ.す、まさ、まさ.に
5 strokes · JLPT 3
mask, face, features
on: メン、ベン
kun: おも、おもて、つら
9 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “front”

WordReadingMeaning
せんせん sensen(war) front
ぜんせん zensen(weather) front
せんとう sentouhead (of a line, group, etc.); front; lead
フロント furontofront (aspect, weather, war-front, etc.)
ぜんぽう zenpouahead; forward; (in) front

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
しょうじき shoujikihonest; frank; candid
しゅうせい shuuseiamendment; correction; revision
かいせい kaiseirevision; amendment; alteration
せいぎ seigijustice; right; righteousness
せいしき seishikiformal; official; regular
ふせい fuseiinjustice; unfairness; wrongdoing
がめん gamenscreen (of a TV, computer, etc.)
めんどう mendoutrouble; bother

See also: Chinese symbol for “front”.

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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