King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “gunboat”

Romaji: houkan
gunboat

In Japanese, gunboat is , read (houkan).

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 gunboat

Kanji and stroke order

cannon, gun
on: ホウ
10 strokes · JLPT 1
warship
on: カン
21 strokes · JLPT 1

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
たいほう taihou(large) gun; cannon; artillery
てっぽう teppougun; firearm
はっぽう happoufiring; discharge of gun
ほうげき hougekibombarding; shelling; bombardment
しゅほう shuhoumain battery; main armament
ほうだん houdanshell; cannonball
かんたい kantai(naval) fleet; armada
ぐんかん gunkanwarship; battleship

See also: Chinese symbol for “gunboat”.

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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