King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “hostilities”

Romaji: kousen
war; battle; hostilities

In Japanese, hostilities is , read (kousen).

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, vi, vs war; battle; hostilities

Kanji and stroke order

mingle, mixing, association
on: コウ
kun: まじ.わる、まじ.える、ま.じる、まじ.る
6 strokes · JLPT 2
war, battle, match
on: セン
kun: いくさ、たたか.う、おのの.く、そよ.ぐ
13 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “hostilities”

WordReadingMeaning
へいたん heitanhostilities; beginning of hostilities
たいてき taitekiconfronting the enemy; hostilities

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
こうかん koukanexchange; interchange; switching
こうつう koutsuutraffic; transportation
こうしょう koushounegotiations; bargaining; discussions
こうりゅう kouryuuexchange (e.g. cultural); interchange; interaction
がいこう gaikoudiplomacy
こうたい koutaichange; alternation; rotation
せんそう sensouwar
たたかい tatakaibattle; war; fight

See also: Chinese symbol for “hostilities”.

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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