King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “imbalance”

Romaji: outotsu
unevenness; bumpiness; roughness; ruggedness

In Japanese, imbalance is , read (outotsu).

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 unevenness; bumpiness; roughness; ruggedness
  2. n imbalance; inequality; unevenness; disparity

Kanji and stroke order

concave, hollow, sunken
on: オウ
kun: くぼ.む、へこ.む、ぼこ
5 strokes · JLPT 1
convex, beetle brow, uneven
on: トツ
kun: でこ
5 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “imbalance”

WordReadingMeaning
ふきんこう fukinkouimbalance; lack of balance; lopsidedness
アンバランス anbaransuunbalance; imbalance
はこう hakouimbalance; proceeding irregularly; unsteady progress
ふつりあい futsuriaiimbalance; disproportion; disparity
でこぼこ dekobokoinequality; imbalance; unevenness

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
でこぼこ dekobokounevenness; roughness; ruggedness
くぼみ kubomihollow; cavity; dent
へこむ hekomuto be dented; to be indented; to yield
おうめん oumenconcavity
おうはん ouhanintaglio plate
とっぱんいんさつ toppan'insatsuletterpress; relief printing
とっぱん toppanletterpress; relief printing
とつレンズ totsurenzuconvex lens

See also: Chinese symbol for “imbalance”.

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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