Japanese symbol for “kan”
貫
かん
Romaji: kan
kan (obs. unit of weight, approx. 3.75 kg, 8.3 lb)
In Japanese, kan is 貫, read かん (kan).
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
- n kan (obs. unit of weight, approx. 3.75 kg, 8.3 lb)
- n kan (obs. unit of currency, equiv. to 1000 mon in the Edo period; col. 10 mon in the Meiji period)
- ctr counter for pieces of sushi
- n 10 points (hanaf)
- n 12 points (hanaf)
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “kan”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 坎 | かん kan | kan (one of the trigrams of the I Ching: water, north) |
| 坎為水 | かんいすい kan'isui | kan (hexagram 29 of the I Ching: water, the abysmal) |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一貫 | いっかん ikkan | consistency; coherence; integration |
| 貫通 | かんつう kantsuu | passing through (of a tunnel, bullet, etc.); going (right) through; penetrating |
| 突貫 | とっかん tokkan | charging (at the enemy) with a shout; rush |
| 貫徹 | かんてつ kantetsu | accomplishment; realization; attainment |
| 貫く | つらぬく tsuranuku | to go through; to pierce; to penetrate |
| 貫き通す | つらぬきとおす tsuranukitoosu | to go through; to pierce; to penetrate |
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.