King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “overseer”

Romaji: kantoku
supervision; control; superintendence; direction

In Japanese, overseer is , read (kantoku).

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, vs, vt supervision; control; superintendence; direction
  2. n director; superintendent; supervisor; coach; foreman; manager

Kanji and stroke order

oversee, official, govt office
on: カン
15 strokes · JLPT 1
coach, command, urge
on: トク
13 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “overseer”

WordReadingMeaning
そうり sourileading; overseeing; leader
しゅじ shujimanager; director; superintendent
めつけ metsukecensor; overseer; inspector (Edo period)

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
かんし kanshimonitoring; watching; observation
かんきん kankinconfinement; imprisonment; incarceration
かんさ kansainspection; audit; judgement
かんしゅう kanshuu(editorial) supervision; general editorship
かんごく kangokuprison
そうとく soutokugovernor-general; governor; viceroy
ていとく teitokuadmiral; commodore
とくそく tokusokuurge; demand; importunity

See also: Chinese symbol for “overseer”.

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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