Japanese symbol for “penal”

刑事上

けいじじょう

Romaji: keijijou

penal; criminal

In Japanese, penal is 刑事上, read けいじじょう (keijijou).

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

adj-no penal; criminal

Kanji and stroke order

刑

punish, penalty, sentence

on: ケイ

6 strokes · JLPT 1

事

matter, thing, fact

on: ジ、ズ
kun: こと、つか.う、つか.える

8 strokes · JLPT 3

上

above, up

on: ジョウ、ショウ、シャン
kun: うえ、-うえ、うわ-、かみ

3 strokes · JLPT 4

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
刑事	けいじ keiji	(police) detective
死刑	しけい shikei	death penalty; capital punishment
刑務所	けいむしょ keimusho	prison; jail; gaol
処刑	しょけい shokei	execution
刑法	けいほう keihou	criminal law; penal code
実刑	じっけい jikkei	prison sentence (without a stay of execution)
仕事	しごと shigoto	work; job; labor
事件	じけん jiken	event; affair; incident
以上	いじょう ijou	not less than ...; ... and over; ... and above

See also: Chinese symbol for “penal”.

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.