Japanese symbol for “photographing”

撮影

さつえい

Romaji: satsuei

photography (still or motion); photographing; filming; shooting

In Japanese, photographing is 撮影, read さつえい (satsuei).

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, vs, vt photography (still or motion); photographing; filming; shooting; (video) recording

Kanji and stroke order

撮

snapshot, take pictures

on: サツ
kun: と.る、つま.む、-ど.り

15 strokes · JLPT 1

影

shadow, silhouette, phantom

on: エイ
kun: かげ

15 strokes · JLPT 1

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
撮る	とる toru	to take (a photograph)
特撮	とくさつ tokusatsu	special effects; SFX
撮り	どり dori	takes (e.g. of photographs); exposures
撮れる	とれる toreru	to be taken (of a photograph)
撮像	さつぞう satsuzou	taking a picture; taking an image; imaging
影響	えいきょう eikyou	influence; effect; impact
面影	おもかげ omokage	face; looks; countenance
幻影	げんえい gen'ei	phantom; vision; illusion

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.