King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “purification”

Romaji: jouka
purification

In Japanese, purification is , read (jouka).

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 purification
  2. n, vs, vt cleanup (e.g. of politics); purge

Kanji and stroke order

clean, purify, cleanse
on: ジョウ、セイ
kun: きよ.める、きよ.い
9 strokes · JLPT 1
change, take the form of, influence
on: カ、ケ
kun: ば.ける、ば.かす、ふ.ける、け.する
4 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “purification”

WordReadingMeaning
せいせい seiseirefining; purification
じゅんか junkapurification; refining
きよめ kiyomepurification
はらい haraipurification; exorcism
おはらい oharaiexorcism rite; purification

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
せんじょう senjouwashing; cleansing; cleaning
じょうすい jousuiclean water; purified water
せいじょう seijoupure; clean; purity
ふじょう fujouunclean; dirty; impure
じょうどしんしゅう joudoshinshuuJōdo Shinshū (offshoot of the Jōdo sect); True Pure Land School
ぶんか bunkaculture; civilization; civilisation
へんか henkachange; variation; alteration
きょうか kyoukastrengthening; intensifying; reinforcement

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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