Japanese symbol for “rivers”
河川
かせん
Romaji: kasen
rivers
In Japanese, rivers is 河川, read かせん (kasen).
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 rivers
Kanji and stroke order
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 銀河 | ぎんが ginga | Milky Way |
| 大河 | たいが taiga | large river |
| 河原 | かわら kawara | dry riverbed; river beach |
| 運河 | うんが unga | (navigable) canal; waterway |
| 河口 | かこう kakou | mouth of river; estuary |
| 小川 | おがわ ogawa | stream; brook; creek |
| 川上 | かわかみ kawakami | upper reaches of a river; upstream |
| 谷川 | たにがわ tanigawa | mountain stream |
See also: Chinese symbol for “rivers”.
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.