Japanese symbol for “strafing”

掃射

そうしゃ

Romaji: sousha

sweeping with fire; mowing down; strafing

In Japanese, strafing is 掃射, read そうしゃ (sousha).

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 sweeping with fire; mowing down; strafing

Kanji and stroke order

掃

sweep, brush

on: ソウ、シュ
kun: は.く

11 strokes · JLPT 2

射

shoot, shine into, onto

on: シャ
kun: い.る、さ.す、う.つ

10 strokes · JLPT 1

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
掃除	そうじ souji	cleaning; sweeping; dusting
清掃	せいそう seisou	cleaning; clean-up; garbage collection
一掃	いっそう issou	clean sweep; purging; doing away with
掃海	そうかい soukai	sweeping the sea for mines; dragging for mines
掃討	そうとう soutou	cleaning up (enemy remnants); sweeping clean (of opponents); mopping up
注射	ちゅうしゃ chuusha	injection; jab; shot
放射能	ほうしゃのう houshanou	radioactivity
反射	はんしゃ hansha	reflection; reverberation

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.