King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “unawares”

Romaji: itsunomanika
before one knows; before one becomes aware of; unnoticed; unawares

In Japanese, unawares is , read (itsunomanika).

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. adv before one knows; before one becomes aware of; unnoticed; unawares

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

interval, space
on: カン、ケン
kun: あいだ、ま、あい
12 strokes · JLPT 4

Other Japanese words for “unawares”

WordReadingMeaning
めいめいのうち meimeinouchiunawares; before one is aware
いつしか itsushikabefore one knows; unnoticed; unawares
しらずしらず shirazushirazuunconsciously; without knowing it; unwittingly
いつかしら itsukashirabefore one knows; before one becomes aware of; unnoticed
いつのまにやら itsunomaniyarabefore one knows it; without realizing; unawares

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
じかん jikantime
にんげん ningenhuman being; human; person
きかん kikanperiod; term; interval
ねんかん nenkan(period of) a year
なかま nakamacompanion; fellow; friend
まちがい machigaimistake; error; blunder

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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