King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “underhand”

Romaji: inken
crafty; tricky; sly; wily

In Japanese, underhand is , read (inken).

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. adj-na crafty; tricky; sly; wily; treacherous; underhand
  2. adj-na sinister (look)

Kanji and stroke order

shade, yin, negative
on: イン
kun: かげ、かげ.る
11 strokes · JLPT 1
precipitous, inaccessible place, impregnable position
on: ケン
kun: けわ.しい
11 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “underhand”

WordReadingMeaning
ダーティー daatiidirty; underhand; immoral
アンダーハンド andaahandounderhand; underarm
ふめいろう fumeirouquestionable; unfair; underhand

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
いんぼう inbouplot; intrigue; scheme
ひかげ hikageshade; shadow
いんよう in'youcosmic dual forces; yin and yang; sun and moon
いんせい inseinegative (result)
こかげ kokageshade of a tree; bower
やまかげ yamakageplace in the shade of a mountain; shelter of the mountains
きけん kikendanger; peril; hazard
ほけん hokeninsurance

See also: Chinese symbol for “underhand”.

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.