King in Japanese

King in Japanese is 王, said ou. Four strokes, three horizontals crossed by one vertical, and it is the reduced form of Kangxi radical 96, 玉 (jade). It is one of the few common kanji with no everyday kun’yomi at all. Written in hiragana it is おう, and in katakana オウ.

King in Japanese

King in Japanese is 王, and the spoken word is ou. In conversation people usually add the honorific and say 王様 (ousama), which is what a Japanese child says about the king in a fairy tale. Plain 王 is the written and formal form, used in titles and compounds: 王国 (oukoku, kingdom), 国王 (kokuou, the king of a country).

The important thing to know first is who 王 does not describe. Japan’s monarch is never 王. He is 天皇 (tennou), which literally means heavenly sovereign, and the word is reserved for the Japanese emperor alone. Foreign emperors get a different word again, 皇帝 (koutei). Calling the Japanese emperor 王 is not a smaller compliment, it is simply wrong.

The Kanji for King: 王

• Character: 王
• On’yomi: オウ (ou)
• Kun’yomi: none in modern use, though dictionaries record the archaic おおきみ (ookimi), a great lord
• Stroke count: 4
• General meaning: king, monarch, ruler, and by extension a champion or the best in a field
• Radical: 玉 (jade), Kangxi radical 96, of which 王 is the reduced form

It is taught in the very first year of Japanese primary school and sits at JLPT N3. Almost every Japanese six-year-old can write it, which makes its reading list unusually short: you learn オウ and that is the whole story.

Japanese Symbol for King

王 is a pictogram, and the thing it pictures is a weapon.

The oldest forms draw a broad-bladed ceremonial axe seen from the front, blade downward, possibly cut from jade. An axe like that was not for chopping. It was the object a ruler held to show he could order an execution, so the picture is authority made portable. The three horizontals of the modern character are what is left of the blade and the haft after several thousand years of squaring off.

That jade connection is why 王 shares a radical with 玉 (tama, jade or a ball). The two characters differ by a single dot, and the dot is the whole difference: 玉 has it, 王 does not.

There is a trap in this worth flagging. When 王 appears on the left side of a character, it is almost never doing king work. It is the compressed form of 玉, the jade radical. 理 (ri, reason), 現 (gen, to appear), 球 (kyuu, a ball), and 珍 (mezurashii, rare) all carry it, and none of them has anything to do with kings. They are about jade, polishing, and roundness.

How to Write 王 in Japanese

Four strokes, and the order is one that catches people out, because the vertical is not last.

Write the top horizontal first, short. Then the middle horizontal, shorter still. Then the vertical, straight down the middle, crossing both. Then the bottom horizontal, the longest of the three, which sits the character down.

The proportions do the work here. The middle bar is the shortest, and it sits slightly above the true center rather than halfway. The bottom bar is the widest and must be flat. Draw all three horizontals the same length and 王 stops looking like a character and starts looking like a ladder.

Then check for the dot. If your hand adds a small stroke in the lower right, you have written 玉 (tama, jade), which is a different word.

How to Say King in Japanese

Ou is one syllable held for two beats: “oh,” with the vowel sustained rather than clipped. It is not “oo” and not the English “ow.” Think of the o in “or,” stretched. 王様 is “oh-sah-mah” with that same long first beat.

Real sentences:

• 彼は王様のように暮らしている。(Kare wa ousama no you ni kurashite iru.) He lives like a king.
• ライオンは動物の王です。(Raion wa doubutsu no ou desu.) The lion is the king of animals.
• 王子と王女の話を読みました。(Ouji to oujo no hanashi o yomimashita.) I read a story about a prince and a princess.
• 女王が国を治めていた。(Joou ga kuni o osamete ita.) A queen ruled the country.
• 将棋で王を取られた。(Shougi de ou o torareta.) My king was taken in shogi.

Words and Compounds With 王

Two of these have second lives in sport and games. 王座 is what a boxing or shogi title is called, so a champion 王座を守る, defends the throne. And 竜王 (ryuuou), dragon king, is both a promoted shogi piece and the name of one of the game’s major professional titles.

King in Japanese Culture

Japan had no native kings in the European sense, so the interesting cultural life of 王 happens on a board.

In shogi, Japanese chess, the piece English calls the king exists in two versions with identical moves. One is 王将 (oushou), the king general, written with 王. The other is 玉将 (gyokushou), the jeweled general, written with 玉, that same character minus one dot. By convention the higher ranked of the two players takes 王将 and the lower takes 玉将, and in a title match the current holder takes the king. Two pieces that behave the same on the board carry the entire hierarchy of the room.

Historically, the closest thing to a Japanese king was a warlord, and warlords were not 王 either. They were 大名 (daimyou, great name) and later 将軍 (shougun, general), a title of military command rather than royalty, served by the samurai. Japanese has a rich vocabulary of rule, and hardly any of it uses this character.

As a Tattoo

王 is a bold, legible tattoo character and it is honest about what it means. Four strokes, all straight lines, no curves and no fine detail. It is about as durable a mark as kanji offers, because there is nothing in it that can blur into something else.

Know that it is not the emperor. 王 is a king in the general, storybook, foreign, or metaphorical sense. Japan’s own monarch is 天皇 (tennou), and nobody would use 王 for him. If you want the sense of being the best at something, 王者 (ousha, champion) says that more precisely, and it is what a Japanese reader would expect on a fighter.

The look-alike is the real risk here. 玉 is 王 with one small dot added at the lower right, and it means jade, a ball, or a testicle depending on context. One careless flick of the needle changes your king into something you will spend the rest of your life explaining. Make sure your artist works from a clean typeset reference and does not embellish.

On script: 王 is written identically in Japanese, simplified Chinese, and traditional Chinese, so there is no variant form to choose between. Only the sound changes, ou in Japanese and wáng in Mandarin, where it is also an extremely common surname. A Chinese reader may well see your tattoo as somebody’s family name.

Because the character is square and symmetrical, it holds up at any size and on any flat placement: forearm, shoulder blade, chest, or the back of the hand. Keep the three horizontals at different lengths, or it loses its shape.

Confirm with a native speaker before you ink. You can preview the character in vertical and horizontal layouts with the Japanese Tattoo Generator, and read the wider background in our guide to japanese tattoo meanings.

Related Kanji

• Kanji for Person
• Kanji for Strength
• Kanji for Dragon
• Soul in Japanese

FAQ

How do you say king in Japanese?

You say ou, written 王, with the vowel held for two beats, closer to a long “oh” than to the English “owe.” In everyday speech people usually attach the honorific and say 王様 (ousama). For a queen, say 女王 (joou), and for a prince and princess, 王子 (ouji) and 王女 (oujo).

What is the kanji for king?

The kanji for king is 王, four strokes: three horizontal bars crossed by one vertical. It descends from a pictogram of a broad ceremonial axe, a symbol of the power to command. It is the reduced form of Kangxi radical 96, 玉 (jade), and is taught in first grade.

What is the Japanese symbol for king?

王 is the written symbol, originally a drawing of a jade ceremonial axe held blade downward. Japan itself had no kings, so the character mostly describes foreign monarchs, fairy tale rulers, and champions. On a shogi board it becomes a physical symbol: the 王将 piece, taken by the higher ranked player.

How do you write ou in Japanese?

王 is the kanji. おう is the hiragana spelling, and オウ the katakana. Note the vowel: it is written おう rather than おお, with a う extending the sound, which is the standard modern spelling for this long o. In romaji you will see it as ou, ō, or simply o.

Is 王 the same character in Chinese?

Yes. Simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, and Japanese all write it as 王, with no variant forms, and it means king in both languages. Only the sound changes, ou in Japanese and wáng in Mandarin. It is also one of the most common Chinese surnames, so a Chinese reader may read it as a family name first.

Why is the Japanese emperor not called 王?

Because Japan uses a separate and higher title, 天皇 (tennou), literally heavenly sovereign, reserved for the Japanese monarch alone. 王 describes kings in general, including foreign ones and storybook ones, while non-Japanese emperors take yet another word, 皇帝 (koutei). The distinction is fixed and not a matter of politeness.