Strength in Japanese is 力, read chikara. Two strokes, the fewest of any character on this site, and it means power you can apply: muscle, force, capability. When you mean strength as a quality of a person rather than a force they exert, the word is 強さ (tsuyosa), built on the adjective 強い (tsuyoi, strong).
Strength in Japanese
Strength in Japanese is 力 (chikara), a two-stroke kanji read ryoku or riki inside compounds. It covers physical power and ability in general, as in 体力 (tairyoku, stamina) and 実力 (jitsuryoku, real ability). For strength as a personal quality, Japanese uses 強さ (tsuyosa), the noun form of 強い (tsuyoi, strong).
That split is the thing to get right. 力 is a resource: something you have, spend, lend, or run out of. 強さ is a description: what someone is. “She showed great strength” in the sense of character is 強さ. “Use your strength” in the sense of muscle is 力.
The Kanji for Strength: 力
- Character: 力
- On’yomi: リョク (ryoku), リキ (riki)
- Kun’yomi: ちから (chikara)
- Stroke count: 2
- General meaning: strength, power, force, capability
- Radical: 力 is itself radical number 19, and it appears inside 動 (to move), 助 (to help), 加 (to add), 努 (to strive), and 男 (man, written as field plus strength)
Japanese Symbol for Strength
The Japanese symbol for strength is a pictograph, and scholars disagree about what it originally drew. One reading takes it as a plough: the tool that demanded the most physical effort in ancient agricultural life, strength being the force a body puts into the ground to make it give food back. The other reading takes it as a flexed arm, the curve at the top being the bunched muscle and the base being the hand. Both interpretations appear in serious reference works, and neither has settled the question.
Either way the character is about applied force rather than stored power. That is why 力 slots so naturally into 男: a field, 田, with 力 beneath it, the strength put into working the land.
Visually 力 is a corner and a slash. The first stroke turns hard and hooks; the second cuts down through it. There is nothing decorative in it at all, which is why it looks so decisive brushed at size and so flimsy when the proportions are off.
How to Write Strength in Japanese
Two strokes. Begin the first at the upper left, run a short horizontal to the right, then turn the corner and bring the stroke down and to the left in one continuous motion, finishing with a small hook. Do not lift the brush at the corner. It is one stroke with a bend in it.
The second stroke starts high on the horizontal, near where the first stroke began, and falls down and to the left, crossing the body of the first and finishing lower than it. That crossing point and the length of the hook are the entire design. Shift either and the character starts to read as the katakana カ instead.
How to Say Strength in Japanese
Chikara is three even beats: “chee-ka-ra.” No syllable takes a heavy stress, which is the main thing English speakers get wrong; hammering the middle makes it sound foreign. Ryoku is “ryoh-koo,” with the ry as one sound rather than two. Riki is “ree-kee.” Tsuyosa is “tsoo-yo-sa,” with the opening ts said together as in “cats.”
Some ordinary sentences:
- 力が強いですね。(Chikara ga tsuyoi desu ne.) You are strong, aren’t you.
- 力を貸してください。(Chikara wo kashite kudasai.) Please lend me a hand.
- 全力を尽くします。(Zenryoku wo tsukushimasu.) I will give it everything I have.
- 努力は必ず報われる。(Doryoku wa kanarazu mukuwareru.) Effort is always rewarded.
- 彼は体力があります。(Kare wa tairyoku ga arimasu.) He has plenty of stamina.
Words and Compounds With 力
力 is one of the most productive characters in the language. It sits at the end of hundreds of words, turning almost any noun into a capacity for something.
| Word | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 努力 | doryoku | effort, sustained hard work |
| 体力 | tairyoku | physical stamina |
| 実力 | jitsuryoku | genuine ability |
| 能力 | nouryoku | ability, capacity |
| 協力 | kyouryoku | cooperation |
| 全力 | zenryoku | full power, everything you have |
| 魅力 | miryoku | charm, appeal |
| 力士 | rikishi | sumo wrestler, literally “strength person” |
Note how far the meaning travels. 想像力 (souzouryoku) is imagination. 学力 (gakuryoku) is academic ability. 魅力 is the power to attract. When a Japanese speaker says someone has 力, what kind of strength they mean depends entirely on the word in front of it.
The two on’yomi split roughly by age. リキ (riki) survives in older and more physical vocabulary, including 力士 and 怪力 (kairiki, superhuman strength). リョク (ryoku) does the work in the modern general stock.
What 力 does not carry is endurance, the strength of bearing something. Japanese has better words for that: 我慢 (gaman), the quiet bearing of hardship, and 忍耐 (nintai), patient endurance. If the idea is surviving something rather than overcoming it, gaman is the concept you are reaching for. For strength as sustained effort, see ganbaru.
Strength in Japanese Culture
Walk into an old Shinto shrine and you may find a large smooth boulder sitting near the path with characters carved into it. That is a 力石 (chikara-ishi), a strength stone. Villagers lifted them to train, to compete at festivals, and to settle who was strongest, a practice recorded in Japan from at least the eighth century. A survey in 2005 counted roughly 14,000 of them still standing at shrines around the country, and around 300 carry Important Cultural Asset status.
The rules varied by place: lift to the chest, hoist overhead, carry it on the shoulders, walk with it. Some stones are inscribed with the name of the man who lifted them and the weight he managed. The same instinct runs through sumo, where the wrestler himself is a 力士, a strength person, and the sport is still tied to shrine ritual.
As a Tattoo
Two strokes is the appeal and the risk. 力 is bold, fast, and unmistakably confident under a brush, and it survives any placement or size. It is also the closest thing to a minimalist kanji, so the execution has to be good. There is nowhere to hide a wobbly line.
It looks almost exactly like the katakana カ (ka). This is the single most important thing to know about tattooing 力. In most fonts the two are near twins: the kanji is slightly wider with a longer, more curved left-falling stroke, and the katakana is narrower and more upright. Japanese readers tell them apart from context, not shape, and a standalone character on an arm has no context. Expect some viewers to read your tattoo as the syllable ka. A calligraphic brush rendering, where the kanji’s sweep is exaggerated, reduces the ambiguity more than a printed font does.
Consider 強 instead. 強 (kyou, tsuyoi, 11 strokes) means strong, and the noun 強さ (tsuyosa) means strength as a quality rather than a force. It has no look-alike problem and it reads as “strong” in a personal sense. Where 力 is power available, 強 is being strong.
Skip improvised pairings. 力 is a suffix in hundreds of real words, so any second character you add creates a dictionary entry, not a phrase of your own.
The character is written the same in Japanese and Chinese. Confirm with a native speaker before you ink.
Compare 力 and 強 side by side in the Japanese Tattoo Generator, and read the wider symbolism in our guide to japanese tattoo meanings.
Related Kanji
FAQ
How do you say strength in Japanese?
Strength in Japanese is 力 (chikara), pronounced “chee-ka-ra” with three even beats and no stressed syllable. Inside compound words the same character reads ryoku or riki. For strength meaning a person’s inner quality rather than physical force, use 強さ (tsuyosa).
What is the kanji for strength?
The kanji for strength is 力, two strokes, radical number 19. Its on’yomi are ryoku and riki, its kun’yomi is chikara. It appears in 努力 (doryoku, effort), 体力 (tairyoku, stamina), 実力 (jitsuryoku, real ability), and 力士 (rikishi, sumo wrestler).
What is the difference between chikara and tsuyosa?
力 (chikara) is power as a resource: something you have, use, lend, or exhaust. 強さ (tsuyosa) is strength as a quality, the noun made from 強い (tsuyoi, strong). Describing someone’s character, Japanese reaches for 強さ. Describing muscle or applied force, it reaches for 力.
Why does 力 look like the katakana カ?
Because they are nearly identical in shape. The kanji 力 is a little wider with a longer curving stroke, while katakana カ is narrower and more upright. Readers separate them by context rather than form, so an isolated character with nothing around it can honestly be read either way.
Should I use 力 or 強 for a strength tattoo?
力 is power or force, the resource. 強 (tsuyoi) is being strong, and 強さ (tsuyosa) is strength as a personal quality. If you mean resilience or the strength to endure, 我慢 (gaman) or 忍耐 (nintai) is closer still. Pick the one that matches what you actually mean.
Is 力 the same character in Chinese?
Yes, 力 is written identically in Japanese, simplified Chinese, and traditional Chinese, and it carries the same core meaning of strength or power in all three. The Mandarin reading is lì.