The Japanese kanji for sun is 日, read hi on its own and nichi or jitsu in compounds. Four strokes, a rectangle with a single bar through the middle, descended from a pictograph of a disc with a dot at its center. It is the most frequently used kanji in written Japanese, and in most of those appearances it means “day” rather than “sun.”
The Kanji at a Glance
- Character: 日
- On’yomi: ニチ (nichi), ジツ (jitsu)
- Kun’yomi: ひ (hi), か (ka)
- Stroke count: 4
- General meaning: sun, day, date, Sunday in date contexts, and Japan itself in compounds
- Radical: 日 is itself a radical, appearing in 明 (bright), 時 (time), and 春 (spring)
Meaning and Nuance
日 is the character Japan is named after. 日本 (Nihon or Nippon) means “origin of the sun,” which is where “Land of the Rising Sun” comes from, and the same character stands in for the country in words like 日系 (nikkei, of Japanese descent).
In running text, though, 日 almost always carries the calendar sense. 毎日 (mainichi) is every day, 今日 (kyou) is today, 日曜日 (nichiyoubi) is Sunday, 元日 (ganjitsu) is New Year’s Day. The ka reading appears in counted days: 三日 (mikka) is the third, or three days.
For the sun as a body in the sky, Japanese uses 太陽 (taiyou), two characters, which is the word an astronomer or a weather report uses. 陽 (you) on its own means sunshine or the yang principle, and it is common in given names.
Real compounds:
- 日本 (Nihon): Japan, “sun origin.”
- 日の出 (hinode): sunrise. The first sunrise of the year has its own observance, hatsuhinode.
- 毎日 (mainichi): every day.
As a Tattoo
日 is the simplest character in this set to draw and the hardest to make interesting. Four strokes forming a closed rectangle read as clean and geometric, but they also read as plain, and at small sizes the enclosed space can fill in as ink settles. Give it room.
Know that it says “day.” An isolated 日 will read to most Japanese people as a date field before it reads as the sun. If the sun is the point, 太陽 (taiyou) is the unambiguous word, 陽 (you) is the graceful single character for sunlight, and 旭 (asahi, 6 strokes) means the rising sun specifically.
Mind the look-alikes. 目 (me, eye) is the same rectangle with two interior bars instead of one, and 白 (shiro, white) is 日 with a short stroke added on top. One extra line changes the word entirely, so make sure your artist works from a clean reference rather than tracing freehand.
One cultural caution. The rising sun ray motif, 旭日旗 (kyokujitsuki), is the wartime military flag and remains genuinely offensive in Korea and parts of China. A plain 日 or 太陽 carries none of that, but a sun with radiating rays does.
The character is written identically in Japanese and Chinese. Confirm with a native speaker before you ink.
Preview 日, 陽, and 太陽 in the Japanese Tattoo Generator, and read the broader symbolism in our guide to japanese tattoo meanings.
Related Kanji
FAQ
What is the kanji for sun?
The kanji for sun is 日, read hi alone and nichi or jitsu in compounds. It has four strokes. For the sun as a celestial body, Japanese normally uses 太陽 (taiyou).
What is the difference between 日 and 太陽?
日 is the character for sun but usually functions as “day” or “date” in ordinary text. 太陽 (taiyou) is the specific noun for the sun in the sky and is never mistaken for a calendar term.
Why does 日 mean Japan?
日本 (Nihon) means “origin of the sun,” a name given from the perspective of the Asian mainland, where Japan lies to the east. The English phrase “Land of the Rising Sun” translates that idea.
What kanji means rising sun?
旭 (asahi) means the morning or rising sun and is a common given name. 日の出 (hinode) is the event of sunrise. The rayed rising sun flag, 旭日旗, carries wartime associations and is best avoided as a design.