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For example, the kanji for "one" has a kun reading of "hito(tsu)." I looked it
up and found that it's the difference between "one" and "one thing," but how
could you have known that without specifically looking it up? I'm looking to
learn whether there is a pattern to the significance of okurigana.

Also, when are the kun readings of numerals used if you count with on
readings?
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kanji readings numbers okurigana
How to know what Okurigana signify?
Verbs and い-adjectives may be inflected with different okurigana

For example, the verb 歩く may be inflected to form:

  * polite: 歩きます

  * negative: 歩かない

  * polite negative: 歩きません

  * past tense: 歩いた

  * past polite: 歩きました

  * negative past: 歩かなかった

  * negative past polite: 歩きませんでした

  * te form: 歩いて

  * desiderative: 歩きたい

  * volitional: 歩こう

  * polite volitional (cohortative): 歩きましょう

  * plain negative volitional: 歩くまい

  * hypothetical: 歩けば

  * potential: 歩ける

  * passive: 歩かれる

  * causative: 歩かせる

  * causative passive: 歩かせられる

  * negative imperative: 歩くな

And there are still many more inflections, these are the few I recall off
hand.

* * *

They serve to disambiguate kanji with multiple readings:

  * 食べる (taberu) and 食う (kuu)

* * *

Worth noting is that for counting, what you see are **not okurigana**. They
are counter words. The change in sound is not inflection at all. It is just
simply a change in sound.

For numbers, it depends what you are counting. Different objects require
different counter words:

  * For 一 : When followed by a counter starting with a は—column syllable, いち becomes いっ and the **counter changes to a 'p' sound**

  * For 三 : When followed by a counter starting with a は—column syllable, that syllable **changes to a 'b' sound**

  * For 六 : When followed by a counter starting with a は—column syllable, ろく becomes ろっ and the **counter changes to a 'p' sound**

  * For 八 : When followed by a counter starting with a は—column syllable, はち becomes はっ and the **counter changes to a 'p' sound**

  * For 十 : When followed by a counter starting with a は—column syllable, じゅう can become either じっ or じゅっ and the **counter changes to a 'p' sound**

* * *

> Also, when are the kun readings of numerals used

This counting system is not complete. There is also the native Japanese
counting system of ひ、ふ、み、よ、いつ、む、なな、や、ここの、とお for one through ten. It does not
extend to eleven and beyond.

Its use is reflected in the use of the counter つ (generic counter for up to 10
things), the sequence is as follows:

ひとつ、ふたつ、みっつ、よっつ、いつつ、むっつ、ななつ、やっつ、ここのつ、とお

Also there is irregular counting for days (日 can be にち or か and is **not
okurigana** ):

いちにち、ふつか、みっか、よっか、いつか、むいか、なのか、ようか、ここのか、とおか
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「[一]{ひと}」 is the number while 「[一]{ひと}つ」 is the count. 「～つ」 is used as a
"generic" counter for counts less than 10 when the actual counter is unknown.

> 一つの林檎をください
>
> 一果の林檎をください
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I'm suspecting you're confusing two different things, morphological rules and
orthographic rules.

Okurigana do not have any semantic meaning per se. That would not be a logical
way to think about it. They attach to the kanji, thereby creating a word which
has a reading and a meaning.
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Your question assumes that people typically learn the kanji, for instance 歩,
and then go on to try to figure out what extra meaning the okurigana impart on
the kanji -- for instance, the addition of く creates a verb 歩く "to walk", and
the addition of いた to 歩 creates the past tense verb "walked".

This is not the typical approach.

The typical approach is to learn the **word** あるく, and learn that it is
written with the kanji 歩, and that the okurigana part is く (so it's not, say,
歩るく). And you know how to inflect the word into various tenses because of its
type (く verb) and the grammar rules you've learned for that type of word.

Looking at all your questions, I get the impression that you view Japanese as
a series of kanji (which each have many different on and kun readings that
could potentially be used) with okurigana and particles mixed in.

Instead, you should view it as a series of words divided by particles, with
some of the words being partially written using one or more kanji, and each
word being read in usually just one way which is learned when you first see
the word.

**I've never heard of people teaching or learning "how to use okurigana"** \--
they learn "how to inflect verbs and adjectives", and the fact that the kana
you use for this are called okurigana when they follow a kanji is incidental.

With regards to the example used in your original question, then, you are
asking for the meaning of the **word** created when you add the character つ to
一. In that case, if you are unfamiliar with the word, you should look up in a
dictionary (or probably a textbook since it's a simple word). You say "without
specifically looking it up", but it is unnatural to expect a **kanji**
resource to teach you the meaning of specific **words**.

The type of resource that lists kanji along with their readings and meanings
is useful for the following tasks:

  * I've never seen that kanji before. I wonder what words it's used in (that I can then look up and learn if I don't recognize them)?
  * I wonder if this kanji is read in any ways that I'm not familiar with from the words I know, and how it's read in names? How might it be read in an unfamiliar compound that isn't listed, so I can look that compound up in a dictionary?
  * I wonder what the common thread of meaning is between words that use this kanji? What is the "general meaning", "general sense" imparted by this kanji? (aids in understanding the etymology of words and keeping straight which kanji to use)
  * Am I writing the right kanji or one that looks very similar? (check meaning/readings/compounds to see if they line up with what you expect)
  * I wonder how the okurigana is broken up for this kanji? Was it o(konau), oko(nau) or okona(u)?

...things like that. Expecting the kanji dictionary to teach you the specific
meaning of specific words is a bad idea.
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