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What is the most complex kanji (in terms of number of strokes), whether or not
it's actually used often?
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2012-04-25T17:56:27.013
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kanji names stroke-count
Which kanji has the greatest number of strokes?
That really depends what you mean by "kanji". Remember that kanji are derived
from Chinese characters of which there are not a defined number.

The 常用 (general use) kanji set is the one prescribed for education in schools
and treated as a "safe" list to use in newspapers and other publications. The
常用 kanji with the most strokes is currently
[鬱](http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E9%AC%B1) (as noted by atlantiza), with 29
strokes. However according to the usage stats given by KanjiDic2 it is not one
of the 2500 most used kanji in newspapers, so while it's taught in school it
would be likely be considered as a "tricky" kanji.

The 常用 kanji that **does** feature in the 2500 most-used by newspapers is
[鑑](http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E9%91%91), which KanjiDic2 places at the
1391st most commonly used kanji in newspapers, basically meaning all literate
Japanese will know it.

Outside of general use it's a lot less difficult to define, as there are many
classical kanji that very few people would know today, so the "one with the
most strokes" really just depends on how much you want to search. For example,
in KanjiDic2 it appears to be [䯂](http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E4%AF%82),
with 34 strokes. This is not a widely-used kanji and much less likely to be
recognised by the average person.
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2012-04-25T18:03:18.050
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For common (常用) kanji, I think 鬱 has the most strokes - 29. It is probably not
as common as 鑑, but it's not exactly rare either. It's used in 憂鬱【ゆううつ】
(depression, the way you feel after writing that kanji) and a lot of other
emotion-filled words.

And for archaic ones, I've also heard that 䯂 has the most strokes - 34. It's
so uncommon these days though that it's not even in my online dictionary.
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2012-04-25T18:23:42.983
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鸞 ラン. That's a character with 30 strokes, but I think there's bigger...
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2014-08-10T08:45:46.687
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The _kanji_ of the _koseki_ register, i.e. _kanji_ that were registered as
part of a name, are publicly accessible
[here](http://kosekimoji.moj.go.jp/kosekimojidb/mjko/PeopleTop).

Here is a list of the _kanji_ by stroke count that are registered as part of
someone's name. I can't say how often they are used, but at least they are not
all just a figment of someone's imagination (or if they were, they at least
managed to get them officially registered).

I list the stroke count (`X`画) and separated them by _kun'yomi_ (all _kanji_
with 30 or more strokes) and _on'yomi_ (all _kanji_ with 40 or more strokes).
There are many _kanji_ with _on'yomi_ only, and many of these were probably
registered as part of a name from a naturalized foreigner with _kanji_ name.

* * *

# 音読み

`テツ、テチ  
[![テツ、テチ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bng6u.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bng6u.png)  
64画  
` `セイ  
[![セイ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/20sZz.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/20sZz.png)  
64画` `ホウ、ビョウ  
[![ホウ、ビョウ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/W5y2m.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/W5y2m.png)  
52画` `ドウ  
[![ドウ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bv5Bd.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bv5Bd.png)  
48画` `トウ  
[![トウ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/HnMHc.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/HnMHc.png)  
48画` `トウ、ドウ  
[![トウ、ドウ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7eUZw.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7eUZw.png)  
48画` `フウ  
[![フウ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xMF5T.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xMF5T.png)  
46画` `オウ  
[![オウ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rMEPX.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rMEPX.png)  
45画` `コツ (風忽)  
[![コツ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JGEgR.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JGEgR.png)  
44画` `セイ (性)  
[![セイ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/P9yUd.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/P9yUd.png)  
44画` `ジン  
[![ジン](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ocp6d.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ocp6d.png)  
43画` `ユウ、ユ  
[![ユウ、ユ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uXX0Y.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uXX0Y.png)  
43画` `ウツ、ウチ  
[![ウツ、ウチ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6k3Cq.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6k3Cq.png)  
41画` `タイ  
[![タイ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/EWQSh.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/EWQSh.png)  
40画` `シ  
[![シ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/LWBbd.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/LWBbd.png)  
40画` `ライ  
[![ライ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/g5zFx.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/g5zFx.png)  
40画`

* * *

# 訓読み

`いわくら  
[![いわくら](https://i.stack.imgur.com/EBw8b.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/EBw8b.png)  
53画` `ソ、ゾ、あらい  
[![ソ、ゾ、あらい](https://i.stack.imgur.com/EgAvU.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/EgAvU.png)  
33画` `はためく  
[![はためく](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Uq2Qa.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Uq2Qa.png)  
33画` `あら  
[![あら](https://i.stack.imgur.com/deCKb.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/deCKb.png)  
32画` `おおたか  
[![おおたか](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hj05P.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hj05P.png)  
31画` `しじくへ  
[![しじくへ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/55yRI.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/55yRI.png)  
31画` `くくわけなく  
[![くくわけなく](https://i.stack.imgur.com/O8s5e.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/O8s5e.png)  
30画` `すばしり  
[![すばしり](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pQpaF.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pQpaF.png)  
30画` `カク、つる (鶴)  
[![カク、つる](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8ZxTT.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8ZxTT.png)  
30画` `ぼら  
[![ぼら](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8gyWW.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8gyWW.png)  
30画` `やがら  
[![やがら](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ain08.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ain08.png)  
30画`
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䨺 Taito たいと The appearance of a dragon in flight.
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