A distilled, offline-first kanji database with zero dependencies. Instant access to 13,000+ kanji and vocabulary via build-time sharding and lazy evaluation.
A distilled, offline-first kanji database for Node.js with zero dependencies. Provides instant access to 13,000+ kanji characters and vocabulary, optimized with lazy-loading shards for memory-constrained serverless environments.
⚡️ Production Use: This library is used to assist in compiling the comprehensive kanji data for Jepang.org.
Typically, accessing a comprehensive Japanese dictionary offline means parsing a massive 100MB+ JSON file.
node-gyp) that cause cross-platform installation errors.kanji-data solves the memory problem using build-time data sharding and lazy evaluation.
Instead of shipping one massive file, the database is pre-compiled into tiny optimized chunks. Core metadata is loaded instantly, while massive vocabulary lists are split by Unicode hex-prefix and only loaded into memory (~1MB at a time) exactly when requested.
.d.ts type definitions included.npm install kanji-data
const kanji = require('kanji-data');
// 1. Get core kanji metadata (meanings, readings, stroke count, etc.)
const neko = kanji.get('猫');
console.log(neko.meanings); // ['cat']
console.log(neko.kun_readings); // ['ねこ']
console.log(neko.jlpt); // 3
console.log(neko.stroke_count); // 11
// 2. Fetch vocabulary containing a specific kanji
// (lazily loads the required ~1MB vocabulary shard on first call)
const nekoWords = kanji.getWords('猫');
console.log(nekoWords[0]);
/*
{
"variants": [
{ "written": "猫", "pronounced": "ねこ", "priorities": ["spec1"] }
],
"meanings": [
{ "glosses": ["cat"] }
]
}
*/
// 3. Get lists of kanji by JLPT level (N5 to N1)
const n5Kanji = kanji.getJlpt(5);
console.log(n5Kanji); // ['一', '二', '三', '日', '月', ...]
// 4. Get lists of kanji by school grade
const grade1 = kanji.getGrade(1);
console.log(grade1); // ['一', '右', '雨', '円', '王', ...]
// 5. Get all kanji in the database
const all = kanji.getAll();
console.log(all.length); // 13108
// 6. Extract kanji from any Japanese text
const found = kanji.extractKanji('私は猫が好きです');
console.log(found); // ['私', '猫', '好']
// 7. Search by meaning or reading
const results = kanji.search('fire');
console.log(results[0].kanji); // '火'
// 8. Get a random kanji (optionally filtered)
const random = kanji.getRandom({ jlpt: 5 });
console.log(random.kanji); // (random N5 kanji)
get(character: string): KanjiMetadata | nullReturns core metadata for a given kanji character. Returns null if not found.
{
kanji: "猫",
grade: 8, // School grade (1–6, 8–9) or null
stroke_count: 11,
meanings: ["cat"],
kun_readings: ["ねこ"],
on_readings: ["ビョウ"],
name_readings: [],
jlpt: 3, // JLPT level (1–5) or null
unicode: "732B",
heisig_en: "cat", // Heisig keyword (may be null)
freq_mainichi_shinbun: 1702, // Newspaper frequency rank (may be null)
notes: []
}
getWords(character: string): Word[]Returns an array of vocabulary words that use the specified kanji. Returns [] if none found.
Uses lazy loading — the first call reads a ~1MB shard from disk and caches it. Subsequent calls in the same shard are instantaneous.
{
variants: [
{
written: "猫",
pronounced: "ねこ",
priorities: ["spec1", "ichi1"] // frequency lists (may be empty)
}
],
meanings: [
{ glosses: ["cat"] }
]
}
getJlpt(level: number): string[]Returns kanji in the specified JLPT level (1–5). Returns [] for invalid levels.
kanji.getJlpt(5); // ['一', '二', '三', ...] ← N5 (easiest)
kanji.getJlpt(1); // ['蹴', '串', '厨', ...] ← N1 (hardest)
getGrade(grade: number): string[]Returns kanji taught in the specified Japanese school grade. Returns [] for grades with no data.
| Grade | Level |
|---|---|
| 1–6 | Elementary school (教育漢字) |
| 8 | Secondary school / Jōyō kanji not in grades 1–6 |
| 9 | Jinmeiyō kanji (used in names) |
kanji.getGrade(1); // ['一', '右', '雨', ...']
kanji.getGrade(8); // ['亜', '哀', '握', ...']
getAll(): string[]Returns an array of all ~13,000 kanji characters in the database.
const allKanji = kanji.getAll();
console.log(allKanji.length); // 13108
extractKanji(text: string): string[]Extracts unique kanji characters from a string of Japanese text. Only returns characters present in the database.
kanji.extractKanji('私は猫が好きです');
// ['私', '猫', '好']
kanji.extractKanji('hello'); // []
kanji.extractKanji('ひらがなだけ'); // []
search(query: string): KanjiMetadata[]Searches for kanji by English meaning or Japanese reading. Performs case-insensitive partial matching on meanings, kun readings, and on readings.
kanji.search('cat'); // [{ kanji: '猫', meanings: ['cat'], ... }, ...]
kanji.search('ねこ'); // [{ kanji: '猫', ... }]
kanji.search('fire'); // [{ kanji: '火', ... }, ...]
getByStrokeCount(count: number): KanjiMetadata[]Returns an array of kanji with the specified stroke count. Returns [] for invalid input (zero, negative, non-integer).
kanji.getByStrokeCount(1); // [{ kanji: '一', stroke_count: 1, ... }, ...]
kanji.getByStrokeCount(11); // [{ kanji: '猫', ... }, ...]
kanji.getByStrokeCount(0); // []
getRandom(options?: { jlpt?: number, grade?: number }): KanjiMetadata | nullReturns a random kanji, optionally filtered by JLPT level and/or school grade. Returns null when no kanji match the filters.
kanji.getRandom(); // { kanji: '猫', ... } (any random kanji)
kanji.getRandom({ jlpt: 5 }); // guaranteed N5 kanji
kanji.getRandom({ grade: 1 }); // guaranteed grade 1 kanji
kanji.getRandom({ jlpt: 5, grade: 1 }); // both filters applied
kanji.getRandom({ grade: 99 }); // null (no match)
searchWords(query: string): Word[]Searches for vocabulary words by English meaning or reading across all shards. Performs case-insensitive partial matching on glosses and readings.
⚠️ Performance Note: The first call loads all word shards (~100 files) into memory. Subsequent calls are instant due to caching.
kanji.searchWords('cat'); // [{ variants: [...], meanings: [{ glosses: ['cat'] }] }, ...]
kanji.searchWords('ねこ'); // finds words with reading ねこ
kanji.searchWords('xyz'); // []
The examples/ directory contains a fully interactive console quiz that demos the package.
# Run the quiz directly (data is included!)
node examples/quiz.js
# Options
node examples/quiz.js --level=5 # N5 only (easiest, 79 kanji)
node examples/quiz.js --level=3 # N5–N3 (default, ~600 kanji)
node examples/quiz.js --rounds=20 # longer session
Each round presents a 4-option multiple-choice question — either "guess the meaning" or "which kanji matches this reading". After every answer it shows example vocabulary words loaded live from the data shards.
Found a bug or want to improve the data pipeline? PRs are welcome!
references/kanjiapi_full.jsonnpm test before submitting a PRkanji-data is an npm package authored and maintained by Septian Ganendra S. K. at Jepang.org — Indonesia's comprehensive Japanese learning platform. This package optimizes and repackages the kanjiapi.dev dataset into lazy-loading shards for production Node.js use.
📚 If you use this package in your project, we'd appreciate a link back to Jepang.org! It helps us continue maintaining and expanding this free resource for Japanese learners worldwide.
This package is licensed under the MIT License — see LICENSE for details.
The underlying dictionary data originates from kanjiapi.dev (MIT), which uses the EDICT and KANJIDIC dictionary files — the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, used in conformance with the Group's licence. JLPT level data sourced from Jonathan Waller's JLPT Resources.
FAQs
A distilled, offline-first kanji database with zero dependencies. Instant access to 13,000+ kanji and vocabulary via build-time sharding and lazy evaluation.
The npm package kanji-data receives a total of 21 weekly downloads. As such, kanji-data popularity was classified as not popular.
We found that kanji-data demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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