Fish Kanji I Received at a Sushi Restaurant August 22, 2026 (Saturday) Reiwa8

While tidying up my belongings because I am going to be hospitalized, I found a sheet of paper with many kanji characters for fish.

I think I received it when my husband and I went to a sushi restaurant together, perhaps when we visited my mother, who is living in a care facility in Nara. I had kept it because I thought, "I will read these someday."

This time, I was about to throw it away. But as I looked at each kanji, I began to wonder:

"Why is this character used?"
"Who created these characters?"
"Are these Chinese characters, Japanese-made characters, or just phonetic spellings?"

So I read all 48 fish-related kanji aloud.

I do not need to memorize all of them.

But I learned that there are several interesting ways in which the names of fish and seafood have been written in kanji.

1. Fish radical + another character

The fish radical often indicates that the word is related to fish, while the character on the right may indicate the sound.

Aji (horse mackerel) - 鯵
Awabi (abalone) - 鮑
Ayu (sweetfish) - 鮎
Katsuo (bonito) - 鰹
Tai (sea bream) - 鯛
Saba (mackerel) - 鯖
Sake (salmon) - 鮭
Karei (flounder) - 鰈
Suzuki (sea bass) - 鱸
Maguro (tuna) - 鮪
Buri (yellowtail) - 鰤
Hamo (pike conger) - 鱧

The character on the right does not necessarily express the meaning of the fish's name. In many cases, it mainly helps indicate the pronunciation.

2. Characters that seem to reflect the characteristics of the fish

These are easier to remember.

Iwashi (sardine) - 鰯
Fish + weak.
Sardines are known for becoming weak quickly after being taken out of the water.

Sawara (Spanish mackerel) - 鰆
Fish + spring.
Sawara has traditionally been associated with spring.

Tara (cod) - 鱈
Fish + snow.
The white flesh of the fish can be associated with snow.

Hirame (flounder) - 鮃
Fish + flat.
The fish has a very flat body.

Hatahata - 鰰
Fish + god.
This is a Japanese-made kanji. Hatahata has traditionally been associated with thunder and divine imagery.

Shima-aji - 縞鯵
Striped + aji.
The character 縞 means stripes.

However, even when a character seems to have an obvious meaning, the actual historical origin of the character is not necessarily exactly what we imagine from its modern meaning.

3. Fish and seafood names that do not use the fish radical

A fish or seafood name does not necessarily have to use the fish radical.

Anago (conger eel) - 穴子
Akagai (ark shell) - 赤貝
Ebi (shrimp) - 海老
Ika (squid) - 烏賊
Isaki (grunt fish) - 伊佐木
Kanpachi (amberjack) - 間八
Sanma (Pacific saury) - 秋刀魚
Tachiuo (cutlassfish) - 太刀魚
Uni (sea urchin) - 雲丹
Torigai (cockle) - 鳥貝

Some of these are especially easy to understand when we look at the meaning or appearance of the characters.

海老, "sea + old," can be associated with the curved back of an elderly person.

秋刀魚 means "autumn + sword + fish," referring to its season and its long, sword-like shape.

太刀魚 means "sword + fish," because the fish is long and resembles a Japanese sword.

4. Some creatures that are not fish still use the fish radical

This is one of the most interesting things I discovered.

A whale is not a fish. It is a mammal.

Yet whale is written as:

鯨 (kujira)

with the fish radical.

People in the past did not classify animals according to modern biological taxonomy. Large creatures living in the water could be associated with fish in the writing system.

An octopus is also not a fish, but there are kanji forms using the fish radical for octopus.

So:

Fish radical does not necessarily mean "a fish" according to modern biological classification.

5. Some kanji were created in Japan

There are also kanji characters that were created in Japan to represent Japanese words and things. These are called kokuji, or Japanese-made kanji.

Examples include:

鰯 (iwashi)
鰆 (sawara)
鱈 (tara)
鰰 (hatahata)

These were not characters invented by a sushi restaurant. They developed over a long period through Japanese language and food culture.

6. What impressed me most today

At first, I thought:

"If it is the name of a fish, shouldn't it simply use the fish radical?"

But that is not how it works.

Some names use the fish radical.
Some do not.
Some use another character mainly for its sound.
Some seem to reflect the appearance or season of the fish.
Some characters were created in Japan.

So fish kanji are not simply something to memorize.

They allow us to imagine:

"How did people in the past see this fish?"

For example:

Iwashi -> weakness
Sawara -> spring
Tara -> snow
Hatahata -> god
Hirame -> flat
Sanma -> autumn + sword
Tachiuo -> sword-like shape
Shima-aji -> stripes + aji

When eating sushi, it might be fun to wonder:

"How is this fish written in kanji?"
"Why was this particular character chosen?"

A single sheet of paper that I was about to throw away while tidying up today became connected with the memory of eating sushi with my mother and husband, and unexpectedly turned into a little lesson about Japanese fish kanji.

I do not need to remember all 48 characters.

It is enough to know that:

"Fish kanji have their own stories and history."

Knowing that alone makes me glad that I kept this little piece of paper.

#FishKanji
#Sushi
#JapaneseLanguage
#Kanji
#JapaneseCulture
#FoodCulture
#FishNames
#Kokuji
#EverydayDiscoveries
#DiscoveriesWhileTidying