Love 愛
ai1 character13 strokes
愛 (ai) means love: the feeling of holding people and living things dear and caring for them with a gentle heart.
Free practice sheet
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Meaning 意味
What 愛 means
The Japanese kanji for love, read ai.
愛 is the heart that cherishes people and living things and treats them tenderly. It also covers the love you feel for your family, your friends and your hometown.
When people write it in Japan. People write 愛 when they want a single character to express care for family and friends, or a kind and gentle heart.
Japanese children learn this kanji in 4th grade.
How to write it 書き方
Brush tips for 愛
Three things to watch
- This is a single character, so write it large in the center of the sheet. At the top, angle each dot in the cluster a little differently and keep them in a tidy group.
- Write 心 (heart) in the middle flat and wide, fitting it under the flat crown above it (wakanmuri).
- In the bottom part, keep the left sweep fairly short and stretch the final right sweep long, so it supports the whole character.
Stroke order
Follow the vermilion stroke, frame by frame.
Stroke order data: KanjiVG by Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0.
How to practice 練習
Trace first, then copy
- PrintPrint both pages at actual size, on US Letter or A4. Page 1 is the model. Page 2 is the tracing sheet.
- TraceTrace the outlines with a brush pen. Or lay thin hanshi paper over the page and trace with brush and ink.
- CopySet the model beside your paper and copy it stroke by stroke. Look at the model more than at your own paper.
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