KanjiPadKanji for the days of the week
Every Japanese weekday is built the same way: one element kanji followed by 曜日 (yōbi, “day of the week”). Learn the seven element characters — 月 火 水 木 金 土 日 — and you have the whole week. Tap any of them for animated stroke order, readings and words.
The seven days
Why moon, fire, water…
The sequence is not arbitrary: it follows the moon, the five classical planets and the sun. 火 is Mars, the fire star; 水 is Mercury, the water star; 木 is Jupiter, the wood star; 金 is Venus, the gold star; 土 is Saturn, the earth star. It is the same seven-day, seven-body naming that gave English Sunday, Monday and Saturday — which is why 日曜日 (sun day) and 月曜日 (moon day) line up exactly with Sunday and Monday.
Practice 月 火 水 木 金 土 日 with brush strokes and spaced repetition in the app.