Free Tool
Sushi Kanji Quiz — the Fish Characters on the Teacup
Walk into a traditional sushi shop and your tea arrives in a yunomi — a tall cup printed top to bottom with kanji that all share one part: 魚, the fish radical, sitting on the left. The right side hints at the fish. Even Japanese customers quiz each other on these over tea. Browse the 19 classics first, then see how many you can read — a photo and the fish's story wait behind every answer.
Tap a character to see its reading, its parts and the fish behind it. Ready? Switch to Quiz.
Advanced — the deeper cuts
The photos are AI-generated illustrations showing each fish or dish the way you'd typically meet it in Japan — species markings and presentation are kept true to life.
Want to actually read kanji like these?
Every character here is built from parts — the fish radical plus a hint. Our kanji course teaches you to read real kanji the same way, mnemonics included.
FAQ
Why do sushi restaurants print fish kanji on their teacups?
The fish-kanji yunomi is a beloved piece of sushi-shop culture: a tall teacup crowded with dozens of fish-radical characters. It started as a novelty at sushi counters and became the classic conversation piece — customers test themselves while they wait.
Can Japanese people read all of these?
Almost never all of them. Apart from 鯨 (whale, not on this quiz), none of them is taught as a standard school kanji — they are specialist characters, so menus usually write fish names in kana. That's exactly why the teacup works as a quiz — for natives too.
How does a fish kanji work?
Each character pairs the fish radical 魚 on the left with a hint on the right — sometimes a meaning (鰯 uses “weak” for the quick-spoiling sardine, 鱈 uses “snow” for the winter cod), sometimes just a sound. A few, like 鰯 and 鱈, were invented in Japan.
Are all of these really fish?
Not quite. Traditional Japanese classification grouped sea creatures by where they lived, so the fish radical also covers the abalone (鮑, a sea snail) and even the whale (鯨, a mammal — the school-kanji classic, which we leave off this quiz). The shark (鮫) is a real fish. Two of them stay in as trick questions.