Why body part vocabulary matters
Body part words appear everywhere in Japanese — not just for describing physical conditions, but in idioms, compound words, and everyday expressions. 目 (eye) appears in 注目 (attention, literally "focused eye"), 見目 (appearance), 目標 (goal, literally "eye-target"). 手 (hand) appears in 手伝う (to help), 手紙 (letter), 握手 (handshake).
Learning body part kanji is particularly efficient because each character generates many compounds you will encounter in daily reading.
Core body part kanji
頭 (atama/tou — head), 目 (me/moku — eye), 耳 (mimi/ji — ear), 口 (kuchi/kou — mouth), 鼻 (hana/bi — nose), 手 (te/shu — hand), 足 (ashi/soku — foot/leg), 体 (karada/tai — body), 心 (kokoro/shin — heart/mind), 骨 (hone/kotsu — bone), 血 (chi/ketsu — blood), 顔 (kao/gan — face), 背 (se/hai — back/height).
Several kanji have different meanings depending on context: 足 means both "foot" and "leg" (Japanese does not distinguish these as sharply as English). 心 means both "heart" (the physical organ) and "mind/spirit" — Japanese does not separate these concepts.
心 (kokoro) is one of the most philosophically important kanji in Japanese. It appears in words for emotion, intention, thought, and spirit: 心配 (worry), 心理 (psychology), 安心 (peace of mind), 心臓 (the physical heart). Understanding that Japanese places the emotional and cognitive "heart" in the same character as the physical organ reveals something fundamental about how the language conceptualises human experience.
Body parts in expressions
Japanese idioms frequently use body part vocabulary: 頭が固い (atama ga katai — stubborn, literally "hard head"), 口が軽い (kuchi ga karui — talkative/indiscreet, literally "light mouth"), 手が届く (te ga todoku — within reach), 足を引っ張る (ashi wo hipparu — to hold someone back, literally "pull their leg" — but the meaning is different from the English expression).
Explore the heart kanji
See the full page for 心 with readings, compounds, and stroke order.