Kanji Enlarger – Show Kanji and Big Text on Screen (Vertical, Mincho, Textbook)

Kanji Enlarger shows big text on screen so you can check how to hand-write kanji. Textbook-style, Mincho and Gothic fonts, vertical writing and fullscreen.

Last updated: 2026-10-19

What is the Kanji Enlarger?

The Kanji Enlarger shows the characters you type as big text that fills the screen, so you can check the exact shape of a kanji before writing it by hand. When you convert a word into kanji on a computer or smartphone, characters with many strokes often look cramped and blurry at normal size, and it can be hard to tell where each line starts and ends. With this tool you can enlarge a single character up to 480 pixels, which lets you calmly examine the position of every dot and stroke, and even whether two lines touch or stay apart.

You can choose between three typefaces: a textbook style that is close to handwritten regular script, the Mincho typeface familiar from printed books and newspapers, and a Gothic typeface whose strokes all have the same thickness. You can also switch to vertical writing for occasions where Japanese is written top to bottom, such as gift envelopes and New Year greeting cards; punctuation marks and the long-vowel mark are then shown in their vertical forms. Turning on the cross guide lines, just like those printed on calligraphy practice paper, makes it easier to see the center of a character and the balance between its left and right components. Everything you type is processed only inside your browser and is never sent to a server.

How to use the Kanji Enlarger

Enter the kanji you want to check Type kanji into the input box or paste characters you have already converted. A line break starts a new line (or, in vertical writing, a new column to the left). Up to 200 characters can be displayed at once.
Choose a typeface If you want a model for handwriting, choose “Textbook style”. Choose “Mincho” to see the same shapes as in printed matter, and “Gothic” when the text needs to be readable from far away.
Choose the writing direction and guide lines If you plan to write top to bottom, switch to “Vertical”. To check the balance of a character, set the guide lines to “Cross” and lines through the center of each square will appear.
Adjust the size By default the size is set automatically to the largest that fits the width of your screen. If you clear the checkbox, you can set the size of each character with the slider.
View in fullscreen Press “Show in fullscreen” and only the characters will fill the whole screen. Click anywhere on the screen or press the Esc key to return.

Tips for getting more out of it

Characters with many strokes appear largest when you enter them one at a time. If a compound word is hard to read as a whole, try narrowing it down to a single character.
Switching back and forth between Mincho and the textbook style shows at a glance where the printed form and the handwritten form differ.
If you connect a computer to a TV or large monitor and use fullscreen, the tool can serve as a simple display board for showing characters in a classroom or meeting room.
If you are not sure whether a name uses 邊 or 邉, you can check it in the character code table below. Enter the character with the same code as in your document and it will be enlarged in exactly that form.
This tool does not show stroke order. To check the stroke order, please refer to a kanji dictionary or a school textbook as well.

When the Kanji Enlarger comes in handy

Before writing your name on a gift envelope

On Japanese gift and condolence envelopes (noshi-bukuro, のし袋) and on the paper wrapping of year-end gifts, names are usually written vertically with a brush. By enlarging your name in vertical writing and the textbook style, you can check the shape and balance of each character before you start, even when there is no room for mistakes.

Writing difficult surnames and place names by hand

For surnames that contain variant characters, such as 渡邊, 髙橋 or 齋藤, and for place names with many strokes, the small characters in a conversion list do not show the details. Enlarging them to check the number and direction of strokes helps you avoid mistakes when addressing envelopes or filling in forms.

Models for children learning kanji

Large textbook-style characters with cross guide lines let you show the center and balance of a character, just like the squares in an exercise book. You can also display them in fullscreen on a tablet and keep it nearby while copying them.

Checking character shapes as a Japanese learner

For people learning Japanese, the differences between the printed Mincho shapes and the handwritten shapes are a common source of confusion. Comparing the same character in all three typefaces shows which differences come only from the design of the typeface.

Showing text to people far away

When you want to hold up a name or a number at a counter or an event, a smartphone or tablet in fullscreen mode can serve as a sign. If readability is the priority, the Gothic typeface is the best fit.

Kanji Enlarger glossary

Textbook typeface (kyōkasho-tai, 教科書体): A typeface used in places such as Japanese primary school textbooks, designed to resemble regular script written with a brush. Because hooks, stops and sweeping strokes are shown just as in handwriting, it is well suited as a model for writing.
Mincho (明朝体): The print typeface most widely used for the body text of newspapers and books. Horizontal strokes are thin and vertical strokes are thick, and the ends of strokes carry small triangular ornaments called “uroko” (scales). Its details can differ from handwritten forms.
Gothic (ゴシック体): A typeface whose strokes have almost uniform thickness, without the scale-like ornaments or the varying weight of sweeping strokes. It is used for signs, headings and other text that must be read from a distance.
Character form and glyph shape (jitai and jikei, 字体・字形): Jitai refers to the skeleton of a character (how its dots and strokes are put together), while jikei refers to the shape you actually see. Even if Mincho and handwriting look different, characters with the same skeleton are treated as the same character form.
Variant characters (itaiji, 異体字): Kanji that share the same reading and meaning but differ in form, such as 辺, 邊 and 邉. For surnames, the form registered in the family register (koseki) is used, so distinguishing variant characters becomes important.
Cross guide lines (jūji rīdā, 十字リーダー): Vertical and horizontal guide lines through the center of each square, as printed on calligraphy practice paper. They are used to check the center of a character and how it is divided left and right, top and bottom.

Frequently asked questions

The explanatory notes on character forms attached to the official Jōyō Kanji list explain that differences between Mincho and handwritten regular script are differences of expression arising from the separate customs of print and handwriting, not differences in character form. For example, the last vertical stroke of 木 may end either with a hook or with a stop. Still, as a model for handwriting, the textbook style, which is closer to handwritten shapes, looks more natural.

This tool focuses on showing character shapes in large size and does not display stroke order. Please check the stroke order in a kanji dictionary or a school textbook. Note that the stroke order guide published by the Japanese Ministry of Education in 1958 also states that it does not intend to treat stroke orders other than those it shows as mistakes.

The “Show in fullscreen” button works in Android browsers and in most desktop browsers. In browsers that do not support fullscreen for elements within a page, such as Safari on iPhone, the button is not shown. In that case, please turn your device sideways and use the automatic “fit to screen” sizing.

No. Splitting the text into characters and calculating the size all happen inside your browser. The font data is loaded from Google Fonts, but only the information needed to fetch the font files is sent; the text you typed is never transmitted.

Characters that are not included in the selected typeface are displayed with a font on your device instead. This can happen with some kanji from JIS levels 3 and 4, and with Hangul or simplified Chinese characters.

Side Note — The bottom of 令 may be written like マ

When Japan’s new era name was announced as Reiwa (令和) in 2019, people started discussing the correct way to write the character 令. In Mincho, its lower part ends with a vertical line, yet many people write it by hand in a shape resembling the katakana マ. The brush-written 令 held up at the announcement also differed from every printed version, whether Mincho, Gothic or textbook style. In fact, neither way of writing it is wrong.

The basis for this is the explanation of character forms attached to the Jōyō Kanji list. It clearly states that, although the list uses Mincho as an example to show the skeleton of each character, it is not meant to change handwriting customs. As examples of differences such as long or short, touching or separate, sweeping or stopping, and hooked or stopped, it places the Mincho and handwritten forms of characters like 木, 来, 糸, 切, 令 and 女 side by side.

In 2016, the Japanese Language Subdivision of the Council for Cultural Affairs compiled guidelines on the character forms and glyph shapes of the Jōyō Kanji list, setting out more concretely the idea that small differences in shape should not be marked as errors, for example in school tests. What matters is not whether a stroke ends with a stop or a hook, but whether the skeleton of the character is correct.

Even so, when you write something others will see, such as a gift envelope or a certificate, you naturally want to know that your writing is not too far from the model. Try switching typefaces to suit your purpose: Mincho when you want to check the printed form, and the textbook style when you want to check the handwritten form. You will probably notice how surprisingly different the same character can look just by changing the typeface.

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