using stumble upon I've found a site that supposedly analyzed thousands of Japanese websites to get usage details on each and display the 2000 most common kanji.

I don't really know much about this website or if it's really worth anything, just thought some might want to look at is.
I bookmarked it to go after finishing RTK1 completely to see if there's anything I don't know.

Edit: well... forgot to link. meeatcookies added a link to it but just so there'll be one in the main post:
http://po-ru.com/projects/kanji-project/list/

That's interesting. Gotta check later, for those, that aren't in RTK1.

Googled it, since you forgot to link it i guess:
http://po-ru.com/projects/kanji-project/list/

[Katsuo]

The list is a bit old (from 2003) and not that big a sample ("over a million kanji"), but still, here are some comparisons with other data:

1) In 2,000 but not in new joyo kanji list (which has 2,136 kanji): 弘之曰李萌茄梢浩伊脆也龍毅濡哉幌蟻叩圭嘘喋桐阿嬉橘輔矩敦智坦欣呆覗綾翔噂掴翅篇嶋彦頷溜呟喧晋訊髭云呑薗菅噛鞄桂栗辿貰頁馴揃溢繋魁蘇撫宏嘩駿靖眩琉叶朋綺澤懺柴胡垢掻亮睨瞼歪聡椿梶瑞雀詫煽焚吾飴蘭躊躇俯幡芦陀痺蝶惚皺斐狼吊晒殆洒糞鳩曳盧滲咥燵巌鷹塵槻筈勿鯉這淀笹遥淳綴笠舐套魯檎汲廻國蒼騙賑贅悶堵鹸埃撒孕菱乃拗亨播訝霞攣蓑貶厭爺樫紐炬釧琢嘉湘痙 total 170.

2) In 2,000 but not in Heisig's books (which have 3,030 kanji altogether): 翅頷呟澤睨瞼俯皺盧咥燵舐魯贅埃拗訝攣貶釧湘痙 total 22.

The sample size seems a bit skewed because it doesn't seem to me like many of those should be in a top 2000 list. 魯? 曰? Did this sample size include a bunch of Confucian classics or something?

I would take that list with a grain of salt. As it comes from a survey of websites, you will find kanji that are used in Internet but not so much in everyday life. The best example:索 which appears very soon in the list because it can be found like 検索 = Go to, find, etc, but that you wont find it on books or other texts.

yudantaiteki Wrote:The sample size seems a bit skewed because it doesn't seem to me like many of those should be in a top 2000 list. 魯? 曰? Did this sample size include a bunch of Confucian classics or something?

I'm encountering 魯 constantly in my kanken studies, but that might just be because it's in the compound 魯魚章草 and that question comes up a lot. 魯 is quite common in modern Chinese, though that's naturally not a reason for it to be on a Japanese frequency list.

I don't think it's that unusual to come across 曰. Don't people use it quite a bit for stylistic effect, or in religious contexts?

澤is sawa... I think of sake which I think is its only real usage.

HonyakuJoshua Wrote:澤is sawa... I think of sake which I think is its only real usage.

A lot of people's names use 澤 instead of 沢: 黒澤明, 長澤まさみ, 澤山璃奈, and 相澤仁美 to name a few.

thanks I have translated names like this i hadn't realised the connection -
Is 澤 a variant of 沢 or a different kanji?

HonyakuJoshua Wrote:thanks I have translated names like this i hadn't realised the connection -
Is 澤 a variant of 沢 or a different kanji?

沢 is the simplified form of 澤. This same simplification has been used in a number of other characters:

驛->駅
譯->訳
擇->択
鐸->鈬

why is it listed above? Surely 國 of Kuniyoshi isn't listed separately?

HonyakuJoshua Wrote:why is it listed above? Surely 國 of Kuniyoshi isn't listed separately?

國 is listed above.

I think that list is wrong then.

Why is it wrong?

I don't think it can be "wrong", since it's just what it says it is -- the most common 2000 kanji on a certain subset of webpages.

The old form of 国 might have shown up because it's used in some names like 國學院 or 紀伊國屋.

Quote:I don't think it's that unusual to come across 曰. Don't people use it quite a bit for stylistic effect, or in religious contexts?

I can't say I've seen that very often but maybe I'm just not looking at the right stuff. I guess 故人曰く appears sometimes...but not too often.故人曰く

Ran into 曰 today by happenstance and this thread came to mind. It was on the 3rd page of 東京バンドワゴン by 小路幸也, which is about as far from a Confucian text as you can get:

店の壁のあちこちに貼られた古いポスターやカレンダーを捲りますと、いろんな家訓が現れます。
曰く。
＜本は収まるところに収まる＞
＜煙草の火は一時でも目を離すべからず＞
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