The RtK list of kanji.

Index » RtK Volume 1

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Reply #1 - 2008 October 25, 7:21 am
Tobberoth Member
From: Sweden Registered: 2008-08-25 Posts: 3364

I always had the impression that RTK1 was supposed to teach all the 常用漢字 (jouyou kanji), but looking up the kanji 杏, I noticed that it's not 常用, it's 人名用 (jinmeiyou).

Would anyone know why he's adding 人名用 in RtK1, I thought that was the point of RtK3? It's not like 杏 is so useful that it should be added despite not being 常用, so I think it's kind of odd.

Reply #2 - 2008 October 25, 7:58 am
nac_est Member
From: Italy Registered: 2006-12-12 Posts: 617 Website

As far as I know it covers all the 常用漢字 (except 1, maybe), and that makes for 1944 characters. The rest are 人名用漢字 or are just more or less useful kanji that were left out of the 常用 list for no apparent reason.

Last edited by nac_est (2008 October 25, 8:07 am)

Reply #3 - 2008 October 25, 8:49 am
phauna Member
From: Tokyo Registered: 2007-12-25 Posts: 500 Website

Some kanji are also added because they are the radicals for some of the jouyou.

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Reply #4 - 2008 October 26, 5:34 am
Raichu Member
From: Australia Registered: 2005-10-27 Posts: 249 Website

I remember reading in the preface that he adds many of the 人名用漢字. I think that's because you should know them since they do occur in names.

Reply #5 - 2008 October 26, 6:38 am
Tobberoth Member
From: Sweden Registered: 2008-08-25 Posts: 3364

Raichu wrote:

I remember reading in the preface that he adds many of the 人名用漢字. I think that's because you should know them since they do occur in names.

From what I remembered, he said in the preface that RTK1 was just 常用 and that RtK2 would teach you the readings, then RtK 3 would teach you the 人名用... I mean there can't be that many 人名用 in RtK1 since the 常用 kanji are 1945 while there are 2045 or so kanji in RtK1. Makes sense that he would include 人名用 which are used as radicals in 常用 kanji though.

Reply #6 - 2008 October 26, 11:34 am
phoenix Member
Registered: 2006-10-08 Posts: 32

I wish he had added some Outside of jouyou kanji in RTK1, like 誰、and 俺. They might not be jouyou, but they're definitely very common.

Reply #7 - 2008 October 26, 1:50 pm
annabel398 Member
From: Austin TX Registered: 2008-08-04 Posts: 80

From the introduction, p. 4 (fourth edition):

James W. Heisig wrote:

The 2,042 characters chosen for study in these pages (given in the order of presentation in Index I and arranged according to the number of strokes in Index III) include the basic 1,850 general-use kanji established as standard by the Japanese Ministry of Education in 1946, roughly another 60 used chiefly in proper names, and a handful of characters that are convenient for use as primitive elements.

Last edited by annabel398 (2008 October 26, 1:51 pm)

Reply #8 - 2008 November 13, 10:57 am
furrykef Member
From: Oklahoma City Registered: 2008-06-24 Posts: 191

nac_est wrote:

As far as I know it covers all the 常用漢字 (except 1, maybe)

According to Jim Breen's KANJIDIC, 璽 is in the Jōyō set and not in Heisig (not even in RTK3, I think). It seems to be pretty rare, though, and it's the only Jōyō one he "missed"; all the others are in RTK1.

Incidentally, the 1850 characters mentioned in the previous post is the Tōyō set, not the Jōyō set. Interesting that he aimed for the Tōyō set and ended up with the entire Jōyō set except for one.

phoenix wrote:

I wish he had added some Outside of jouyou kanji in RTK1, like 誰、and 俺. They might not be jouyou, but they're definitely very common.

Agreed. Even I'm familiar with those two. Very curious that he has some much rarer non-Jōyō kanji in the book. On the upside, I'm sure anybody who has mastered RTK1 will also learn those two kanji very quickly.

- Kef

Reply #9 - 2008 November 13, 11:38 am
Dustin_Calgary Member
From: Canada Registered: 2008-11-11 Posts: 428

furrykef wrote:

Incidentally, the 1850 characters mentioned in the previous post is the Tōyō set, not the Jōyō set. Interesting that he aimed for the Tōyō set and ended up with the entire Jōyō set except for one.

- Kef

Interesting how that happened..  I was wondering as little when I was doing my reading the difference between the 1850 Touyou set and the Jouyou Kanji we know now. Now I know

Thanks Kef

~Dustin

Reply #10 - 2008 November 13, 12:19 pm
hknamida Member
From: Sweden Registered: 2007-08-16 Posts: 222 Website

furrykef wrote:

According to Jim Breen's KANJIDIC, 璽 is in the Jōyō set and not in Heisig (not even in RTK3, I think).

I'm pretty sure 璽 is in one of Heisig's books, as "Imperial seal" or something to that effect.

Edit: I checked. It's number 2075 in RtK3.

Last edited by hknamida (2008 November 13, 12:20 pm)

Reply #11 - 2008 November 15, 12:47 pm
furrykef Member
From: Oklahoma City Registered: 2008-06-24 Posts: 191

My mistake. The rest of my post still stands, though.

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