Full Japanese Study Deck [JLPT N5~N1 vocab/kanji + more]

A comprehensive Anki deck covering kana, vocabulary, grammar, and kanji.

Guide

Prerequisites

• Install Anki
• Download the deck: the blue "Download" button is located at the end of this description, right after the "Sample (from X notes)" section
• Remember to enable the Don’t play audio automatically setting from the deck's options.
• Consult the Anki Manual if you have other issues or questions regarding Anki

Start with the Kana subdeck (if you have not learned kana yet)

• Learn the normal Hiragana and Katakana.
• Get the gist of the extended kana. There is no need to memorize them, just get used to how kana sounds combined with other kana.

Move on to the JLPT subdeck

• Go through each JLPT N5-N1 subdeck (vocab and kanji) one by one.
• It can be considered a "core deck" as well, as it contains common/essential words and kanji used in everyday Japanese (both in real life and in anime/manga).

Learn Grammar

• As with the JLPT subdeck, go over each subdeck one at a time.
• Pair JLPT vocab with grammar for efficiency.

The other subdecks

• Use all the "reference material" subdecks for a quick search when you need to look up radicals, kana, kanji etc.
• As for the "ready-made mining material" subdecks, all cards are suspended by default (if they are not, suspend them). Over time, unsuspend and learn the ones you find useful.

Tags

• Every card/note from every subdeck is tagged with their field of application, part of speech and other miscellaneous information regarding it.
• Use those tags to find the entries you need, especially in the "ready-made mining material" subdecks.

Updating (ALWAYS KEEP BACKUPS!)

• If you are updating from a version before v2.3.0 (June 20 2025), check out this workaround!
• Otherwise, simply import the new deck over the old one with the following options set (unsuspend any suspended cards beforehand if you want to update every card):
  • "Import any learning progress" ---> Disabled
  • "Import any deck presets" ---> Disabled
  • "Merge note types" ---> Enabled
  • "Update notes" and (optional, but required if you want note type updates; you will lose custom changes if set) "Update note types" ---> "Always"

Immersion > Anki

• The hard fact is that Anki alone won't make you fluent in Japanese (or any language).
• That's why immersion needs to be the top priority. It actually teaches you how to use the language in the wild, so prioritize it above everything else.
• Anki decks should only play a supporting role, boosting your vocabulary, grammar and kanji and making all that immersion and overall experience a lot smoother and enjoyable.

Deck Contents

Kana (reference material)

• Basic kana (Hiragana & Katakana) – 142 characters with readings and audio.
• Extended kana – 230 combinations (ja, kya, gyu, etc.), including uncommon ones.

JLPT (intended for learning through spaced repetition)

• Vocabulary: 7,459 words with audio, spanning N5 to N1.
• Kanji: 2,216 kanji, categorized by JLPT level.
• Source: tanos.co.uk JLPT Resources

Grammar (intended for learning through spaced repetition & reference material)

• 644 grammar points, organized by JLPT level, with additional non-JLPT ones.
• Source: JGram

Kanji Radicals (reference material)

• 261 radicals, foundational for kanji recognition.
• Source: Takoboto's radicals list

Kana-Only Vocabulary (reference & ready-made mining material)*

• 5,555 common words written entirely in kana.

Extra Common Kanji Collection (reference & ready-made mining material)*

• 597 extra kanji, sourced from KANJIDIC.
• 30,915 words, each linked to relevant kanji from both the extra kanji collection and JLPT kanji deck.

"*" - The number of entries will always change due to dictionary updates or selection logic modifications.

Sources

This deck is compiled from and inspired by multiple projects:

• Noto Sans Japanese (SIL Open Font License Version 1.1)
• JMDICT (EDRDG License)
• KANJIDIC (EDRDG License)
• Tanaka Corpus (CC-BY 2.0 FR)
• JGram (CC BY-SA 2.0)
• tanos.co.uk (CC BY 4.0)
• ja.wiktionary.org (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0)
• jpdb (ToS)
• Takoboto

jpdb.io Notice

This Anki deck includes kanji components and mnemonics from jpdb.io. If my usage of your content violates your policies or you want your content removed from this deck, please feel free to contact me.

Build Your Own Deck

If you know how to code in TypeScript (or how to use AI) and you want to tweak this deck in any way, shape or form to fit your needs, download my deck builder with which I have made it from my GitHub repository. Follow the "Setup" section inside this file.

Also, check out the Henkan npm library if you want to convert and use dictionary entries more freely.

Report an Issue or Contribute

Contribute or report any issues here.

Additional Notes

• Audio Playback Settings:
  • If audio plays repetitively or automatically, turn on the Don’t play audio automatically setting from the deck's options.
• AWS Limitations:
  • Not all entries, particularly in the JLPT vocab subdeck, have accurate or available audio due to AWS constraints.

This deck is an independent project and is not affiliated with any contributing databases and projects.

Please read the license for more details.