The core idea: an ending records how the pen left the paper
Tome (止め) comes from tomeru, to stop. The pen reaches the end of the stroke, halts with a little pressure and lifts straight up, leaving a blunt end. Hane (はね) comes from haneru, to spring up. The pen halts, then flicks out in a new direction, leaving a small sharp hook. Harai (払い) comes from harau, to sweep away. The pen lifts while it is still moving, so the line thins to a point.
Harai comes in two directions. Hidari-harai, literally 'left sweep', runs down to the left and thins steadily. Migi-harai, literally 'right sweep', runs down to the right, swells as the brush presses, then thins out almost sideways. The diagram draws each ending large, with the pen's movement in pink.
The endings at a glance
Dots, ten (点), are sometimes listed as a fourth type, but they are short strokes that end with a stop, so they belong with tome.
| Ending | Reading | What the pen does | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 止め | tome | Stops on the paper, then lifts straight up | 口, 土, 日 |
| はね | hane | Stops, then flicks off in a new direction | 小, 手, 子 |
| 左払い | hidari-harai | Sweeps down to the left, thinning as it lifts | 人, 大, 八 |
| 右払い | migi-harai | Swells down to the right, then thins out sideways | 人, 大, 八 |
| 点 | ten | A short dot that ends with a stop | 心, 小 |
Calligraphy students traditionally practise all of these in one character, ei (永), eternity. The method is called eiji happō, literally 'the eight methods of the character ei', because its five strokes contain eight basic brush movements.
Six kanji, stroke by stroke
Here are six early kanji with every ending coloured. Ki (木) has two stops and both sweeps. Chiisai (小) starts with a flicked vertical, then adds two dots that stop. Mizu (水) shares that flicked vertical and adds three sweeps. Hito (人) and hachi (八) are nothing but sweeps, one each way. Kokoro (心) has three dots that stop and one long curve that flicks up at the end. At the kitchen table, a parent checking a child's kanji homework sounds like this.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 小の一画目、ちゃんとはねてる？ | Shō no ikkakume, chanto hanete ru? | Did you flick the first stroke of small properly? |
| 水の最後は、すっとはらうんだよ。 | Mizu no saigo wa, sutto harau n da yo. | The last stroke of water sweeps out smoothly. |
| 人の二画目は右にはらってね。 | Hito no nikakume wa migi ni haratte ne. | Sweep the second stroke of person to the right. |
| 心の点は三つとも止めるよ。 | Kokoro no ten wa mittsu tomo tomeru yo. | All three dots in heart end with a stop. |
Why a stroke ends the way it does
A flick is the pen setting off for the next stroke. The hook of 小 points up and left, toward the left dot that comes next; the hook of 心 points back toward the middle dot. The order of strokes is its own subject, covered in the separate post on stroke order rules, but it explains many endings: where the next stroke begins, the flick tends to point.
Boxes follow a neat rule. When a later stroke will close the bottom, the side stops: 口, 日 and 田 have no hooks. When the frame stays open at the bottom, its right side flicks: 月, 用, 同 and 門. Position matters too. Ki standing alone ends with a right sweep, but on the left of another part, as in hayashi (林) or mura (村), that sweep shrinks to a stop so it does not run into its neighbour. The pattern is not perfect: the hook of 手 is its last stroke, so it leads nowhere and is simply the conventional shape. In a calligraphy class, the teacher's instructions sound like this.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ここはしっかり止めてください。 | Koko wa shikkari tomete kudasai. | Stop firmly here, please. |
| 筆を止めてから、ゆっくり上げます。 | Fude o tomete kara, yukkuri agemasu. | Stop the brush, then lift it slowly. |
| はねは次の画に向かって出します。 | Hane wa tsugi no kaku ni mukatte dashimasu. | Aim the flick toward the next stroke. |
| 払いは筆を動かしながら抜きます。 | Harai wa fude o ugokashinagara nukimasu. | For a sweep, lift the brush out while it is still moving. |
| 口の二画目ははねません。 | Kuchi no nikakume wa hanemasen. | The second stroke of mouth does not flick. |
Beyond the basics: what fonts show and hide
Printed kanji are not handwriting, and each common typeface treats endings differently. Minchōtai (明朝体), literally 'Ming dynasty style', descends from Chinese woodblock printing; the small triangle where a horizontal ends, called uroko (鱗), literally 'fish scale', is a stylised echo of the brush pressing at a stop. Gothic type flattens everything into even lines with square ends, which is why a sweep on a station sign looks chopped off. Kyōkashotai (教科書体), literally 'textbook style', was designed for primary school books to show every stop, flick and sweep as a teacher would write it.
Some print shapes also differ from handwriting in ways that have nothing to do with endings. The best-known is rei (令), whose lower part prints like a squared hook but is usually handwritten like the katakana ma; both are correct. Kana have similar print and handwritten differences, which a separate post covers. A learner choosing a model to copy might ask a teacher like this.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| どのフォントを見て練習すればいいですか。 | Dono fonto o mite renshū sureba ii desu ka. | Which font should I copy when I practise? |
| 教科書体をお手本にしてください。 | Kyōkashotai o otehon ni shite kudasai. | Use the textbook font as your model. |
| 明朝体の形は、手書きとは少し違います。 | Minchōtai no katachi wa, tegaki to wa sukoshi chigaimasu. | Minchō shapes differ slightly from handwriting. |
| Font | Reading | How endings look | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 明朝体 | minchōtai | Thin horizontals, thick verticals, triangles at stops | Books, newspapers, official documents |
| ゴシック体 | goshikkutai | Even lines with square ends; sweeps and flicks flattened | Signs, screens, headings |
| 教科書体 | kyōkashotai | Every stop, flick and sweep as handwritten | Primary school textbooks and worksheets |
| 楷書体 | kaishotai | Brush-style print with visible pressure | Certificates and greeting cards |
Which differences change a character, and which do not
Some Japanese schools became known for marking a kanji wrong over a missing flick. The notes attached to the Jōyō kanji list have long said that such details are variations of handwriting, not different characters, and a 2016 guideline issued through the Agency for Cultural Affairs spelled it out: if the skeleton of the kanji is right, stop versus flick, sweep versus stop and similar details should not make it wrong. Teachers still vary, and tests such as the Kanji Kentei apply their own marking policies.
What does change a character is the skeleton: which line is longer, whether a stroke crosses or pokes through, and the angle of a stroke. In everyday kanji, almost no pair is told apart by its ending alone. A teacher returning a marked test explains the difference.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| これははねても、はねなくても正解です。 | Kore wa hanete mo, hanenakute mo seikai desu. | This is correct with or without the flick. |
| 土と士は、横線の長さが違います。 | Tsuchi to shi wa, yokosen no nagasa ga chigaimasu. | Tsuchi and shi differ in the length of the horizontals. |
| 午は、縦線が上に出ません。 | Go wa, tatesen ga ue ni demasen. | In go, noon, the vertical does not poke out at the top. |
| 線が出ているので、別の字になります。 | Sen ga dete iru node, betsu no ji ni narimasu. | The line pokes through, so it becomes a different character. |
| Kanji | Reading | What differs | Different character? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 木 | ki | Vertical ends with a stop or a flick | No, both are accepted |
| 令 | rei | Lower part as in print or like katakana ma | No, both are accepted |
| 土 / 士 | tsuchi / shi | Which horizontal is longer | Yes |
| 天 / 夫 | ten / otto | Whether the vertical pokes above the top line | Yes |
| 午 / 牛 | go / ushi | Whether the vertical pokes through the top | Yes |
| 千 / 干 | sen / kan | A slanted first stroke or a flat one | Yes |
How teachers, forms and friends talk about handwriting
The three words usually travel together as a checklist, tome hane harai, said at the start of many writing lessons. Outside school, handwriting language is mostly about neatness. Forms at banks and ward offices ask for kaisho, the careful print style, literally 'model writing', rather than joined-up script. Compliments are common and are always deflected. Tappitsu, literally 'accomplished brush', praises flowing handwriting, though people joke that it can also mean too elegant to read.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| とめ、はね、はらいに気をつけて書きましょう。 | Tome, hane, harai ni ki o tsukete kakimashō. | Let's write with care over stops, flicks and sweeps. |
| 楷書で丁寧にご記入ください。 | Kaisho de teinei ni gokinyū kudasai. | Please fill this in carefully in block print. |
| ボールペンで書いてもいいですか。 | Bōrupen de kaite mo ii desu ka. | May I write it in ballpoint pen? |
| もう少し大きく書いていただけますか。 | Mō sukoshi ōkiku kaite itadakemasu ka. | Could you write a little larger? |
| 字がきれいですね。 | Ji ga kirei desu ne. | Your handwriting is lovely. |
| いえいえ、まだまだです。 | Ie ie, mada mada desu. | Oh no, I still have a long way to go. |
| 達筆ですね。 | Tappitsu desu ne. | What beautiful handwriting. |
| 字が汚くてすみません。 | Ji ga kitanakute sumimasen. | Sorry about my messy handwriting. |
| 読みやすい字ですね。 | Yomiyasui ji desu ne. | Your writing is easy to read. |
Common mistakes with stroke endings
Copying the screen. Learners who study from phones copy gothic type, so every sweep ends in a blunt square and every flick disappears. Look up kanji in a textbook font, which many dictionary apps and some operating systems offer, and copy that.
Hooking every vertical. After learning 小 and 月, learners add flicks to 口 and 日. Remember the box rule: if a later stroke closes the bottom, the side stops.
Stopping before a sweep. Slowing down to be careful, learners halt at the end of a harai and leave a blob. A sweep needs speed: keep the pen moving and lift as it travels.
Flicking the wrong way. Beginners sometimes hook 小 or 水 to the right. The flick points toward the next stroke, which in both kanji starts on the left.
Worrying about endings and ignoring lengths. The fuss over flicks makes learners check endings and miss what matters more: a 土 with the top line longest is read as 士. Check lengths and crossings first, endings second.