Kanji Alchemy I: A Strategy for Reading Japanese Characters

Kanji Alchemy is a reallocation of Japanese characters with an emphasis on 490 singular characters that provide a meaningful context for learning 2136 General Use (Kanji Alchemy I), 861 Jinmei (Kanji Alchemy II) and 3463 Non General Use kanji (Kanji Alchemy III). The 490 "signature" characters cover in total 6460 kanji that are extensively cross-referenced. There are 10 chapters in total with each chapter headed by an alchemical symbol consisting of seven weeks (70 weeks in total) Each key or signature character also refers to related Jinmei and to Non General Use kanji because it functions as a chunking device representing any number of characters ranging from 2 to 14. Knowledge of hiragana and katana is required. Suitable for false beginners. Kanji Alchemy provides a structured approach for coming to terms with a challenging writing system and will make the road to Japanese literacy a great deal less cumbersome.