筆順 · the 1958 rules, read as composition
The rules of stroke order
Japanese schools teach stroke order from a short list: two broad principles and eight narrower ones, set out by the Ministry of Education in 1958. Each rule below is animated from KanjiVG, with its exceptions. Alongside the rule we ask a second question: what does the rule do to the way the character is put together?
The source is 筆順指導の手びき (Ministry of Education, 1958). It says plainly that it fixes one order per character for teaching, and that other customary orders are not thereby wrong; it also notes that semi-cursive (行書) may differ. The rules give few reasons. The “what it does” notes on this page are our reading, checked stroke by stroke against the KanjiVG files and counted over all 2,136 jōyō kanji.
On this page
- Principle A · Top to bottom
- Principle B · Left to right
- Rule 1 · Horizontal before vertical
- Rule 2 · Horizontal after vertical — 田 and 王
- Rule 3 · Center first
- Rule 4 · Outside first — frame, fill, close
- Rule 5 · Left-falling before right-falling
- Rule 6 · A vertical that pierces the whole is last
- Rule 7 · A horizontal that pierces the whole is last
- Rule 8 · Horizontal and left-falling — 右 and 左
- Beyond the rules: enclosing bases first or last
- Beyond the rules: left-falling first or later
- More than one accepted order
- What the order does — counted over the jōyō list
Each plate draws itself in writing order. Click a plate to replay. Gray digits are KanjiVG’s own stroke numbers. With reduced motion the finished character stays still.
Write the upper part before the lower part.
What it does to the composition
The pen builds downward, so each new part is placed under something already on the page. In 喜 the three stacked tiers (士 s1–3, 口 s4–6, then the lower block) are realized as three consecutive runs: the vertical stacking becomes a sequence in time, tier by tier.
Write the left part before the right part.
What it does to the composition
Side-by-side parts are finished one at a time. 休 completes 亻 (s1–2) before 木 (s3–6); 湖 runs 氵, 古, 月 in order. Here order is mostly convention: the printed result would look the same if the right half came first, because the halves do not touch. Order starts to matter for the result where strokes cross or meet — the next rules.
Where a horizontal and a vertical cross, the horizontal usually comes first.
What it does to the composition
The horizontal sets the width and the height at which the cross happens; the vertical is then dropped through it and can be centred on it. In 十 (s1 ㇐, s2 ㇑) and 木 the cross is laid down horizontal-first, then the rest hangs from it.
The exception to Rule 1: in 田, 王 and the characters built on them, the vertical comes before the later horizontals.
Exceptions
What it does to the composition
In 田 the frame is drawn (s1–2), then the inner vertical (s3), then the two horizontals (s4–5) that close it. In 王 the vertical (s2) comes after the top bar but before the middle and bottom bars. The bottom horizontal acts as a base that closes the form, so it waits for the stem. KanjiVG also ships alternative files that show how fragile this is: 王 has a “vertical last” variant, and 至, which the 1958 guide kept under Rule 1, has a “vertical first” variant.
When there is a center with one or two strokes on each side, write the center first.
Exceptions
What it does to the composition
The center fixes the axis; the wings are then placed as a mirror pair against it. 小 and 水 open with the central hook (s1 ㇚). The exceptions are telling: in 火 the two small side strokes come first (s1 ㇔, s2 ㇒) and the large central pair last, and the heart radical 忄 in 快 writes both dots before its stem.
An enclosing frame like 囗 is written before its contents.
What it does to the composition
This is the clearest place where order and shape part ways. 国 is one box in space but two moments in time: the frame opens (s1–2), the contents go in (王 s3–6, the dot s7), and only then does the bottom stroke close it (s8). The frame sets the room the contents must fit; once the closing stroke is down, the inside can no longer be resized. KanjiVG marks this by splitting 囗 into two parts. The open-sided frames 匚 匸 (in 区 医) go further: top stroke, contents, then the whole ㇗ floor-and-side at the end. 門 behaves differently: it is written whole before what it holds (間, 問), since it has no floor to close.
Where a left-falling and a right-falling stroke cross or meet, the left-falling comes first.
What it does to the composition
The pair 人 (s1 ㇒, s2 ㇏) is the template. The left-falling stroke leans the form; the right-falling stroke then balances it from the other side and often ends the character with a broad sweep, as in 文 and 父.
A vertical stroke that runs through the whole character is written last.
What it does to the composition
A stroke that has to pass through everything can only be placed and sized once everything is there. 中 writes 口 (s1–3) and then drives the stem through (s4); 車 ends with s7 ㇑, 平 with s5 ㇑. The last stroke ties the parts together into one column.
A horizontal stroke that runs through the whole character is written last. Exception: 世.
Exceptions
What it does to the composition
The same logic, turned sideways. 女, 子, 母 and 舟 all end on the long horizontal that crosses the rest. 世 breaks the pattern: its long horizontal is the very first stroke.
If the horizontal is long and the left-falling stroke short, write the left-falling first; if the horizontal is short and the left-falling long, write the horizontal first.
What it does to the composition
Same parts, different order. 右 and 左 open with the same two strokes, a horizontal and a left-falling stroke, crossing near the top left. 右 writes ㇒ first (s1) and then ㇐; 左 writes ㇐ first and then ㇒. The rule ties the order to proportion: the stroke written first is the short one, and the second is drawn long across it. Swap the order and the lengths tend to come out wrong — the order is part of what makes each shape right. Over the jōyō list, 114 characters open with the stroke classes ㇒ then ㇐, and 66 open ㇐ then ㇒. The 114 is wider than the 右 pattern; the count is broken down on Same parts, different order. (Chinese school order writes 右 and 有 horizontal-first.)
The 1958 guide admits that the sweeping bases called 繞 (にょう) split two ways. In 処 起 題 勉 the base comes first and the rest sits on it; in 近 建 直 the base is laid last, under everything already written. In the jōyō list, 62 characters end on a ⻌ or 廴 written last — the floor that carries the character is the final stroke.
Another split the guide lists without a rule. 九 皮 成 及 start with the left-falling stroke; 力 刀 write the hooked turn first and the left-falling stroke after it, and 原 反 put the horizontal first. The left-falling stroke leads where it frames what follows, and waits where it hangs from something.
The guide names characters with two or more widely used orders, among them 上 必 発 馬 無. KanjiVG records several of these as separate files, so the alternatives can be played side by side. 必 is the famous case: the school order starts with the top dot (s1), then the left-falling stroke and the hook; a variant starts with the left-falling stroke and puts the dot third. Calligraphers have used still other orders.
Read together, the rules sort strokes into roles. Some strokes open a frame, some fill it, some finish it, and a few close it for good. Counting over all 2,136 jōyō kanji in KanjiVG:
| Count | Jōyō kanji that … |
|---|---|
| 32 | end by closing an enclosure frame (囗 18, 匸 7, 匚 7) — frame, fill, close, as in 国 区 医. |
| 13 / 15 | characters with a 門 frame write 門 whole before its contents; it has no floor to close. |
| 62 | end on a ⻌ or 廴 base written last (近 建 道 …). |
| 467 | end on a dot — about one in five. Finishing touches come last (犬 式 成). |
| 369 | have at least one part the pen leaves and comes back to, so one shape is written in two moments (国 五 由 必). |
| 114 / 66 | open with the stroke classes ㇒ then ㇐, versus ㇐ then ㇒. The 右 pattern is a subset of the first figure. |
Two things follow. First, the order rarely decides which character you are looking at — a 右 written in the wrong order is still read as 右. What it decides is how the character is made well: the proportions (Rule 8), which part is sized against which (Rules 4, 6, 7), and the grouping of strokes in time. Second, the order is what speed works on. In semi-cursive writing, strokes that the order puts next to each other are the ones that run together; the 1958 guide itself warns that 行書 may change the order.
Method: counts come from the KanjiVG files (writing order = path order; split parts = kvg:part; dots = stroke type ㇔), for the jōyō list used on the Gallery. They describe KanjiVG’s order, which follows Japanese school practice; individual files can differ from a given textbook. The worked trees behind the enclosure and split cases are on Strokes.
05fc5-Ten3.svg included). Rules: 筆順指導の手びき, Ministry of Education, 1958, as excerpted in Japanese Wikipedia, “筆順” and Mitsumura Tosho’s teacher notes; the 右/左 classroom experiment is from the same notes. Jōyō index: kanji-data jōyō list.