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Learn Japanese with Anki
Kanji with furigana, straight from your reading. Drop in a chapter, an article or a YouTube video. Get Anki cards with the reading, the meaning and the sentence you found each word in.Upload a chapter or a video and get Anki cards in a minute.
Vocabulary cards. You can switch the card type after you sign in.
Your text
木に白い美しい花がいっぱいさきました。
Your cardJapanese
花
noun
flower
Made for learning Japanese
Furigana in plain Anki
The reading shows above the kanji in every Anki app, on computer and phone. Nothing to install.
Dictionary forms
食べた in your text becomes a card for 食べる, with your sentence in bold.
Pick your JLPT range
Beginner is about N5–N4, Intermediate N3, Advanced N2–N1.
- Learning from videos? YouTube to Anki
- Vocab lists in a notebook? Handwritten notes to Anki
Example Japanese Anki cards
Japanese
うれしい
adjective
glad, happy
木は自分のすがたがこんなに美しくなったので、うれしくてたまりません。
Japanese
飛ぶ
verb
to fly
いろいろなちょうちょうがにおいの流れてくる方へひらひらと飛んでいきました。
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How to learn Japanese with Anki
Anki works best when the cards come from Japanese you actually read and hear. A simple routine:
Start with the most common words
A core deck such as Core 2k/6k or Kaishi covers the most common words. Start with a few new cards a day and add more once the reviews feel easy.
Add the words you meet
Upload the chapter, article or video you're working on, pick your level and download one .apkg deck. Each card keeps the sentence you found the word in, so you learn how it's used, not just what it means.
Review a little every day
A few minutes a day works better than a long session once a week. Anki's scheduler shows each card again just before you'd forget it.
Typed up your grammar notes? Turn them into Anki cards
Furigana on cards you make yourself
AnkiDecks cards show the kanji alone on the front and the reading above it on the back. You can set up your own cards the same way, with nothing to install. Type the reading in square brackets right after the kanji. If other text comes first, put a space before the kanji (私は 学生[がくせい]です), or the reading lands over the wrong characters. Then, in the card template (Cards… in the editor), wrap the field in one of the filters below. {{kanji:Front}} on the front and {{furigana:Front}} on the back makes you recall the reading before you see it.
図書館[としょかん]What you type in the field{{furigana:Front}}The reading above the kanji{{kanji:Front}}The kanji only: 図書館{{kana:Front}}The reading only: としょかん
Sources (checked October 2026): Anki manual: ruby characters (furigana)
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Free is enough to try it on a few chapters or videos. Pro makes more decks, from longer files and longer videos.
Pro
For one or two classes$7.99/ month
or $54.99 a year (5 months free)
- 50 decks a month
- Up to 100 pages per file
- YouTube videos up to 25 minutes
- Your decks are made first when it's busy
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Long videos or every class? Max takes videos up to 90 minutes and unlimited decks. Compare plans · Export to Anki is never paywalled.
Questions
Should I start with Core 2k/6k or my own deck?
Use a core deck for the most common words, and add cards from what you read and watch alongside it. Those come with a sentence you've already met and the reading as furigana.
Which levels can I pick?
Beginner (about JLPT N5–N4), Intermediate (about N3) and Advanced (N2–N1). Beginner picks everyday words even from a hard text; Advanced skips them.
Can I upload a scan or a photo of a page?
Yes. Scanned PDFs and photos are read too, and every card shows which page its sentence came from.
Does it work with Japanese YouTube videos?
Yes, with videos that have captions. Each card links to the moment the word comes up. No captions? Paste the transcript.
Does it work with Anki on my phone?
Yes. You download a normal .apkg deck. It opens in Anki on a computer, AnkiMobile and AnkiDroid, with no add-ons.
Is it free?
Yes. Free makes 3 decks a month (up to 15 pages each). Pro ($7.99 a month) makes 50 decks a month (up to 100 pages each). Downloading to Anki is never paywalled.
Learning another language?
Your next Japanese chapter, ready to review
Upload it and get the cards in a minute, with the reading and the sentence for each word.
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