Due to various reasons most Japanese characters (kanji) have two or more pronunciations and frequently different meanings as well. Although kanji often have a Sino-Chinese reading (on-yomi), a native Japanese reading (kun-yomi) and a reading for Japanese names (nanori), they on occasion only have one reading. This textbook is designed to highlight a range of nearly 700 characters that have one reading only.

The current Jouyou Kanji (regular-use kanji) list consists of 2136 characters so approximately one-third of these characters have a one-to-one relationship between sound and symbol. This, of course, greatly lessens the burden on memory and, if one starts learning these kanji from the beginning, considerably facilitates the whole study process.