Kanji quizzes for the joy of reading
How do you read 柊 in Japanese?
A tree with sharply edged leaves.
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Unfamiliar kanji? Scan and look it up.Explore the OCR & AI dictionaryHow do you read this in Japanese?
Give the native reading for the evergreen tree with sharply toothed leaves.
HINTShow hint
Written with 木 beside 冬. It is used in Setsubun decorations; the four-hiragana reading begins with hi.
More on radicals and this quiz’s stroke counts
Describe the shapes you see
You do not need to know the radical’s name. Try these searches for this quiz’s characters.
tree radical 木 beside 冬 kanji
木 and 冬 9-stroke plant name
tree with spiny leaves white flowers name beginning hi
These searches describe visual similarities, not formal radicals or character components.
柊: 9 strokes; radical 木 (tree). Visual search descriptions are distinct from dictionary radical classifications.
柊9 strokes / radical: 木 (tree)
Stroke counts and radicals follow the Japanese dictionary Kanjipedia; other dictionaries may differ.
ANSWERShow answerHide answer
The answer is
ひいらぎ
hiiragi
柊
Understand the meaning
English translationHolly osmanthus
The name of an evergreen tree with firm, sharply toothed leaves and small white flowers.
See it in a sentence
門のそばの柊に、小さな白い花が咲いていた。Small white flowers were blooming on the holly osmanthus beside the gate.
A way to remember
Read it hiiragi, with い after ひ. The combination of 木 and 冬 is a useful visual cue for remembering the character.
Sources：Kanjipedia: 柊
The explanation draws on the sources below. Examples were written for this page.
Explore the word further
Remember both the leaves and the flowers
Use it with parts of the plant, as in 柊の葉 and 柊の枝. Picture the small white flowers as well as the toothed leaves to remember it as a tree name.
例：庭を案内してもらいながら、柊の枝に咲く白い花を眺めた。
During a tour of the garden, I admired the white flowers on a holly osmanthus branch.
Do not infer the entire season from 冬
The right-hand element is 冬, but this is an evergreen tree, not a tree that has leaves only in winter. Keep the visual mnemonic separate from the description of the plant.
References for this explanation：Kanjipedia: 柊
Explanation checked on 2026-10-26. Additional examples were written by DuraRing for this page.
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