Kanji quizzes for the joy of reading
How do you read 土筆 in Japanese?
Little brushes rising from spring soil.
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Unfamiliar kanji? Scan and look it up.Explore the OCR & AI dictionaryHow do you read this in Japanese?
Think of your answer before you look.
HINTShow hint
A brown spring shoot with a brush-like tip, belonging to the horsetail plant.
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.
土 and 筆 plant reading
bamboo radical above 聿 with 土
two kanji for a brown spring shoot
These searches describe visual similarities, not formal radicals or character components.
土 has 3 strokes and the radical 土 (earth). 筆 has 12 strokes and the radical 竹 (bamboo). Radicals are dictionary classifications. The shape-based search phrases below provide other lookup clues.
土3 strokes / radical: 土 (earth)
筆12 strokes / radical: 竹 (bamboo)
Stroke counts and radicals follow the Japanese dictionary Kanjipedia; other dictionaries may differ.
ANSWERShow answerHide answer
The answer is
つくし
tsukushi
土筆
Understand the meaning
English translationHorsetail shoot
The fertile, spore-bearing shoot of field horsetail, emerging in early spring with a brown head and a jointed stem.
See it in a sentence
散歩道の草の間に、土筆を見つけた。I found horsetail shoots among the grass beside the path.
A way to remember
Read it tsukushi. Picture the brush-shaped shoot emerging from the soil.
Sources：Kanjipedia: 土筆
The explanation draws on the sources below. Examples were written for this page.
Explore the word further
Using 土筆
土筆が顔を出す and 土筆を見つける suit a scene of finding small shoots in spring. They draw the reader’s eye toward the ground.
例：土手を歩いていたら、枯れ草の間に土筆を見つけた。
Walking along the bank, I found a horsetail shoot among the dry grass.
Reading and meaning in context
Despite the characters for soil and brush, this is not a writing tool. It names the spore-bearing shoot of horsetail and is read つくし.
References for this explanation：Kanjipedia: 土筆
Explanation checked on 2026-10-23. Additional examples were written by DuraRing for this page.
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