Explore 祭 in words for festivals, ceremonial days and worship. Learn each reading with its complete word.

The idea

祭 has 11 strokes; follow the linked stroke-order diagram. 祭り is まつり, 文化祭 is ぶんかさい, 祭日 is さいじつ and 祭る is まつる. The reading depends on the word.

Patterns to compare
Japanese wordReadingMeaning
祭りまつりfestival
文化祭ぶんかさいcultural festival
祭日さいじつfestival day
祭るまつるto enshrine or worship

Examples

  • 毎年まいとし夏なつにこの町まちで祭まつりが開ひらかれます。A festival is held in this town every summer.
  • 友達ともだちと神社じんじゃの祭まつりに行いきました。I went to the shrine festival with a friend.
  • 私わたしたちの学校がっこうの文化祭ぶんかさいは来月らいげつです。Our school cultural festival is next month.
  • 博物館はくぶつかんは祭日さいじつに閉しまっています。The museum is closed on festival days.
  • その神社じんじゃは地元じもとの神かみを祭まつっています。The shrine enshrines a local deity.
  • 祭まつりのために食たべ物ものを準備じゅんびしています。We are preparing food for the festival.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

祭日 means a ceremonial or festival day; it is not a general synonym for every public holiday. 祭り is an event, while 祭る means to enshrine or worship.

Try it yourself

  1. Write the reading of 祭り in hiragana.

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    まつり

    The reading is まつり. The noun 祭り refers to a festival.

  2. Write the reading of 文化祭 in hiragana.

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    ぶんかさい

    The reading is ぶんかさい. In this compound 祭 is read さい.

  3. Choose the missing kanji: ＿日（さいじつ）［祭／察］.

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    祭

    祭 completes 祭日（さいじつ）, a ceremonial or festival day.

Use it today

Write 祭 using the diagram, then cover the table and read 祭り and 文化祭. Make a sentence about a festival.