Old-style kanji explained
Old-style kanji (Kyūjitai) are the pre-reform glyphs based on the Kangxi Dictionary forms and were widely used in books, newspapers, and official documents through the pre-war era. After 1946, Japan introduced simplified forms (Shinjitai) via the Tōyō Kanji list, which became today’s standard shapes.
Because of historical usage and personal preferences, old forms still appear in family registers, resident records, placenames, shrine/temple names, monuments, and classical documents. Systems that assume only modern forms may fail to recognize these characters, so conversion support is often necessary.
Unicode also distinguishes certain variant glyphs using Ideographic Variation Sequences (IVS). Without IVS-capable fonts, some variants may look identical, so be mindful of visual differences versus underlying code points.
1. What does this tool do?
Converts Old Kanji (舊・學・體 etc.) into Modern Kanji, and converts Modern Kanji back into their Old forms. All processing is done locally in your browser.
2. Conversion directions
- Old → Modern: Convert traditional forms into simplified ones.
- Modern → Old: Convert simplified forms into traditional kanji. When multiple candidates exist, the first one in the dictionary is used.
3. How to use
- Select conversion direction
- Paste text in the input box
- Press “Convert”
- Copy the output
4. Dictionary size
The latest dictionary is loaded automatically and shown below.
- Old → Modern: -- characters
- Modern → Old: -- characters
- Total unique: --
5. Privacy
No data is uploaded. 100% client-side.
6. Notes
- Some rare variants (Kangxi forms) are not included.
- Modern → Old picks the most common traditional form.
- Special family-name variants are converted only if present in the dictionary.