Kanji for "bear" chosen as best to characterize 2025

Kanji for "bear" chosen as best to characterize 2025

Seihan Mori, chief Buddhist priest of Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto, writes the kanji character "kuma," meaning bear, with a calligraphy brush during the annual kanji-of-the-year event on Dec. 12, 2025. The character was chosen to symbolize the national mood for the year due to frequent bear sightings and related incidents across Japan, as well as attention to the return of pandas - written with characters meaning "bear" and "cat" - to China.

  • Product Code
  • ILEA004976474
  • Registered date
  • 2025/12/12 00:00:00
  • Credit
  • Kyodo / Kyodo News Images
  • Media source
  • 2025 Kyodo News
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  • 3904 × 2806 pixel
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  • 240 dpi
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  • 1.06(MB)*
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    Kanji for "bear" chosen as best to characterize 2025

    Kanji for "bear" chosen as best to characterize 2025

    Seihan Mori, chief Buddhist priest of Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto, writes the kanji character "kuma," meaning bear, with a calligraphy brush during the annual kanji-of-the-year event on Dec. 12, 2025. The character was chosen to symbolize the national mood for the year due to frequent bear sightings and related incidents across Japan, as well as attention to the return of pandas - written with characters meaning "bear" and "cat" - to China.
      Kanji for "bear" chosen as best to characterize 2025

      Kanji for "bear" chosen as best to characterize 2025

      Seihan Mori, chief Buddhist priest of Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto, writes the kanji character "kuma," meaning bear, with a calligraphy brush during the annual kanji-of-the-year event on Dec. 12, 2025. The character was chosen to symbolize the national mood for the year due to frequent bear sightings and related incidents across Japan, as well as attention to the return of pandas - written with characters meaning "bear" and "cat" - to China.
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          'Kanji' meaning tax picked as best characterizing 2014

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          KYOTO, Japan - Seihan Mori (L), the chief priest of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, writes the "kanji" character "zei" meaning tax on a large sheet of "washi" paper on Dec. 12, 2014, at the announcement by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation of the single best kanji symbolizing the year 2014 in Japan.
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            KYOTO, Japan - Seihan Mori (L), the chief priest of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, writes the "kanji" character "zei" meaning tax on a large sheet of "washi" paper on Dec. 12, 2014, at the announcement by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation of the single best kanji symbolizing the year 2014 in Japan.
              Kanji of year in 2 decades exhibited in Kyoto

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