Most characters mean one thing and lend it to others. 金 does something stranger: it means three things at once, and they are things many languages keep firmly apart. It is the word for gold, the precious metal. It is the word for money. And it is the word for metal itself, the whole category, iron and silver and copper included. Gold, cash, and metal, all living in eight strokes, because to the sensibility behind the character they were never really separate. Metal was wealth; gold was its highest form; and money was metal you could spend.
Among the kanji studies, 金 is the character of value, and it carries a small secret in its shape that ties it to 王 (king).
At a glance
| Character | 金 |
| Readings | kin, kon (音読み, Chinese-derived); kane, kana- (訓読み, native) |
| Stroke count | 8 |
| Radical | 金 (kane / kanehen, “metal”) — its own radical (no. 167) |
| Level | A first-grade jōyō kanji (JLPT N4) |
| Basic meaning | Gold; money; metal |
Where the character comes from
The oldest sense of 金 is metal, and the character is usually explained as metal where you find it: ore hidden in the ground. Beneath a peaked top sit small strokes often read as nuggets in the earth, lumps of precious metal waiting to be dug out. From “metal” the meaning narrowed to its most prized form, gold, and widened to the thing metal became once it was coined: money.
And here is the secret in the shape. Look at the body of 金, under its roof, and you will find a character you know: 王, king. The two are not truly related by origin, but the resemblance gave generations of students the perfect mnemonic, and a fair one: gold is the king of metals. Whether or not the old scribes intended it, the king sits enthroned inside the character for gold, which feels exactly right.
What 金 really means in Japan
金 spans the spiritual value of gold and the very ordinary business of money.
As gold and the precious:
- 金色 (kin-iro) — gold colour; 黄金 (ōgon) — gold, the substance, often figurative (“a golden age”).
- 金メダル (kin-medaru) — a gold medal; 金 alone means first place, the top.
- 金継ぎ (kintsugi) — “golden joinery,” the art of mending broken pottery with gold-dusted lacquer so the repair shines. The gold in its name is this character.
- 金閣寺 (Kinkaku-ji) — Kyoto’s Golden Pavilion, sheathed in gold leaf (金箔, kinpaku).
As money:
- お金 (okane) — money, the everyday word; 現金 (genkin) — cash.
- 料金 (ryōkin, fee), 賃金 (chingin, wages), 税金 (zeikin, tax), 借金 (shakkin, debt). Daily life is full of 金.
- 金運 (kin’un) — “money luck,” financial fortune. Charms for 金運 fill the same shelves as those for 福 (good fortune); wealth, in the lucky-charm world, is its own kind of blessing.
As the element metal:
- 金 is the metal of the five elements (木火土金水), and the 金曜日 (Friday) of the week, tied to the planet Venus, the 金星 or “metal star.”
- It is the parent radical of every metal character: 鉄 (iron), 銀 (silver), 銅 (copper), 鏡 (mirror), 鈴 (bell), 針 (needle). When a character has 金 on its left, something metallic is involved.
How to write 金
Eight strokes, in two parts: a peaked roof, then the body beneath.
Write the roof first: a left-falling sweep and a right-falling press meeting at a point, the same 人-like peak that tops 食 and 今. Then the body under it: a short horizontal, a central vertical, two small dots set inside like the buried nuggets, and a final long horizontal as the base.
Two things carry the character. The roof must sit centred and balanced, wide enough to shelter the body without dwarfing it. And the horizontals and the base must be even and level, with the bottom stroke longest and steady, so the character stands solidly, the way something valuable should feel settled rather than precarious. The beginner’s faults are a lopsided roof and a cramped, uneven body. Keep the peak square and the base broad, and 金 has the quiet weight of the thing it names. Its sweep and press are drilled in the Eight Principles of Yong.
How 金 looks across the five styles
Across the five classical styles:
- Kaisho — the block form above: balanced roof, even body, broad base. The standard.
- Gyōsho — semi-cursive; the strokes connect and the body flows.
- Sōsho — fully cursive; 金 can compress into a few rich motions.
- Reisho — clerical; broad and flat, the base stretched wide and stately.
- Tensho — seal script; the archaic rounded form, common on coins and seals, fittingly for a character about metal and money.
Where 金 appears in Japan today
- In money, everywhere: お金, 現金, 料金, 税金 — the character is unavoidable in daily financial life.
- In gold and winning: 金メダル (gold medal), 金 for first place, 黄金 for anything golden.
- In fortune: 金運 charms at shrines and temples, beside those for 福 and 幸.
- In the calendar and cosmos: 金曜日 (Friday) and 金星 (Venus), the metal day and the metal planet.
- On the map and in art: 金閣寺 (the Golden Pavilion) and the gold leaf of 金箔 and 金継ぎ.
Before you put 金 on a gift or a tattoo
For the full process of choosing, confirming, and having a kanji tattoo written, see the complete guide to kanji tattoos.
金 makes a bold tattoo with a double edge worth understanding. Read as gold, value, the precious, and the best, it is rich and aspirational, and its link to 金運, money luck and fortune, gives it a warm, almost talismanic side. Read plainly, though, it also means money, and to some Japanese eyes a bare 金 can lean materialistic. The character reads best when you mean gold, worth, and the golden rather than cash. At eight strokes it ages reasonably with a little size.
The practical note is the usual one: a font 金 with a lopsided roof looks clumsy, so have it brushed by a calligrapher and tattooed from that reference. If your meaning is specifically the beauty of golden repair and resilience, you may find the idea of kintsugi carries it even better than the lone character.
For a gift, 金 suits a champion (a gold medal in a character), someone you wish prosperity, or a lover of the golden and the precious.
Where to go next
To carry 金 further:
- The art that makes its gold beautiful — kintsugi, golden repair.
- The king hidden in its shape — 王 (king), gold being the king of metals.
- Its fellow elements — 火 (fire), 水 (water), 木 (wood), and 土 (earth), the rest of the five-element set.
- The fortune it sits beside — 福 (good fortune), partner of 金運.
- If you’re considering it as a tattoo — the complete guide to kanji tattoos.
金 is the character where wealth keeps all its meanings in one room: the metal in the ground, the gold it becomes, the money it turns into, and the king enthroned, by happy accident, at its centre. Write it with a balanced roof and a broad, level base, and it carries the settled weight of something genuinely valuable, which is, in the end, the whole point of gold: not that it glitters, but that it lasts.