Onyomi: サイ · Kunyomi: まつ.り, まつ.る, まつり · Meanings: celebrate, deify, enshrine, offer prayers, ritual, worship
Kanji for celebrate, deify, enshrine, offer prayers, ritual
Fast lookup with examples and clean stroke-order visualization.
Experience 祭 in 3D! View the complete 3D Kanji model to understand its shape and stroke depth from every angle. Click the button below to see 祭 in 3D and explore how each stroke forms this character.
Please support us by sharing!
祭 shows hands offering something to the gods. The top part represents meat or offerings, and the bottom part shows hands holding it. In ancient times, people placed food and gifts before the altar. From this act of offering and worship, 祭 came to mean festival or ritual.
Hands offering food to the gods — that is 祭.
Imagine two hands lifting an offering of food and placing it before a shrine. That sacred act of worship is 祭.
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 祭り | まつり | festival, feast, matsuri | common JLPT-N3 Noun |
| 祭る | まつる | to deify, to enshrine | common JLPT-N2 Godan verb with 'ru' ending, Transitive verb |
| 祭日 | さいじつ | national holiday, festival day | common JLPT-N2 Noun, Noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no' |
| 祭壇 | さいだん | altar | common Noun |
| 祭典 | さいてん | festival | common Noun |
| 祭司 | さいし | priest | Noun |
| 祭り上げる | まつりあげる | to set (someone) up (in a high position), to kick upstairs | Ichidan verb, Transitive verb |
| 祭主 | さいしゅ | (head) priest, head priest of the Ise Shrine | Noun |
| 祭事 | さいじ | festival, rites, ritual | Noun |
| 祭儀 | さいぎ | rites, ritual | Noun |