字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

religion, sect, denomination, main point, origin, essence

On’yomi シュウ、ソウ
Kun’yomi むね
Nanori かず、し、そ、そお、たか、とし、のり、ひろ、むな、もと、よし

Origin

This character combines a roof or house (the top component) with an altar or religious offering (the bottom component). Together, they picture a sacred space under shelter—a temple or place of worship where people gather to venerate something. From this image of a dedicated religious space, the character came to mean religion, sect, and the spiritual traditions people follow. The meaning later expanded to encompass the broader sense of "origin" or "essence," as the religion of a place or group represents its core identity.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

宗 8 strokes

Components

  • 宀 radical top
  • 示 meaning part bottom

Common words

  • 改宗 かいしゅう religious conversion
  • 宗家 そうけ head of family; head house
  • 宗教 しゅうきょう religion; religious affiliation
  • 宗祖 しゅうそ sect founder
  • 宗派 しゅうは sect; denomination
  • 宗門 しゅうもん (religious) denomination; sect
  • 禅宗 ぜんしゅう Zen (Buddhism)
  • 浄土真宗 じょうどしんしゅう Jōdo Shinshū (offshoot of the Jōdo sect); True Pure Land School

Related kanji

Same radical
Shares components

Reference

Strokes
8
Kangxi radical
40
Grade
Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#997 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+05B97