About kana-dojo

Aesthetic, minimalist platform for learning Japanese inspired by Duolingo and Monkeytype, built with Next.js and sponsored by Vercel. Beginner-friendly with plenty of good first issues - all contributions are welcome!

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KanaDojo かな道場

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Training

An aesthetic, minimalist, and highly customizable platform for mastering Japanese, inspired by Duolingo and Monkeytype. Built with Next.js and sponsored by Vercel.

About

KanaDojo is an engaging and user-friendly web-based Japanese learning platform that makes mastering Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji, and vocabulary fun and intuitive. Built with a focus on aesthetics, customization, and effective learning, it provides an immersive training environment for Japanese language learners at all levels.

Contributing

For Complete Beginners

Start with the Beginner's Contribution Guide for a step-by-step walkthrough that explains everything from creating a GitHub account to opening your first PR.

Not a Beginner?

All contributions are welcome! Whether you're fixing bugs, adding features, improving documentation, or translating — check out CONTRIBUTING.md to get started.

Live Demo · Documentation

Key Features

Three Training Dojos — Kana (Hiragana/Katakana), Kanji (JLPT N5-N1), and Vocabulary
Four Game Modes — Pick, Reverse-Pick, Input, and Reverse-Input for varied practice
100+ Themes — Beautiful light and dark themes with 28 Japanese fonts
Progress Tracking — Statistics, streaks, and 80+ achievements
Fully Responsive — Works seamlessly on desktop, tablet, and mobile

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/lingdojo/kana-dojo.git
cd kana-dojo
npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 to start learning.

To validate changes before opening a PR:

npm run check

Having issues? See the Troubleshooting Guide

Documentation

Document	Description
Architecture	Project structure, patterns, and conventions
UI Design	Theming, styling, and component guidelines
Translation Guide	How to translate the app
Troubleshooting	Common issues and solutions
Beginner Contributing	Step-by-step guide for first-time contributors
All Documentation	Complete documentation index

Tech Stack

See Architecture docs for full technical details.

Credits

Logo

Brandon Haupt — creator of the KanaDojo logo.

Inspiration

Duolingo — main inspiration.
Monkeytype — UI and design inspiration.

Japanese Language Libraries

Kuroshiro — Japanese text conversion and romanization.
Kuromoji — Japanese tokenizer used for text analysis.
Wanakana — kana and romaji transliteration helpers.

Data Sources

JMdict — Japanese-English dictionary data.
KANJIDIC — kanji readings and meanings database.
Jonathan Waller's JLPT Resources — JLPT study references.
jlptsensei.com — JLPT vocabulary and study material.

Star History

License

This project is licensed under the AGPL 3.0 License — see LICENSE.md for details.

Contact

Discord: https://discord.gg/CyvBNNrSmb
Email: [email protected]

Made with ❤️ by the open-source community for Japanese language learners worldwide

がんばって！ (Ganbatte! — Do your best!)

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kana-dojo