Shiritori (しりとり) is a Japanese game in which the players are required to say a word which begins with the final kana of the previous word.
Kanji Shiritori (漢字尻取) takes this concept and applies it to kanji, meaning that the players are required to say a word that begins with the final kanji of the previous word.
Rules:
- If you repeat the same word within a game, you lose and a new game will begin.
- The kanji that your word starts with doesn’t necessarily have to have the same reading as the final kanji of the last word, for example, it is valid if one plays 投手 (とうしゅ) and the next person plays 手紙 (てがみ).
- Unlike in normal Shiritori, the reading of a word is allowed to end in ん, but words must not end in 者, as there are no words that start with 者.
- Words are allowed to have kana as long as the words start and end with a kanji. For example, 折り紙 is a valid word, but 久しぶり not, because it ends in kana.
- Multiple kanji overlaps are allowed, that means you can start your word with more than just the final kanji of the last word. For example, if someone plays 学校生活, it is valid to play 生活費 as the next word.
- When a word uses the 々 Kanji, the following word will start with the Kanji that 々 is repeating. For example, if someone submits 丸々, the following word starts with 丸.
- No proper nouns (固有名詞) are allowed.
Example Game
- Player 1 - 運動 (うんどう) - exercise
- Player 2 - 動物園 (どうぶつえん) - zoo
- Player 3 - 園芸 (えんげい) - horticulture
- Player 4 - 芸能者 (げいのうしゃ) - performer
- Player 4 loses and starts a new game.
There is also a standard version of しりとり going on in this thread for anyone interested!
I’ll start with something that we surely all love to learn hehe
漢字 = Kanji
