魂 means “soul, spirit”

たましい · tamashii

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

たましい, たま

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

コン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 14 strokes

The story

A cloud (云) beside a ghost (鬼): picture the soul rising out of the body like vapor. 魂 is the soul, and Japan says 三つ子の魂百まで, the soul of a three-year-old lasts to a hundred: who you are as a small child stays with you for life.

Used in 魂 (tamashii, soul), 霊魂 (reikon, spirit of the dead), and 大和魂 (yamatodamashii, the Japanese spirit)

More from Ghosts & Demons

• 妖 bewitching
• 幽 secluded
• 呪 curse
• 冥 underworld
• 仙 hermit
• 霊 spirit
• 魔 demon
• 鬼 ogre
• 幻 illusion
• 怪 suspicious

Learn 魂 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.