かな練習 · kanarenshu

A minimal TUI application to practise Japanese kana and kanji from your terminal

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Features

• Hiragana, Katakana, and Mixed modes for kana practise.
• Kanji mode: Graded by JLPT level (the app supports only N5 level currently), testing on on'yomi, kun'yomi, and English meaning.
• Weight-based character selection - Characters you answer wrong appear more often, while mastered ones fade out.
• Level-based progression system - Unlock new characters as you level up.
• Per-character stats: Tracked separately for each mode, including each kanji tier.
• 5 built-in themes: Tokyo Night, Catppuccin, Gruvbox, Nord, Dracula. Cycle through each theme using ctrl + t or get a live preview from the settings menu.
• Configurable - lives, hints, and theme, editable via config file or the in-app settings menu.

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Installation

Pre-compiled binaries are available in the Releases section.

AUR

Using Yay:

yay -S kanarenshu

Using Paru:

paru -S kanarenshu

Nix

Nix users can directly use this repository to get the latest kanarenshu for their system.

Add in your flake.nix:

inputs.kanarenshu.url = "github:nuixyz/kanarenshu";

Pass inputs to your modules and then in configuration.nix:

environment.systemPackages = [
  inputs.kanarenshu.packages.${pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system}.default
];

Homebrew

Coming soon

From Source

git clone https://github.com/nuixyz/kanarenshu
cd kanarenshu
go build ./cmd/kanarenshu

Requirements

• Go 1.21 or later (uses //go:embed)

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Usage

kanarenshu

Use the arrow keys or j/k to navigate the menu, enter to select.

Keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
enter	Submit answer
esc	Return to menu
ctrl+t	Cycle through themes
ctrl+c	Quit
q	Quit (menu)
s	Open settings (menu)

Romaji input

Both strict Hepburn and common alternatives are accepted by default:

Kana	Accepted
し	shi, si
ち	chi, ti
つ	tsu, tu
ふ	fu, hu
じ	ji, zi
ん	n, nn

Kanji mode

Select Kanji from the main menu, then choose a JLPT level. For each character, any of its on'yomi readings, kun'yomi readings or the English meanings are accepted as a correct answer. A wrong answer reveals the readings and meanings as a hint. Progress of each JLPT tier is tracked independently.

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Progression

Kana are grouped into levels of 5, kanji are grouped into levels of 10. The app uses an adaptive learning algorithm to determine how often a character appears in a group:

• A correct answer halves a character's weight.
• A wrong answer doubles it (capped at the initial weight of 400).
• A character is considered mastered once it reaches a threshold weight of 25 or below.
• A level up condition is triggered once every character in the current group is mastered.

The highest unlocked level for each mode is saved automatically and resumed on next launch.

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Configuration

On first run, kananrenshu creates a config file at:

~/.config/kanarenshu/config.toml

theme         = "tokyo-night"   # tokyo-night | catppuccin | gruvbox | nord | dracula
lives         = 3               # 0 = infinite
romaji_strict = false           # true = Hepburn only (e.g. "shi", not "si")
show_hints    = true            # show reading hint after a wrong answer

Changes take effect on next launch, or can be applied live via the in-app settings menu

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Themes

Themes can be changed in the settings menu (s from the main menu) or cycled in-session with ctrl+t. The selected theme is saved to config automatically on save.

Name
tokyo-night	Dark blue — default
catppuccin	Catppuccin Mocha
gruvbox	Gruvbox Dark
nord	Nord
dracula	Dracula

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Data files

Path	Contents
~/.config/kanarenshu/config.toml	User configuration
~/.local/share/kanarenshu/progress.json	Level progress and per-character statistics
~/.local/share/kanarenshu/debug.log	Debug log

XDG environment variables ($XDG_CONFIG_HOME, $XDG_DATA_HOME) are respected if set.

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Project layout

cmd/kanarenshu/         entry point
internal/data/          hiragana, katakana, and kanji groupings; per level pools
internal/game/          session logic, scoring, weight-based progression
internal/storage/       config and progress persistence
internal/theme/         embedded TOML theme palettes
internal/ui/            Bubble Tea screens and reusable components
pkg/romaji/             kana <-> romaji tables and answer checking
pkg/kanji/              kanji data and answer validation (readings/meanings)

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Dependencies

• Bubble Tea — TUI framework
• Bubbles — UI components
• Lip Gloss — Styles and layout
• BurntSushi/toml — TOML parsing

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License

MIT