Fire in Japanese

Fire in Japanese is 火, romanised as hi and written in hiragana as ひ. 火 is one of the five Japanese natural elements (五行: fire, water, wood, metal, earth) and one of the four classical Buddhist great elements (地水火風). It also names Tuesday (火曜日, kayoubi).

火 means "fire" (4 strokes; on'yomi: ka; kun'yomi: hi, ho). 炎 means "flame, blaze" (8 strokes; on'yomi: en; kun'yomi: honoo). Together the word reads as hi.

火 (hi) is the standard form: 火 is one of the five Japanese natural elements (五行: fire, water, wood, metal, earth) and one of the four classical Buddhist great elements (地水火風). It also names Tuesday (火曜日, kayoubi).. 炎 (honoo) is different — flame, blaze — more visually intense and poetic than 火. Pick based on the exact nuance you want to convey.

火 is the simple four-stroke elemental kanji and reads as fire in any context. 炎 (honoo) means flame specifically and has stronger visual energy — its shape is two fires stacked, depicting a roaring blaze. For an elemental tattoo, 火 fits the standard five-elements set; for dramatic intensity, 炎 is more striking.

In hiragana, fire is written as ひ, which represents the sound hi. The kanji form 火 is used in everyday writing; hiragana is used when the kanji is too difficult, for emphasis, or in children's text.