“Kuma,” or Bear, Chosen for Kanji of 2025

Kyoto, Dec. 12 (Jiji Press)--“Kuma,” meaning bear, was picked Friday as the kanji character of the year in Japan, amid a series of wild bear attacks across the country.

It was the first time that kuma has been selected as the kanji of the year.

The kanji character was written with a calligraphy brush at an event at Kiyomizu-dera in the western Japanese city of Kyoto by Seihan Mori, chief priest of the famous Buddhist temple.

Kuma received the most votes in a poll conducted by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation by mail and online from November, garnering 23,346 of 189,122 votes cast in the 31st annual kanji selection.

As well as the bear attacks, the return of four giant pandas to China in June from the Adventure World amusement facility in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, was also mentioned as a reason to pick the character.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]