The Roles of Okurigana and Lexical Context in Reading Kanji Words with Kun‐Reading and Their Relationship to Reading Amount

Abstract A prevailing belief suggests that learning kanji imposes a significant burden on learners due to the need to memorize numerous character–sound pairs. This study challenges this notion through a 2 × 2 within‐participants experiment examining the effects of okurigana (present vs. absent) and context (present vs. absent) on kanji reading accuracy. A total of 124 university students read rare kun ‐reading kanji words under four conditions: (a) both context and okurigana present (e.g., ズボンを佩く), (b) context present and okurigana absent (e.g., ズボンを佩〇), (c) context absent and okurigana present (e.g., 佩く), and (d) both context and okurigana absent (e.g., 佩〇). The results revealed that okurigana and context substantially improved kanji reading accuracy, with a moderate interaction between the two factors. Additionally, weak‐to‐moderate correlations were found between the reading scores and reading habits, particularly for manga/magazines. These findings suggest that okurigana and context facilitate readers in inferring or recalling kanji readings and that reading experience, especially with manga, supports these processes.