Meaning
降 captures one clean idea: moving from high to low. Three everyday uses branch from this core — precipitation falling from the sky (rain and snow), a person stepping off a vehicle, and surrender, where someone in power lowers themselves before an opponent.
Break the kanji apart and the picture writes itself. On the left sits 阜 (阝 — こざとへん), the radical for a hill or mound. On the right, an old component showed two feet treading downward — one step, then another, down a slope. Someone carefully picking their way off a hillside. That image fans out into every modern use of 降: raindrops falling, a commuter stepping off a train, a general lowering his sword in defeat.
降 has 10 strokes and is taught in Grade 6 of Japanese elementary school. It covers natural phenomena and human actions alike, turning up in casual conversation, weather forecasts, transit announcements, and historical texts.
Readings
On'yomi (音読み) — Chinese-derived readings
コウ is the on'yomi, borrowed from Classical Chinese. It lives almost entirely in compound words (熟語 — じゅくご) and leans formal — weather reports, news broadcasts, historical writing. In casual speech, it largely gives way to the kun'yomi readings below.
- 降雨 (kōu) — rainfall, precipitation (standard in weather forecasts)
- 降雪 (kōsetsu) — snowfall (news reports, ski resort conditions)
- 降下 (kōka) — descent, a drop in level (e.g., temperature降下, paratrooper降下)
- 降伏 (kōfuku) — surrender, capitulation
- 以降 (ikō) — from … onward, since … (extremely common in time expressions)
- 降臨 (kōrin) — divine descent, the coming of a god or exalted being
Kun'yomi (訓読み) — Native Japanese readings
Three kun'yomi, each with its own lane: ふ(る) for precipitation, お(りる) for moving yourself down, and お(ろす) for bringing something else down.
ふ(る) is used for rain and snow falling from the sky. The る is okurigana — the hiragana written after the kanji.
- 雨が降る (ame ga furu) — rain falls
- 雪が降る (yuki ga furu) — snow falls
- 降り出す (furidasu) — to start raining or snowing
お(りる) is intransitive: you are the one moving downward — getting off the bus, climbing down stairs, descending a mountain.
- 電車を降りる (densha wo oriru) — to get off the train
- 山を降りる (yama wo oriru) — to come down the mountain
- バスを降りる (basu wo oriru) — to get off the bus
お(ろす) is the transitive counterpart — you lower or bring something else down. Think cargo, luggage, flags.
- 荷物を降ろす (nimotsu wo orosu) — to unload luggage
- 旗を降ろす (hata wo orosu) — to lower a flag
Common Words & Compounds
降 turns up across weather, transport, and history. Its compounds fall into three clusters worth learning as a set.
Weather:
- 降雨 (kōu) — rainfall; standard in meteorological reports
- 降雪 (kōsetsu) — snowfall; seen on news and ski resort sites
- 降水量 (kōsuiryō) — precipitation amount; the key figure in weather data
- 大雨が降る (ōame ga furu) — heavy rain falls
Movement and Transport:
- 下降 (kakō) — descent, downward movement (opposite: 上昇 jōshō)
- 降車 (kōsha) — alighting from a vehicle (formal; on bus and train signs)
- 降機 (kōki) — disembarking from an aircraft
- 途中下車 (tochū gesha) — stopping off midway on a train journey
Abstract and Historical:
- 降伏 (kōfuku) — surrender, submission
- 降参 (kōsan) — giving up, admitting defeat (casual too — games, puzzles)
- 以降 (ikō) — on and after, from … onwards (e.g., 来週以降 = from next week onward)
- 降臨 (kōrin) — divine descent, the arrival of something exalted
Example Sentences
きょうは雨が降っています。
Kyō wa ame ga futte imasu.
It is raining today.
次の駅で降りてください。
Tsugi no eki de orite kudasai.
Please get off at the next station.
昨日の夜、たくさん雪が降りました。
Kinō no yoru, takusan yuki ga furimashita.
It snowed a lot last night.
荷物をトラックから降ろした。
Nimotsu wo torakku kara oroshita.
I unloaded the luggage from the truck.
来月以降は新しいルールが適用されます。
Raigetsu ikō wa atarashii rūru ga tekiyō saremasu.
The new rules will apply from next month onward.
敵はついに降伏した。
Teki wa tsui ni kōfuku shita.
The enemy finally surrendered.
飛行機が高度を下降させています。
Hikōki ga kōdo wo kakō sasete imasu.
The airplane is descending in altitude.
降水量が今年は少ない。
Kōsuiryō ga kotoshi wa sukunai.
Precipitation is low this year.
もう降参！このパズルは難しすぎる。
Mō kōsan! Kono pazuru wa muzukashisugiru.
I give up! This puzzle is too difficult.
Memory Tip
Picture the left side of 降 as a steep hill — that's the 阜 radical (阝). On the right, two pairs of footprints stepping carefully down that slope, one foot at a time. Rain falls down, you step down from a train, a general lowers his sword in surrender. Everything points south. Whenever you spot 阝 paired with that stepping pattern, something is heading downward.
For the on'yomi コウ, try this hook: *"コme dウn"* → コウ. Silly, but it sticks. And for 以降 (ikō — "from … onward"): picture a timeline where everything after a point stretches below it — 降 marks where things slope down into the future.