MaruMori.io & Kitsun.io - [New Update: MaruDex OCR Lookup Tool Teaser!] Grammar SRS, In-Depth Grammar Lessons, Reading Exercises, Vocabulary, Kanji and more!

[neicul]

The time is here! MaruMori Wrapped 2025 just landed! (Plus bonus N1 artwork teaser)

Happy New Year everyone!

Just like last year, we’re starting the year by releasing the new MaruMori Wrapped today!

Check it out here!

In case you are not familiar with what MaruMori Wrapped is: To put it simply, it’s your study year in review!

You’ll find some cool statistics of what you’ve learned, mastered, and done on MaruMori in the past year, and get a nice little summary of those stats at the end.

I think it’s easier to explain through images, so here are a few samples:

We hope you enjoy seeing your year in review! Be sure to share your summary with us all too! We have a special channel in the MM Discord (invite link on the bottom of your home dashboard!) where you can show off your awesome stats!

A huge heartfelt thank you, and happy new year from all of us at MM!

Looking ahead, things are looking great for 2026! We’re working on many exciting big features and tools, as well as launching our mobile app out of early access. N2 content will be complete around August / September this year, after which we’ll go full steam ahead with the new N1 island in October!

Speaking of which, the artwork for that region is starting to look fantastic! Here’s a small part of the color sketches our artist has shown us:

Lookin’ very dangerous over there eh

We hope that your 2026 is filled with laughter, joy, love and new achievements! Make Maru proud this year by doing your best and achieving those Japanese study goals!

---

P.s. Our lifetime sale is starting to near it’s end. If you were still considering it, now might be the best time to join in on the fun and start working on that 2026 goal!

[neicul]

Sale will be ending soon!

Just a quick reminder that our lifetime sale will be ending on Monday

[Megatron]

2026 goal set!

[neicul]

Woohoo! Thanks for the support and glad to have you around on MM

[neicul]

About 24 Hours Remaining

Sale ending soon!

[Everlastingd]

I saw this post by chance. I am a bit confused. Is MaruMori enough as “one stop platform”? What is the point of Kitsun? I understand Kitsun is an anki / flashcard based tool to study vocabulary. So MaruMori does not fill that aspect? Thank you for clarifying.

[Megatron]

Was very impressed when doing the trial period.

Very polished platform to learn Japanese.

Layout is good, has structure in the lessons.

Having audio for the example sentences is awesome.

Mini games are fun.

[neicul]

@Everlastingd

Is MaruMori enough as “one stop platform”?

Yep! MaruMori has in-depth grammar lessons, reading exercises, vocabulary & kanji & grammar SRS, minigames and a bunch of study tools for you to learn the language with

@Everlastingd

What is the point of Kitsun? I understand Kitsun is an anki / flashcard based tool to study vocabulary.

Kitsun is our older platform, and is more of a general SRS study tool (similar to Anki, but more streamlined, easier to get started with and with a community (decks) focus). You can use Kitsun to study any subject/language you want, as well as customize the layouts and contents of the cards completely.

MaruMori on the other hand is focused specifically on Japanese and really aims to be your all-in-one tool for learning the language. It also includes SRS as mentioned above

[neicul]

Very glad to hear that! Hope you get some great use out of MM!

[neicul]

N2 Content Drop #21

It’s the first content drop of 2026! Wa-hoo!!!

In all seriousness, just because Neicudi is on vacation, that doesn’t mean we’re allowed to slack off, disco dance, and/or have pancake-themed parties. (But on the other hand, rules are made to be broken…)

Anyway, this week’s content features New Year-appropriate grammar such as ～ては・では for “if” statements, such as “If you don’t stick to your resolutions this year you are actually a failure, for real this time”; ～かと思ったら for “just when” statements such as “Just when I thought I’d finally stick to my New Year’s resolutions I found myself neck-deep in a vat of chocolate”; ～ていては for “if one keeps doing X” statements such as “If I keep getting sucked back into the chocolate fondue world I will eventually have to accept it as my destiny”.

And of course we’ve got immense words such as 恐縮 “being ashamed”, 縮む “to shrink”, and 尽くす “to exhaust”. You’re only imagining that there’s a theme here.

Then, practice recent grammar and vocab in this year’s first reading exercise which features a fancy (and distinguished) missing cat, a volcanic park, and the New Year tradition of “kakizome”.

All of this and more awaits you now in the Sands of Mastery!

Happy studies

[neicul]

N2 Content Drop #22

It’s… the end of January.

This week’s content drop features a selection of grammar points that are sure to have you yee’ing and haw’ing! For instance, we’ve got 〜も構わず for when you want to put your hands in the air like you just don’t care, 〜からには for a fancy “now that” which you can use for your already abandoned New Year’s resolutions, and 〜を契機に, which has absolutely nothing to do with cake, despite what you might think. (I know, I was disappointed too.)

For vocabulary, (which is unlock #100, by the way!) we’ve got bashful yet capable words such as 孤独 “solitude”, 誰 “who” (WHO put this kanji all the way up here???), and 勧誘 “solicitation”. Incredible stuff, really.

And for this batch’s reading, check out an attempt at breadmaking (in Japanese), get confused by identical twins, and read about a town cursed by… pineapple pizza.

All of that, and more, awaits you in the ever-mysterious Sands of Mastery…

Happy studies!

[neicul]

N2 Content Drop #23

It’s the week of Valentine’s Day (No it isn’t, since I forgot to post this here last week ) drop, and love is drifting through the air like a hydrogen blimp ready to burst into flame. Yes, that’s how intensely we care about our dear community. And, well, no pressure to reciprocate, but we did get you:

… Five new grammar lessons, including distinguished and important points such as 〜たって for casual “even if” statements, 〜に他ならない for “nothing other than”, and 〜にこしたことない for “it’s best to…”. I even wrapped all of these nicely with a little bow and everything.

Also, plenty of new, shiny vocabulary such as 鈍間 “dimwit”, 距離 “distance”, and the long-awaited kanji version of 綺麗 “pretty”!

I also got you a brand new reading exercise featuring Steve’s foray into ramen-making, a recent (true) and unfortunate story regarding the Japanese national bobsled team, and a fun chat between neighbors.

Wishing you all a sweet and successful week (of study), and as always,

Happy studies!

[ToastedRice]

Super happy to see that Maru Mori is still in development! I bought a lifetime membership a few years back, but at some point I took a multi-year break from my japanese studies. Is there any way to reset adventure mode?

[wojtek]

Could the [enter] also work with [To Home] button on session summary? It works with previous buttons durring session and post session (" Done with all your reviews!") but no “Return to home”

[neicul]

Welcome back!

Haha yeah we’re still going strong! Stronger than ever even

Regarding account resets, this article lists your current options:

https://knowledge.marumori.io/article/572355824/

Though nowadays we also have an Adventure Dashboard view where you can bookmark lessons, so even if you can’t complete the tiles again, you can at least keep track of where you are at with a re-read quite easily!

Hope that helps a bit!

[neicul]

I’ll add it to the list, thanks for the suggestion!

[wojtek]

thank you!

[neicul]

Kanji Content Changes based on Feedback

Hey everyone! Over the past few weeks we’ve gone through our huge backlog of user-submitted feedback for Kanji (and vocabulary) and made changes according to what you’ve all reported (and some of our own curation of course).

This mainly comes down to adding synonyms to the allowed answers list for SRS, or adding false-positives to the not-allowed answers list for SRS, which will make reviewing these items a lot smoother!

This changelog will focus on just the Kanji changes, with the vocabulary changelog dropping later this week, as there are way too many changes to put them all into a single changelog entry.

From here on out you can also expect this to become a regular thing as we’ll be keeping up-to-date with the submitted feedback (something we have always been for Grammar Lessons and Grammar SRS by the way!).

Without further ado, lets get into it!

Kanji:

Main Meaning Changes:

腰 - Main Meaning changed from “loins” to “waist”.

減 - Main Meaning changed from “dwindle” to “decrease”.

盛 - Main Meaning changed from “boom” to “prosper”.

漢 - Main Meaning changed from “sino-” to “china”.

好 - Main Meaning changed from “fond” to “like”.

暑 - Main Meaning changed from “sultry” to “hot”.

号 - Main Meaning changed from “nickname” to “number”.

等 - Main Meaning changed from “etc.” to “equal”.

髪 - Main Meaning changed from “hair (of the head)” to “hair”.

兆 - Main Meaning changed from “portent” to “omen”.

介 - Main Meaning changed from “jammed in” to “help”.

常 - Main Meaning changed from “usual” to “normal”.

産 - Main Meaning changed from “products” to “give birth”.

困 - Main Meaning changed from “quandary” to “trouble”.

第 - Main Meaning changed from “residence” to “ordinal number”.

慮 - Main Meaning changed from “prudence” to “consider”.

座 - Main Meaning changed from “squat” to “sit”.

的 - Main Meaning changed from “bull’s eye” to “target”.

職 - Main Meaning changed from “post” to “employment”.

胸 - Main Meaning changed from “bosom” to “chest”.

更 - Main Meaning changed from “grow late” to “renew”.

隊 - Main Meaning changed from “regiment” to “squad”.

戻 - Main Meaning changed from “re-” to “return”.

宇 - Main Meaning changed from “eaves” to “outer space”.

渡 - Main Meaning changed from “transit” to “cross”.

浮 - Main Meaning changed from “floating” to “float”.

街 - Main Meaning changed from “boulevard” to “street”.

坊 - Main Meaning changed from “boy” to “monk”.

製 - Main Meaning changed from “made in…” to “manufacture”.

至 - Main Meaning changed from “climax” to “arrive”.

層 - Main Meaning changed from “stratum” to “layer”.

尻 - Main Meaning changed from “buttocks” to “butt”.

奥 - Main Meaning changed from “heart” to “interior”.

侍 - Main Meaning changed from “waiter” to “samurai”.

Main Reading Changes:

拘 - Main Reading changed from “かか” to “こう”

阻 - Main Reading changed from “はば” to “そ”

洞 - Main Reading changed from “ほら” to “どう”

耐 - Main Reading changed from “た” to “たい”

唯 - Main Reading changed from “ただ” to “ゆい”

硬 - Main Reading changed from “かた” to “こう”

隣 - Main Reading changed from “とな” to “りん”

懐 - Main Reading changed from “ふところ” to “かい”

駄 - Main Reading changed from “ダ” to “だ”

斎 - Main Reading changed from “い” to “さい”

粽 - Main Reading changed from “” to “そう”

捧 - Main Reading changed from “” to “ほう”

鎧 - Main Reading changed from “” to “かい”

呆 - Main Reading changed from “” to “ほう”

尖 - Main Reading changed from “” to “せん”

褒 - Main Reading changed from “ほ” to “ほう”

劣 - Main Reading changed from “おと” to “れつ”

滴 - Main Reading changed from “しずく” to “てき”

踏 - Main Reading changed from “ふ” to “とう”

盾 - Main Reading changed from “たて” to “じゅん”

黙 - Main Reading changed from “だま” to “もく”

宜 - Main Reading changed from “よろ” to “ぎ”

勧 - Main Reading changed from “すす” to “かん”

仰 - Main Reading changed from “あお” to “こう”

奴 - Main Reading changed from “やっこ” to “やつ”

滑 - Main Reading changed from “すべ” to “かつ”

殊 - Main Reading changed from “こと” to “しゅ”

陥 - Main Reading changed from “おちい” to “かん”

摘 - Main Reading changed from “つ” to “てき”

惨 - Main Reading changed from “みじ” to “さん”

懸 - Main Reading changed from “け” to “けん”

彫 - Main Reading changed from “ほ” to “ちょう”

渋 - Main Reading changed from “しぶ” to “じゅう”

潜 - Main Reading changed from “ひそ” to “せん”

All Meanings Changes:

皮 - Removed Meanings: “skin radical (no. 107)”.

文 - Removed Meanings: “literary radical (no. 67)”.

帰 - Added Meanings: “return”.

考 - Added Meanings: “think”; “ponder”.

妹 - Added Meanings: “little sister”.

Allowed Answer(s) Changes:

枚 - Added Allowed Answers: “counter for sheets”; “sheet counter”.

頃 - Added Allowed Answers: “around”.

前 - Added Allowed Answers: “front”.

見 - Added Allowed Answers: “to see”; “sight”.

分 - Added Allowed Answers: “minute”.

休 - Added Allowed Answers: “holiday”.

話 - Added Allowed Answers: “speak”.

動 - Added Allowed Answers: “movement”.

急 - Added Allowed Answers: “abrupt”; “rush”.

近 - Added Allowed Answers: “close”; “close by”.

里 - Added Allowed Answers: “ri”.

寂 - Added Allowed Answers: “lonely”.

芋 - Added Allowed Answers: “tuber”.

暗 - Added Allowed Answers: “dark”.

身 - Added Allowed Answers: “body”.

厳 - Added Allowed Answers: “strict”.

鬼 - Added Allowed Answers: “demon”.

類 - Added Allowed Answers: “type”.

粧 - Added Allowed Answers: “makeup”.

入 - Added Allowed Answers: “entrance”.

蔵 - Added Allowed Answers: “store”.

偉 - Added Allowed Answers: “great”.

杯 - Added Allowed Answers: “cupfuls”; “cup”.

雷 - Added Allowed Answers: “lightning”.

階 - Added Allowed Answers: “story”; “floor”.

畳 - Added Allowed Answers: “tatami”.

府 - Added Allowed Answers: “government”.

打 - Added Allowed Answers: “beat”.

下 - Added Allowed Answers: “under”; “beneath”.

有 - Added Allowed Answers: “existence”.

先 - Added Allowed Answers: “prior”.

欠 - Added Allowed Answers: “lacking”.

台 - Added Allowed Answers: “stand”.

対 - Added Allowed Answers: “vis a vis”.

飯 - Added Allowed Answers: “cooked rice”.

静 - Added Allowed Answers: “silence”; “silent”.

農 - Added Allowed Answers: “farming”.

昔 - Added Allowed Answers: “long ago”; “olden days”.

勤 - Added Allowed Answers: “work”.

雑 - Added Allowed Answers: “misc.”.

足 - Added Allowed Answers: “feet”.

償 - Added Allowed Answers: “compensation”.

子 - Added Allowed Answers: “kid”.

拝 - Added Allowed Answers: “pray”.

録 - Added Allowed Answers: “log”.

耐 - Added Allowed Answers: “endure”.

唯 - Added Allowed Answers: “sole”.

隣 - Added Allowed Answers: “neighbor”; “next to”.

匂 - Added Allowed Answers: “odor”.

風 - Added Allowed Answers: “method”; “way”.

商 - Added Allowed Answers: “trade”.

涼 - Added Allowed Answers: “cool”.

缶 - Added Allowed Answers: “can”.

帽 - Added Allowed Answers: “hat”.

初 - Added Allowed Answers: “start”.

松 - Added Allowed Answers: “pine”.

縄 - Added Allowed Answers: “rope”.

巨 - Added Allowed Answers: “giant”; “huge”.

浜 - Added Allowed Answers: “coast”.

訓 - Added Allowed Answers: “japanese reading”.

粽 - Added Allowed Answers: “steamed rice dumplings”.

不 - Added Allowed Answers: “-un”.

怒 - Added Allowed Answers: “anger”; “mad”.

酪 - Added Allowed Answers: “dairy”.

郵 - Added Allowed Answers: “post”.

細 - Added Allowed Answers: “thin”.

紀 - Added Allowed Answers: “period”.

帝 - Added Allowed Answers: “emperor”.

覚 - Added Allowed Answers: “recall”.

零 - Added Allowed Answers: “0”.

嬉 - Added Allowed Answers: “happy”.

巻 - Added Allowed Answers: “wind”.

信 - Added Allowed Answers: “belief”; “believe”.

腰 - Added Allowed Answers: “lower back”.

弟 - Added Allowed Answers: “little brother”.

麗 - Added Allowed Answers: “pretty”.

躍 - Added Allowed Answers: “jump”.

釣 - Added Allowed Answers: “fishing”.

護 - Added Allowed Answers: “defend”; “defense”.

替 - Added Allowed Answers: “swap”.

尋 - Added Allowed Answers: “ask”.

億 - Added Allowed Answers: “100 million”.

盛 - Added Allowed Answers: “thrive”.

鈴 - Added Allowed Answers: “bell”.

贈 - Added Allowed Answers: “give”; “present”.

拶 - Added Allowed Answers: “draw near”.

瓦 - Added Allowed Answers: “roof tile”.

餌 - Added Allowed Answers: “feed”.

釈 - Added Allowed Answers: “explain”.

漢 - Added Allowed Answers: “chinese”.

鎧 - Added Allowed Answers: “armor”.

遅 - Added Allowed Answers: “delay”.

敵 - Added Allowed Answers: “rival”.

昭 - Added Allowed Answers: “shine”.

慎 - Added Allowed Answers: “careful”.

頷 - Added Allowed Answers: “nod”.

呆 - Added Allowed Answers: “amazed”.

滅 - Added Allowed Answers: “destruction”.

異 - Added Allowed Answers: “differ”.

誕 - Added Allowed Answers: “birth”.

虚 - Added Allowed Answers: “empty”.

肯 - Added Allowed Answers: “agree”; “comply”.

恨 - Added Allowed Answers: “resent”.

籍 - Added Allowed Answers: “family register”.

曇 - Added Allowed Answers: “cloudy”.

羨 - Added Allowed Answers: “envy”; “jealous”; “jealousy”.

隙 - Added Allowed Answers: “gap”.

睨 - Added Allowed Answers: “glare at”; “glare”; “scowl”.

偽 - Added Allowed Answers: “fake”.

闇 - Added Allowed Answers: “darkness”; “dark”.

憧 - Added Allowed Answers: “yearning”; “longing”.

尽 - Added Allowed Answers: “run out”; “depletion”.

敗 - Added Allowed Answers: “fail”.

尖 - Added Allowed Answers: “pointed”; “tapered”.

斧 - Added Allowed Answers: “axe”.

冶 - Added Allowed Answers: “melt”; “smelt”.

殻 - Added Allowed Answers: “shell”.

餅 - Added Allowed Answers: “mochi”.

隻 - Added Allowed Answers: “ship counter”.

鴨 - Added Allowed Answers: “duck”.

寮 - Added Allowed Answers: “dorm”.

旬 - Added Allowed Answers: “10 day period”.

敏 - Added Allowed Answers: “clever”.

了 - Added Allowed Answers: “end”.

病 - Added Allowed Answers: “illness”; “sickness”.

点 - Added Allowed Answers: “dot”.

九 - Added Allowed Answers: “9”.

服 - Added Allowed Answers: “clothes”.

代 - Added Allowed Answers: “eras”.

暖 - Added Allowed Answers: “warm”.

威 - Added Allowed Answers: “threat”; “intimidation”.

験 - Added Allowed Answers: “test”.

便 - Added Allowed Answers: “convenient”.

齒 - Added Allowed Answers: “teeth”.

司 - Added Allowed Answers: “government office”.

彩 - Added Allowed Answers: “color”.

劣 - Added Allowed Answers: “be inferior”; “inferior”.

導 - Added Allowed Answers: “guide”; “lead”.

学 - Added Allowed Answers: “learn”.

言 - Added Allowed Answers: “speak”; “speech”.

Not Allowed Answer(s) Changes:

強 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “string”.

聞 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “ear”.

伝 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “teleport”.

休 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “test”.

話 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “taste”.

上 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “stop”.

姉 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “younger sister”.

料 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “free”.

運 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “army”.

治 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “begin”.

回 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “same”.

解 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “chance”.

郡 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “country”.

即 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “instead”.

食 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “good”.

絞 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “mingle”.

金 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “good”.

減 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “increase”.

因 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “case”.

刑 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “polish”.

被 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “tear”.

化 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “charge”.

貝 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “selfish”.

耳 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “year”.

国 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “county”.

刷 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “painting”; “paint”.

奥 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “hear”.

軽 - Added Not Allowed Answers: “important”.

That’s it for now! Keep an eye out for the vocabulary changelog coming up in the coming days too!

[neicul]

N2 Content Drop #24

Dear users,

All of us at MaruMori sincerely hope that this cold and flu season which is happening in February for some reason, has passed you over. Just like how I might pass over salad at a buffet with pepperoni, pineapple, and/or meat-lover’s pizza on offer. Unfortunately, if I was the salad in this scenario, I would not have been passed over. Which is to say that I did catch a cold and that even as I write this, my throat is a wittle bit scratchy. Aww Everyone be sympathetic pwease.

Anyway, you’ll be happy to hear that this latest round of spikey aliens and bacteria hasn’t stopped us from cranking out some new content for you all! In this week’s drop, we’ve got idiosyncratic grammar points such as ～ようとも for fancy “even if” statements, ～手前 for a new way to express both “since…” and “I can’t very well be seen shoveling down this many fried pickles in front of my secret crush”, as well as a brand new way to create lists using conditional markers! Incredible stuff, to be honest.

For vocabulary, you can look forward to unlocking words like 渋滞 “traffic jam”, 凡人 “ordinary person”, and 欺く “to deceive”!

Then practice recent grammar and vocab in the newest reading exercise featuring a free spirited cat, some actual good career advice from Shiori’s grandfather, and a touching essay about a convenience store.

All of this and more awaits you in the Sands of Mastery… now!

Happy studies!

[niu]

I’ve recently signed up for the free trial and so far I’m loving it. It’s basically how I imagined EtoEto would have been (RIP) and more!

I tried many different apps and services over the years and I usually get tired after a day or two. The only ones that stuck for me are WK and more recently Bunpro (although I’m not crazy about the interface).

I feel like MM could be the perfect companion for WK and possibly replace Bunpro completely. The grammar points are explained in a much better way, the interface is clear and engaging, the graphics are pretty and there’s plenty of extra content for studying and reviewing.

I’m still figuring out how it all works, but there’s something I wanted to ask that I can’t find anywhere. Is there a way to multi-select lessons from the index and mark them as done? Even though I’m not a complete beginner (I was around lvl 20 on WK, then I reset after a long hiatus) I wanted to start from the first island to get familiar with the system, but now that I get the gist of it I moved on to the next one. It kinda bothers me that I left the previous one incomplete though. Should I go back and complete every lesson one by one or there’s a faster way?

Keep up the good work!