Hi everyone! 
August has arrived, bringing hot afternoons, buzzing cicadas, and another batch of new updates and subjects to explore in WaniKani! 
From August 5 to August 19, 2026, we’ll be updating WaniKani content with another round of additions and movements. Like before, the updates are designed to make your learning experience better. We’ve considered factors like how common a word is, how hard it is to learn, whether it reinforces under-supported kanji readings, and how easily it can be confused with similar items.
This time, the updates include:
- New vocabulary additions
- Level movements to improve scaffolding
There will be no downtime for these updates. You won’t need to do anything to see them, and anything you’ve started learning stays right where it is.
The full list of updates is below, along with brief explanations of our reasoning. We’ve spread the updates over three batches this time, and tried to space things out so you won’t see too many similar items all at once.
Happy reviewing! And as always, thank you for continuing to study with WaniKani 
1. Wed, August 5, 2026 (2 additions, 14 movements) - Published
New Items
Level Changes
- Level 19: 歴 (kanji) - moving down to level 9
- Level 19: 史 (kanji) - moving down to level 9
- Level 19: 歴史 (vocab) - moving down to level 9
- Level 19: 履 (kanji) - moving up to level 26
- Level 19: 履く (vocab) - moving up to level 28
- Level 19: 履歴書 (vocab) - moving up to level 27
- Level 21: 履き物 (vocab) - moving up to level 29
- Level 27: 化 (radical) - moving down to level 6
- Level 27: 靴 (kanji) - moving down to level 24
- Level 27: 靴 (vocab) - moving down to level 24
- Level 30: 系 (radical) - moving down to level 24
- Level 30: 系 (kanji) - moving down to level 24
- Level 30: 〜系 (vocab) - moving down to level 24
- Level 30: 日系 (vocab) - moving down to level 24
Content Changes
- 歴’s primary meaning is changing from “Continuation” to “History,” and “Continuation” will become a warned meaning for 歴.
- 史 will keep “History” as its primary meaning.
Reasoning
- 日本史 is being added to introduce the productive pattern “〜史 = history of 〜.”
- 履 is moving later so it can be supported by more relevant vocabulary we’ll be adding like 履歴 (this batch) and 草履 (a later batch).
- 歴 is changing to “History” because it better reflects how learners encounter the kanji in real vocabulary like 歴史, 学歴, 履歴, and 履歴書.
- 歴 and 史 will both be taught as “History” in the same level, followed by 歴史. While uncommon, this mirrors existing patterns in WaniKani where paired kanji form a compound with the same meaning.
- 靴 is being moved earlier so learners encounter “shoes” before learning 履 (footwear).
- 系-related items are being moved earlier so learners encounter 〜系 before learning vocabulary like 草食, which will be added in the following batch.
2. Wed, August 12, 2026 (3 additions, 7 movements) - Published
New Items
Level Changes
- Level 9: 使う (vocab) - moving up to level 12
- Level 11: 使い方 (vocab) - moving up to level 13
- Level 19: 学歴 (vocab) - moving down to level 10
- Level 26: 復 (kanji) - moving down to level 19
- Level 26: 復習 (vocab) - moving down to level 19
- Level 26: 回復 (vocab) - moving down to level 19
- Level 27: 靴下 (vocab) - moving down to level 24
Reasoning
- 世界史 reinforces the same “〜史” pattern introduced with 日本史.
- 草原 and 草食 introduce 草’s on’yomi earlier and more naturally.
- 使う and 使い方 are adjusted slightly to make room for the new level 9 structure.
- 学歴 becomes easier to learn earlier thanks to 歴’s new meaning.
- 復 and related vocabulary are moved earlier now that their components are already available.
- 靴下 is moved closer to 靴 to keep related vocabulary grouped together.
3. Wed, August 19, 2026 (4 additions, 7 movements)
New Items
- 史上初 (vocab) - adding to level 16
- 草履 (vocab) - adding to level 26
- 歴然 (vocab) - adding to level 56
- 女史 (vocab) - adding to level 57
Level Changes
- Level 9: 天使 (vocab) - moving up to level 10
- Level 9: 使用 (vocab) - moving up to level 10
- Level 9: 使 (kanji) - moving up to level 10
- Level 27: 長靴 (vocab) - moving down to level 25
- Level 27: 靴屋 (vocab) - moving down to level 26
- Level 30: 太陽系 (vocab) - moving down to level 25
- Level 28: 回復する (vocab) - moving down to level 20
Reasoning
- 史上初 is a common expression that builds naturally on 史 and 初.
- 草履 reinforces 履’s “footwear” meaning and reading, and teaches an unusual, hard-to-guess reading of 草 (そう).
- 歴然 is being added as a high-level word whose meaning is difficult to guess despite an easy reading.
- 女史 introduces a more specialized use of 史 seen in formal or literary contexts.
- 使-related items are shifted up level because 使 uses the radical 史 as a component, and we wanted to keep level 9 focused on 史 items.
- 長靴 and 靴屋 is moved closer to 靴 for better grouping.
- 回復する is moved closer to 回復 to improve learning flow.
That’s the lurkiest mod I’ve heard of so far, haha.
Wish I could do the new stuff along with 25.
