Hello everyone!
As summer starts to wind down and the first hints of autumn roll in, it’s time for another WaniKani content update! 
From September 2 to September 23, 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 the teaching order
- Removal of one vocabulary item we considered to be uncommon and not useful
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.
This time we’re focusing on improving the scaffolding and available vocab reinforcement for 岸, 岩, 塩, 壁, 縁, 崩, 崖. The full list of updates is below, along with brief explanations of our reasoning. We’ve spread the updates over four 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, September 2, 2026 (4 additions, 6 movements) - Published
New Items
- 対岸 (vocab) - adding to level 12
- 岩場 (vocab) - adding to level 16
- 塩コショウ (vocab) - adding to level 17
- 縁取る (vocab) - adding to level 45
Level Changes
- Level 17: 塩水 (vocab) - moving up to level 20
- Level 17: 塩味 (vocab) - moving up to level 20
- Level 38: 辟 (radical) - moving down to level 37
- Level 39: 壁 (kanji) - moving down to level 37
- Level 39: 壁 (vocab) - moving down to level 37
- Level 39: 壁紙 (vocab) - moving down to level 37
Reasoning
- 対岸 is being added to reinforce 岸’s がん reading after learners encounter 岸 and 海岸.
- 岩場 is being added to reinforce 岩’s いわ reading.
- 塩コショウ is being added right after 塩 to give learners another useful word with 塩’s しお reading.
- 塩水 and 塩味 are moving later because they have dual readings, and we wanted them to appear after learners get familiar with 塩’s on’yomi reading via 食塩 and 塩分, which will be added in the next batch.
- 辟, 壁, 壁, and 壁紙 are moving earlier so learners can encounter 壁 sooner and have room for the other 壁-related vocabulary with different readings, which we’ll be adding in later batches.
- 縁取る is being added to reinforce 縁’s ふち reading.
2. Wed, September 9, 2026 (8 additions, 1 removal)
New Items
- 岸 (vocab) - adding to level 13
- 岸辺 (vocab) - adding to level 13
- 岩手県 (vocab) - adding to level 17
- 食塩 (vocab) - adding to level 19
- 塩分 (vocab) - adding to level 19
- 岩盤 (vocab) - adding to level 39
- 土砂崩れ (vocab) - adding to level 45
- 額縁 (vocab) - adding to level 46
Removed Items
- 盤 (vocab) - removing this subject
Reasoning
- 岸 and 岸辺 are being added to introduce and reinforce 岸’s きし reading.
- 岩手県 is being added to reinforce 岩’s いわ reading while also giving learners another useful example of the 〜県 pattern.
- 食塩 and 塩分 are being added to introduce and reinforce 塩’s えん reading.
- 盤 is being removed because it is not very common as a standalone vocabulary item.
- 岩盤 is being added as a more useful replacement for standalone 盤, while also reinforcing 岩’s がん reading and 盤’s ばん reading.
- 土砂崩れ is being added to reinforce 崩れる’s くず reading.
- 額縁 is being added to teach the rendaku version of 縁’s ふち reading.
3. Wed, September 16, 2026 (6 additions)
New Items
- 岩塩 (vocab) - adding to level 20
- 岩石 (vocab) - adding to level 20
- 壁画 (vocab) - adding to level 39
- 城壁 (vocab) - adding to level 39
- 崖っ縁 (vocab) - adding to level 48
- 雪崩 (vocab) - adding to level 49
Reasoning
- 岩塩 and 岩石 are being added to introduce and reinforce 岩’s がん reading.
- 壁画 and 城壁 are being added to introduce and reinforce 壁’s へき reading. 城壁 also gives learners another example of 城’s じょう reading, which is currently under-supported.
- 崖っ縁 is being added to reinforce 崖’s がけ reading as well as introducing 縁’s ぷち reading.
- 雪崩 is being added to teach the unique reading なだれ.
4. Wed, September 23, 2026 (3 additions, 4 movements)
New Items
- 塩素 (vocab) - adding to level 21
- 雪崩れ込む (vocab) - adding to level 50
- 断崖 (vocab) - adding to level 56
Level Changes
- Level 11: 欠く (vocab) - moving up to level 42
- Level 30: 乏しい (vocab) - moving up to level 44
- Level 30: 欠乏 (vocab) - moving up to level 48
- Level 32: 貧乏人 (vocab) - moving down to level 31
Reasoning
- 塩素 is being added to reinforce 塩’s えん reading and 素’s そ reading.
- 雪崩れ込む is being added to reinforce the unusual 雪崩 reading and show another common form of the word.
- 断崖 is being added to teach 崖’s がい reading.
- 欠く will be moved up to reflect its more advanced uses, and to prevent confusion with similar words 欠かす (11) and 欠ける (9).
- 乏しい will be moved up to prevent confusion with 貧しい (30), currently in the same level; this confusion is common because the words have the same okurigana and their kanji appear together in the compound 貧乏 (30). 乏しい will move up because it’s more advanced, more abstract, and somewhat less frequent than 貧しい.
- 欠乏 will be moved up to reflect that it’s somewhat advanced, while 貧乏人 will move down one level to replace it for early reinforcement of the kanji on’yomi readings.
(Kanji and Vocab reads funny)
