Origins
込
komu
to be crowded; to go in
ORIGIN · SOURCED MADE IN JAPAN

Walk, and enter

辶walk
+
入enter
= 込

The curve along the bottom of 込 is 辶, the sign for walking and moving. Riding on it is 入, the kanji for enter.

Walk, and enter: to go in, to crowd, to pack in tight. Dictionaries mark it as a kokuji, a kanji made in Japan.

Like many kanji made in Japan, it has no Chinese-style reading, only the native Japanese ones: komu and komeru.

Put 人 (people) in front and you get hitogomi: a crowd, people packed in. The k turns into a g inside the compound.

What we don’t claimNot every kokuji lacks a Chinese-style reading (働 has one), so we say "many", not "all".

Sources

  1. Kanjipedia, 込
  2. Wiktionary, 込
  3. Wikipedia (Japanese), 和製漢字
  4. Kotobank (Digital Daijisen), 人込み

Checked 2026-09-26. The story above is in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us on Instagram.

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