Since the 2nd century CE, Chinese characters have been classified into six categories (六書: rikusho in Japanese. The classification is open to interpretational differences, and some characters can legitimately be regarded as belonging to more than one category.
These are often called "pictographs" in English (象形 is also the Japanese word for Egyptian hieroglyphs). The characters are rough sketches of the object they represent. 目 is an eye tipped on its side, 木 is tree, etc. Some are so stylized they are not often really recognizable.
These are called "logograms", "simple ideographs" and sometimes just "symbols" in English. They are usually simple and represent an abstract concept such as a number or direction.
Often called "compound ideographs", or just "ideographs". These are usually a combination of pictographs which combine to present an overall meaning. An example is 峠 (mountain pass) made from 山 (mountain), 上 (up) and 下 (down). Another is 休 (rest) from 人 (person) and 木 (tree).
These are "semasio-phonetic" or "phonetic-ideographic" characters in English. They are by far the largest category, making up about 85% of characters. Typically they are made up of two components, one of which indicates the meaning or semantic context, and the other the pronunciation. (The pronunciation really relates to the original Chinese, and may now only be distantly detectable in the modern Japanese ON reading of the kanji.)
As examples of this, consider the kanji with the 言 shape: 語, 記, 訳, 説, etc. All are related to word/language/meaning. Similarly kanji with the 雨 (rain) shape (雲, 電, 雷, 雪, 霜, etc.) are almost invariably related to weather. Kanji with the 寺 (temple) shape on the right (詩, 持, 時, 侍, etc.) usually have an ON reading of SHI or JI. Sometimes one can guess the meaning and/or reading simply from the components.
This group are sometimes called "derivative characters", and is rather vaguely defined. It refers to kanji where the meaning or application has become extended. For example, 楽 (music, comfort, ease) is thought by some to have began as a picture of a drum, and by others to have represented bells on a plank of wood.
These are called "phonetic loan characters" and are used for cases where a word is spelled out phonetically. The writing of America as 亜米利加 (a-me-ri-ka) is an example of the use of this group of kanji. This phonetic usage even happened inside Chinese, where the 無 character was borrowed from an earlier form meaning "dance" to write a word pronounced the same way meaning "stop, cease to be".
The kanji taught in the first six grades of Japanese schools are shown in the following table. The allocation has been taken from 神谷祐子's page.
| Grade | Type | Kanji |
| １ | 象形文字 | 人,子,女,大,王,口,目,耳,手 ,力 ,足,犬,虫,木,白,生,日,月,夕,雨 ,土,金,山,川,水,火,田,車,文,九,小,入,見,出,貝,玉,竹,天,中 |
| 指事文字 | 一,二 ,三,四,八,十,百,上,下,本 | |
| 会意文字 | 立,年,字,学,先,正,右,左,名,音 ,男,林,森,休,赤 ,校,糸,石 | |
| 形声文字 | 千,青,気,村,花,町,空,円,草 | |
| 仮借文字 | 五,六,七,早 | |
| ２ | 象形文字 | 母,毎,交,元,長,夏,心,首,自,止,走,牛,馬,毛,鳥,魚,羽,半,米,来,楽,矢,市,番,雪,才,谷,原,刀,午,方,弓,黄,会,冬,食,戸,門,京,南,行,少,回,工,用,弟,合,万,肉,角,岩,内,公,丸 |
| 会意文字 | 古,昼,夜,外,電,父,引,強,弱,知,室,新,親,台,書,多,高,画,里,間,図,黒,帰,同,形,切,分,北,色,光,教,数,道,友,歩,前,後,家,鳴,買,売,言,麦,秋,科,算,明,朝,計,兄,直,国,声 | |
| 形声文字 | 太,考,何,歌,海,思,寺,時,地,池,風,曜,体,妹,星,晴,春,場,汽,雲,船,社,顔,読,広,近,作,話,茶,紙,遠,絵,頭,理,聞,当,点,店,答,記,組,野,通,語,線,姉,園,週,細,活 | |
| 仮借文字 | 西,東,今 | |
| ３ | 象形文字 | 員,央,業,曲,幸,皿,次,主,州,章,申,身,世,全,丁,豆,皮,美,氷,面,由,羊,両,会意文字 |
| 会意文字 | 安,医,委,意,育,飲,屋,化,聞,寒,客,宮,去,局,区,具,君,係,血,県,庫,向,号,祭,死,事,式,実,写,者,守,取,受,習,集,重,宿,所,助,商,乗,真,相,息,族,打,対,炭,追,定,度,投,島,登,農,配,発,反,筆,表,秒,品,負,平,放,命,問,役,有,流,旅,列,和 | |
| 形声文字 | 悪,暗,院,運,泳,駅,横,温,荷,界,階,感,漢,館,岸,起,期,究,急,級,球,橋,銀,苦,軽,決,研,湖,港,根,仕,使,始,指,歯,詩,持,酒,拾,終,住,暑,昭,消,勝,植,神,深,進,整,送,想,速,他,待,代,第,題,短,談,着,注,柱,張,調,庭,笛,鉄,転,都,湯,等,動,童,波,倍,箱,坂,板,悲,鼻,病,部,服,福,物,返,勉,味,薬,油,遊,予,洋,葉,陽,様,落,緑,札,練,路 | |
| 仮借文字 | 苦 | |
| 国字 | 畑 | |
| ４ | 象形文字 | 以,衣,果,希,求,軍,告,士,氏,児,失,笑,象,臣,倉,巣,束,卒,帯,単,兆,毒,飛,必,夫,包,未,民,要,良,量,令 |
| 指事文字 | 末 | |
| 会意文字 | 愛,位,胃,印,加,害,各,完,官,関,季,喜,器,救,挙,共,競,芸,建,固,好,康,最,札,刷,殺,察,参,産,散,史,司,辞,周,祝,初,信,成,静,席,折,戦,然,争,孫,隊,典,伝,得,熱,敗,票,付,兵,別,変,便,法,牧,脈,利,料,類,連,老,労 | |
| 形声文字 | 案,囲,英,栄,塩,億,貨,課,芽,改,械,街,覚,管,観,願,紀,旗,機,議,泣,給,漁,協,鏡,極,訓,郡,径,型,景,欠,結,健,験,功,候,航,差,菜,材,昨,残,試,治,借,種,順,松,唱,焼,照,賞,省,清,積,節,説,浅,選,側,続,達,置,仲,貯,腸,低,底,停,的,徒,努,灯,堂,働,特,念,梅,博,飯,費,標,府,副,粉,辺,望,満,約,勇,養,浴,陸,輸,冷,例,歴,録 | |
| 仮借文字 | 不,無 | |
| ５ | 象形文字 | 永,久,再,妻,示,舌,素,率,能,非,豊 |
| 会意文字 | 圧,移,因,易,益,可,賀,解,義,旧,居,禁,句,件,券,限,故,個,効,厚,興,災,際,在,罪,賛,支,師,質,舎,修,述,術,承,条,制,勢,設,造,則,属,損,退,断,徳,犯,比,肥,貧,武,保,報,暴,夢,綿,容,留 | |
| 形声文字 | 営,衛,液,演,応,往,桜,恩,仮,価,河,過,快,格,確,額,刊,幹,慣,眼,基,寄,規,技,逆,許,境,均,郡,経,潔,険,検,現,減,護,耕,鉱,構,講,混,査,採,財,雑,酸,志,枝,資,飼,似,識,謝,授,準,序,招,証,状,常,情,織,職,性,政,精,製,税,責,績,接,絶,銭,祖,総,像,増,側,貸,態,団,築,張,提,程,適,敵,統,銅,導,独,任,燃,破,判,版,備,俵,評,布,婦,富,復,複,仏,編,弁,墓,防,貿,務,迷,輸,余,預,略,領 | |
| ６ | 象形文字 | 異,革,干,机,疑,筋,系,穴,己,皇,困,冊,尺,若,泉,片,亡,幼,卵 |
| 会意文字 | 延,灰,巻,看,貴,郷,敬,劇,后,孝,降,骨,至,私,射,収,宗,就,衆,従,処,将,仁,垂,寸,聖,宣,専,染,善,奏,存,尊,段,展,届,難,乳,脳,拝,班,否,奮,並,閉,枚,密,盟,郵,乱,覧,臨 | |
| 形声文字 | 遺,域,宇,映,沿,拡,閣,割,株,簡,危,揮,吸,供,胸,勤,警,激,絹,権,憲,源,厳,呼,誤,紅,鋼,刻,穀,砂,座,済,裁,策,蚕,姿,視,詞,誌,磁,捨,樹,縦,縮,熟,純,署,諸,除,傷,障,域,蒸,針,推,盛,誠,洗,窓,創,装,層,操,蔵,臓,宅,担,探,誕,暖,値,宙,忠,著,庁,頂,潮,賃,痛,討,党,糖,認,納,派,背,肺,俳,晩,批,秘,腹,陛,補,暮,宝,訪,忘,棒,幕,模,訳,優,欲,翌,朗,論,裏,律 | |
| 仮借文字 | 我 |
Halpern: New Japanese-English Character Dictionary, NTC/Kenkyusha 1989 pp50a-53a
Henshall: A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters, Tuttle, 1988, pp xv-xix
Thanks too to Eamer on the sci.lang.japan Usenet group, and to 神谷祐子 for her excellent 漢字分化教室 page.