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One of the best Japanese Kanji dictionary.
The kanji most commonly used for "Horse" are 馬、午、駒.
馬
馬 is the horse — the animal, plainly, and the character in 競馬 (horse racing), 馬車 (carriage) and 馬力 (horsepower). It is what you want unless you specifically mean something else. In names it appears mostly in surnames and place names such as 馬場.
午 is the horse of the East Asian zodiac, the seventh branch, and that is nearly all it does in modern Japanese. Its working sense is the clock: 正午 is noon, 午前 is morning, 午後 is afternoon. Written alone it reads as a time word, not an animal.
駒 is a colt or young horse, but its everyday meaning is a game piece — the pieces in shōgi are 駒 — and it also names the bridge of a stringed instrument. It is common in names and place names such as 生駒 and 駒場, and it has a lighter, more affectionate feel than 馬.
馬 is the safe and obvious choice for the animal. 午 will be read as "noon" or as a zodiac sign, and 駒 will be read as a shōgi piece before it is read as a colt. For the zodiac year, 午年 says it clearly.
What is Onyomi?
Onyomi, also known as the "Sino-Japanese reading," is one of the two main reading systems for kanji characters in Japanese. It refers to the reading of a kanji character that is derived from the original Chinese pronunciation.
What is Kunyomi?
Kunyomi, also known as the "native Japanese reading," is one of the two main reading systems for kanji characters in Japanese. It refers to the reading of a kanji character that is based on the native Japanese pronunciation. Kunyomi readings are often used when a kanji character stands alone or is followed by hiragana, as in verbs and adjectives. Mastering both kunyomi and onyomi is crucial for understanding and using kanji effectively in the Japanese language.
What is Radical?
A radical, also known as "bushu" in Japanese, is a fundamental component of kanji characters. Radicals are the building blocks of kanji and are used to categorize and organize them in dictionaries. There are 214 traditional radicals, each with its own meaning, which often provides a clue to the meaning of the kanji character it forms.
What is strokes?
Stroke count, or "kakusuu" in Japanese, refers to the number of individual brushstrokes required to write a kanji character. Each kanji has a specific stroke order and stroke count, which are essential for writing the character correctly and legibly. Understanding and following the correct stroke order not only ensures proper balance and aesthetics but also makes writing more efficient and fluid.