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Kanji for Plague
The kanji most commonly used for "Plague" is 疫.
疫
Kanji that mean Plague
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疫
epidemic, plague
Also associated with infection.
Onyomi: eki, yaku 9 strokes Jōyō
疫 (eki / yaku) is plague — epidemic disease. The sickness radical 疒 wraps 殳, a weapon-hand: illness that strikes like an attack and spreads like a levy through the population. 疫病 (ekibyō) is a plague or epidemic; 防疫 is epidemic prevention; 検疫 is quarantine — the word on every airport sign; and 免疫 (men’eki) — “exempt from the levy” — is immunity, one of the great loanwords of the body.
Old Japan personified it: the 疫病神 (yakubyōgami) is the god of pestilence, and the word survives as everyday slang for a jinx — a person who brings misfortune wherever they go. Festivals like Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri began as ceremonies to placate exactly these spirits.
The amulet tradition answered plague with paper and prayer — and in 2020 the whole country rediscovered Amabie, the sea-yōkai whose picture wards off epidemics.
Words using Plague kanji
Everyday Japanese vocabulary built from the characters above.
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免疫
めんえき
immunity; immunization; immunisation
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検疫
けんえき
quarantine; medical inspection
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防疫
ぼうえき
communicable disease control (e.g. by quarantine, disinfection, etc.); prevention of epidemics
Before you use Plague kanji
疫 is a dark, clinical character — plague, quarantine — and as slang, 疫病神 is "the jinx". Almost no one should wear it straight. If the story you want is surviving or warding off pestilence, the amulet logic runs opposite: 免疫 (immunity) or the protective 護 make the point without tattooing the disease itself.