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Kanji for Self
The kanji most commonly used for "Self" are 自、己、我.
自
Kanji that mean Self
自 (ji / mizukara) is the self as starting point — the character is a picture of a nose, which is where East Asians point when they mean “me”. It powers the reflexive vocabulary: 自分 (oneself), 自由 (freedom — “following from oneself”), 自然 (nature — “so of itself”), 自信 (confidence — trust in self).
己 (ko / onore) is the classical self — the one to master. 自己 doubles both characters into “the self” of psychology; 克己 (kokki) is self-conquest, the ascetic’s virtue; and 知己 is a friend who truly knows you. Confucius’ golden rule arrives in Japanese with this character: what you would not want done to 己, do not do to others.
我 (ga / ware) is the assertive self — the ego. 我々 is “we”; 自我 is the ego of psychoanalysis; 我慢 (gaman), “holding the self”, became Japan’s word for stoic endurance. Buddhism’s 無我 — no-self — completes the thought by dissolving it.
Words using Self kanji
Everyday Japanese vocabulary built from the characters above.
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自ら
みずから
oneself; oneself; for oneself
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自己
じこ
self; oneself
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我が
わが
my; our; one's own
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自分
じぶん
myself; yourself; oneself
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自己資本
じこしほん
net worth; owned capital
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我慢
がまん
endurance; patience; perseverance
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自宅
じたく
one's home; one's house
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利己主義
りこしゅぎ
egoism; egotism; selfishness
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自我
じが
ego; self; ego
Before you use Self kanji
自 alone reads as a fragment ("self-"), so choose a whole idea: 自由 (freedom) and 自信 (confidence) are the classics. 己 carries the discipline sense — 克己, mastering oneself, is a genuinely admired virtue word. 我 alone reads as "ego", which lands as boast or Buddhism depending on the beholder; 無我 flips it to selflessness.