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Kanji for Sky
The kanji most commonly used for "Sky" are 空、天、宙.
空
Kanji that mean Sky
空 (sora / kū) is the sky you look at — 青空, the blue sky; 空港, the airport (“sky harbour”). The character’s other life is Buddhist: read kū it means emptiness, the śūnyatā of the Heart Sutra (色即是空), and as から it means simply “empty”. Sky and emptiness sharing one character is a philosophy lesson in itself.
天 (ten / ama) is the heavens above the sky — a person with arms spread under a great line: what is over us. 天気 is weather (“heaven’s mood”), 天国 is heaven, and 天ぷら, borrowed through Portuguese, has nothing to do with any of it. In myth, 天 marks the celestial: 天照 (Amaterasu), the sun goddess.
宙 (chū) is space — 宇宙 is the universe, and 宙に浮く is to float in mid-air. Rarer and lovely: 穹 (the vault of the sky) and 昊 (the vast summer sky), both name-worthy characters for the same blue.
Words using Sky kanji
Everyday Japanese vocabulary built from the characters above.
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空港
くうこう
airport
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天皇
てんのう
Emperor of Japan
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宇宙
うちゅう
universe; cosmos; space
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航空
こうくう
aviation; flying
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天気
てんき
weather; fair weather; fine weather
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宇宙飛行士
うちゅうひこうし
astronaut
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空気
くうき
air; atmosphere; mood
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天皇陛下
てんのうへいか
His Majesty the Emperor
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宇宙開発事業団
うちゅうかいはつじぎょうだん
National Space Development Agency; NASDA
Before you use Sky kanji
空 is the standard "sky" and it is beautiful — but know it equally means "emptiness", which Buddhists consider the deepest compliment and others may not. 天 reads as "heaven" with a mythic ring. 宙 evokes outer space. For a name-like rarity, 昊 (vast sky) is striking and safely positive.