Kanji started about a trillion years ago when truth seekers broke turtle shells to read peoples fortunes...
　
OK, enough of the history lesson:
　
Kanji can be rather daunting for the westerner. Well, it is pretty difficult for Japanese people too.
Japanese people can just as easily forget their Kanji as you would normally forget how to spell a word.
　
When you are studying Kanji, remember that you are competing with the finest elementary and junior H.S. school students here. hehe
　
But there is hope for us.
　
If you look at a Kanji as a whole, it might not make much sense to you.
If you break it down, not only will you understand the meaning of the Kanji's radicals,
(in Japanese, a radical is called 'へん’　(hen)) but it will:
　
become easier to write them properly
easier to understand the meaning of similar kanji
　
Here is an example:
　
魚　＝　Fish
　
鯨　＝　Whale
　
鯛 ＝ Red Snapper
　
鯖 ＝ Mackerel
　
Notice the similarity? They all include the character for fish!
　
The word 魚 cannot be broken down as it is a general radical, but parts of the kanji appear in other words:
　
田　＝　TA　＝　Field
　
The four strokes on the bottom, is called れっか (rekka) and is the second radical for fire.
　
Though I'm not the kanji expert myself, I do know that kanji are generally written left to right top to bottom. Angled strokes
are usually written from the peak downwards. (Sometimes you will see where the stroke begins, because the line is fat at one end).
　
Here is a complete list of the 214 radicals in the Japanese language. Master these, and you will master kanji!*