>>100523663Kanji were assimilated from China and each character conveys a concept like "man" or "fire"; there are thousands.
Kana are native to Japan and only denote a syllable; there are 46.
Normal Japanese writing makes constant use of both but onomatopoeia only ever uses kana to convey the sound.
The two are readily discernible as kanji are much more complex than kana.
