Keisetsu蛍雪
A flashcard program for studying Japanese and Chinese vocabulary from your own decks.
Type romaji and watch it turn into kana. Type numbered pinyin and get tone marks. Miss a card and it comes back until you get it right, all with a little study buddy cheering you on.
Windows needs no install and no Python. Just unzip and run.
Meet your Study Mascot 勉強のお供
Irasshai~! I'm Maneki-Neko, the lucky beckoning cat. In Japan my waving paw invites good fortune through the door. Here, I'm inviting you to study!
I sit beside your flashcards while you work. I dance when you get answers right, flinch when you miss, fume when the same cards keep tripping you up, and doze off if you leave me alone too long.
Click me to wake me up, or hover the download button. I like that one.
See it in action
Studying 御来光 (goraikō, the sunrise seen from a mountaintop) with the mb theme and Maneki-Neko keeping watch.
Features
Auto Kana
Type romaji and it turns into kana as you type. taberu → たべる
Pinyin Tone Marks
Type numbered pinyin and get proper tone marks. ni3hao3 → nǐhǎo
Missed Cards Return
Get one wrong and it shows up again later in the deck, until you get it right.
Ten Study Mascots
Pick a study buddy from Japanese folklore or Chinese mythology, from Shiba Inu to Sun Wukong.
Make It Yours
Bright and Dark mode, custom fonts and colors, and image themes you can make yourself.
CSV Manager
Make and edit your own decks, with a rapid-entry mode for typing a whole list from a textbook.
Try it right here a taste of what typing feels like
What's in a name?
蛍雪 (keisetsu) means "fireflies and snow." It comes from the old saying 蛍雪の功, about two poor students in ancient China. One studied by the light of fireflies he'd caught. The other studied by moonlight reflected off the snow.
It's a saying about hard work paying off (which is a little ironic because I used gAI to create this, but the theme was all me though ^^), and it's why there are fireflies and snow drifting behind this page.
Getting started on Windows
- Head to the Releases page and download Keisetsu-Windows.zip.
- Unzip it anywhere, like your Desktop or Documents.
- Open the Keisetsu folder and double-click Keisetsu.exe.
- Click Import CSV and pick "Select this deck to test the program!" for a guided first card. Then open the CSV Manager to start building your own decks.
"Windows protected your PC"? That shows up because the program isn't code-signed (signing costs money). Click More info, then Run anyway.
Linux or macOS? Keisetsu runs on Python 3 with Tkinter. The setup steps are on the GitHub page.
Ready to hit the books?
It's free and open source (MIT), and Maneki-Neko is already waving at you.
