Ichizen

Built around learning Japanese

Ichizen grew out of my own Japanese study. I wanted a comfortable place to practise vocabulary, hear it spoken, and keep coming back to words I was still learning. That meant paying attention to the details of a session: readable cards, useful audio controls, and a workload I could choose.

Furigana appears above the kanji, with a live preview while editing. Cards combine words, example sentences, images and multiple audio clips. Revealing an answer plays its audio in sequence, and the review buttons show when the card is scheduled to appear again.

A daily habit at your own pace

Ichizen uses FSRS to schedule reviews from your answers. You can choose two or four answer buttons, set a daily new-card allowance for each deck, and pin the deck you use most. Unused allowances never accumulate after a few days away.

Due reviews are different: they stay due until you study them. Reviews are unlimited by default, with an optional daily cap for a more manageable session. The app shows what is still waiting and pauses new introductions when reviews exceed your remaining allowance. Short learning repeats continue, so a word you just missed can come back again.

Statistics separate answers from distinct cards and new introductions. An activity calendar and a seven-day forecast help you see your progress and upcoming reviews. You can undo an answer, edit a note during review, or set a card aside for later.

Your collection, on your device

Notes, media and review history live locally in SQLite, without an account. Full backups include images, audio and learning progress. Anki .apkg decks and modern .colpkg collections can be imported; imported cards start with fresh schedules in Ichizen.

My own backup became a useful engineering test: a 309 MiB collection with more than 17,000 cards and 8,400 media files. Schedule changes and review history are saved together in one database transaction, and daily limits remain consistent across sessions and restarts.

A familiar face

The name brings together Ichiro, my dog, and the Zen inspiration behind the icon. That is him curled into an ensō-like circle, resting on a little matcha-coloured cushion.

Ichizen is available to try for free, with an optional Ko-fi link for anyone who wants to support its development.