Tategaki Vocab brings Japanese writing to your wrist: one word, set vertically from top to bottom the way it has traditionally been written in Japan ("tategaki"). It changes automatically through the day – no tapping, no app, no effort.
Each word comes with its hiragana reading, romaji and a meaning. The collection covers nature, seasons, feelings and everyday life, for example 木漏れ日 (komorebi, sunlight filtering through leaves), 夕焼け (sunset glow) or 一期一会 (once in a lifetime encounter).
THE LOOK
• The word in large Mincho type, the reading beside it, a fine line, and the meaning on the left
• Lacquer-black background with warm text colour, made for OLED displays
• A small red hanko stamp (語) as a detail
• Digital time at the top, always easy to read
YOUR SETTINGS
• Accent colour: vermilion, gold or indigo blue
• Language of the meaning: English or German
• Change interval: every 30 minutes, every hour or every 2 hours
BATTERY-FRIENDLY AND PRIVATE
• Dedicated ambient mode: dimmed text, hanko as an outline, very few bright pixels
• Everything is bundled – no internet needed
• No permissions, no ads, no accounts, no data collection
• No progress tracking, no interaction: just glance and pick up words along the way
GOOD TO KNOW
• Requires Wear OS 4 or newer
• After installing: long-press your watch face, choose "Tategaki Vocab" and customise with the pencil icon
• Words change automatically; the order is shuffled once so similar words don't appear back to back
Fonts: Shippori Mincho, Zen Kaku Gothic New and JetBrains Mono (SIL Open Font License 1.1).
Privacy policy: https://corepilots.github.io/tategaki/datenschutz/
Beautiful Japanese words, written vertically. A different word every hour.