勝つ
to win, to be victorious
Pattern visualization
Examples
- 試合に勝った。I won the match.
- 誘惑に勝つ。I resist temptation.
Collocations
Mnemonic
Katsu (勝つ) is the godan verb for "to win" — kanji 勝 (shou, victory). Opposite pair: katsu vs makeru (負ける, to lose) — a "victory" verb couple separate from the transitive-intransitive system. Cluster: (1) games and matches — shiai ni katsu (win the match); (2) abstract "overcome" — yuuwaku ni katsu (resist temptation), jibun ni katsu (beat yourself); (3) outdo — tasha ni katsu (beat the competition). The 勝 kanji family: shouri (victory, formal), yuushou (championship), shoubu (a contest), shousha (winner), shouritsu (win rate, used in sports and gambling). Japan-specific vocabulary: katsudon (カツ丼, deep-fried-cutlet bowl, invented around Waseda University in 1922) plays on the katsu homophone — students and athletes eat katsudon before exams or matches so they "win." It anchors the goukaku kigan (passing-prayer) culture. Kit Kat in Japan also rides the wordplay kitto katsu (you will surely win), and Nestle Japan has marketed Kit Kat as a goukaku amulet since 2009. Korean and Chinese share the kanji 勝 with their respective on-yomi sheung and sheng; English win diverges. JLPT N5 katsu integrates with the katsudon-Kit-Kat cultural wordplay cluster.
Quick check
Logic of the katsudon cultural superstition?