The Number System of Japanese

Japanese gave up its original number system more than one thousand years ago and imported the
number system of Chinese. The modern Japanese number system up to 100 is essentially the same
as Chinese except for pronunciation.

Number Character Reading Meaning

0 rei 0

1 ichi 1

2 ni 2

3 san 3

4 yon 4

5 go 5

6 roku 6

7 nana 7

8 hachi 8

9 kyû 9

10 jû 10

11 jû ichi 10 + 1

12 jû ni 10 + 2

13 jû san 10 + 3

14 jû yon 10 + 4

15 jû go 10 + 5

16 jû roku 10 + 6

17 jû nana 10 + 7
18 jû hachi 10 + 8

19 jû kyû 10 + 9

20 nijû 2 × 10

21 nijû ichi 2 × 10 + 1

22 nijû ni 2 × 10 + 2

23 nijû san 2 × 10 + 3

24 nijû yon 2 × 10 + 4

25 nijû go 2 × 10 + 5

26 nijû roku 2 × 10 + 6

27 nijû nana 2 × 10 + 7

28 nijû hachi 2 × 10 + 8

29 nijû kyû 2 × 10 + 9

30 sanjû 3 × 10

31 sanjû ichi 3 × 10 + 1

32 sanjû ni 3 × 10 + 2

33 sanjû san 3 × 10 + 3

34 sanjû yon 3 × 10 + 4

35 sanjû go 3 × 10 + 5

36 sanjû roku 3 × 10 + 6

37 sanjû nana 3 × 10 + 7

38 sanjû hachi 3 × 10 + 8

39 sanjû kyû 3 × 10 + 9
40 yonjû 4 × 10

41 yonjû ichi 4 × 10 + 1

42 yonjû ni 4 × 10 + 2

43 yonjû san 4 × 10 + 3

44 yonjû yon 4 × 10 + 4

45 yonjû go 4 × 10 + 5

46 yonjû roku 4 × 10 + 6

47 yonjû nana 4 × 10 + 7

48 yonjû hachi 4 × 10 + 8

49 yonjû kyû 4 × 10 + 9

50 gojû 5 × 10

51 gojû ichi 5 × 10 + 1

52 gojû ni 5 × 10 + 2

53 gojû san 5 × 10 + 3

54 gojû yon 5 × 10 + 4

55 gojû go 5 × 10 + 5

56 gojû roku 5 × 10 + 6

57 gojû nana 5 × 10 + 7

58 gojû hachi 5 × 10 + 8

59 gojû kyû 5 × 10 + 9

60 rokujû 6 × 10

61 rokujû ichi 6 × 10 + 1
62 rokujû ni 6 × 10 + 2

63 rokujû san 6 × 10 + 3

64 rokujû yon 6 × 10 + 4

65 rokujû go 6 × 10 + 5

66 rokujû roku 6 × 10 + 6

67 rokujû nana 6 × 10 + 7

68 rokujû hachi 6 × 10 + 8

69 rokujû kyû 6 × 10 + 9

70 nanajû 7 × 10

71 nanajû ichi 7 × 10 + 1

72 nanajû ni 7 × 10 + 2

73 nanajû san 7 × 10 + 3

74 nanajû yon 7 × 10 + 4

75 nanajû go 7 × 10 + 5

76 nanajû roku 7 × 10 + 6

77 nanajû nana 7 × 10 + 7

78 nanajû hachi 7 × 10 + 8

79 nanajû kyû 7 × 10 + 9

80 hachijû 8 × 10

81 hachijû ichi 8 × 10 + 1

82 hachijû ni 8 × 10 + 2

83 hachijû san 8 × 10 + 3
84 hachijû yon 8 × 10 + 4

85 hachijû go 8 × 10 + 5

86 hachijû roku 8 × 10 + 6

87 hachijû nana 8 × 10 + 7

88 hachijû hachi 8 × 10 + 8

89 hachijû kyû 8 × 10 + 9

90 kyûjû 9 × 10

91 kyûjû ichi 9 × 10 + 1

92 kyûjû ni 9 × 10 + 2

93 kyûjû san 9 × 10 + 3

94 kyûjû yon 9 × 10 + 4

95 kyûjû go 9 × 10 + 5

96 kyûjû roku 9 × 10 + 6

97 kyûjû nana 9 × 10 + 7

98 kyûjû hachi 9 × 10 + 8

99 kyûjû kyû 9 × 10 + 9

100 hyaku 100

Note:

All the number names came from ancient Wu, but the digits 4, 7, and 9 were later renamed. Their
original names are used only in compound words and fixed phrases now.

Reading Source of
Number Character
standard name
Wu-Origin Standard
4 shi yon
native Japanese
7 shichi nana

9 ku kyû ancient northern Chinese

ex.

Month Character English Japanese

1 January ichi-gatsu

2 February ni-gatsu

3 March san-gatsu

4 April shi-gatsu

5 May go-gatsu

6 June roku-gatsu

7 July shichi-gatsu

8 August hachi-gatsu

9 September ku-gatsu

10 October jû-gatsu

11 November jûichi-gatsu

12 December jûni-gatsu

The digits 4 and 9 were renamed because shi and ku were homonyms of "death" and "agony"
respectively, and the digit 7 was renamed because shichi sounds like ichi.