Japanese writes numbers in kanji with ten digit characters, 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十, and a few unit characters for powers of ten: 百 for a hundred, 千 for a thousand, 万 for ten thousand and 億 for a hundred million. Numbers are built by combining them, so 二十三 is twenty-three and 三千五百 is three thousand five hundred. In everyday horizontal text, Arabic numerals are more common, but kanji numbers are everywhere in vertical writing, traditional menus, dates, names and fixed expressions, and they are among the first characters every learner should be able to write. The one real trap is that large Japanese numbers group by ten thousand, not by thousand.
The ten digits
The first ten number kanji are simple and frequent, and several of them are components of many other characters:
| Number | Kanji | Common reading | Strokes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 一 | ichi | 1 |
| 2 | 二 | ni | 2 |
| 3 | 三 | san | 3 |
| 4 | 四 | yon, shi | 5 |
| 5 | 五 | go | 4 |
| 6 | 六 | roku | 4 |
| 7 | 七 | nana, shichi | 2 |
| 8 | 八 | hachi | 2 |
| 9 | 九 | kyū, ku | 2 |
| 10 | 十 | jū | 2 |
Zero has a kanji too, 零 (rei), but in practice Japanese uses ゼロ or the circle 〇 when writing digits in kanji, for example in years written vertically. The Wikipedia article on Japanese numerals covers readings, variants and history.
The readings deserve a note. Four and seven each have two common readings, yon and shi, nana and shichi, partly because shi sounds like the word for death and is avoided in some contexts. Nine has kyū and ku, and ku can echo the word for suffering, so kyū is often preferred. These readings matter for speaking more than writing, but they explain why the same character is read differently in different words.
Building larger numbers
Japanese builds numbers the way it says them, from the largest unit down:
- 十一 = 11 (ten one)
- 二十 = 20 (two ten)
- 二十三 = 23 (two ten three)
- 百 = 100, 三百 = 300, 三百五十 = 350
- 千 = 1,000, 二千 = 2,000, 二千二十六 = 2,026
- 万 = 10,000, 三万 = 30,000
Two small rules help. A 1 in front of 十, 百 or 千 is usually not written: ten is 十, not 一十, and a hundred is 百, not 一百. Before 万 and 億, however, the one is written: 一万 is ten thousand. And zeros in the middle of a number are simply skipped in kanji: 2,026 is 二千二十六, with nothing for the empty hundreds.
The ten-thousand trap
The single biggest difference from English is that large numbers group by four digits. English groups by three: thousand, million, billion. Japanese groups by four: 万 (ten thousand), then 億 (a hundred million, ten thousand ten-thousands), then 兆 (a trillion, ten thousand hundred-millions).
| Number | English | Japanese |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | ten thousand | 一万 |
| 100,000 | one hundred thousand | 十万 |
| 1,000,000 | one million | 百万 |
| 10,000,000 | ten million | 千万 |
| 100,000,000 | one hundred million | 一億 |
| 1,000,000,000,000 | one trillion | 一兆 |
A useful mental trick is to regroup the digits by four: 1,0000,0000 is 一億. Prices of apartments, salaries and populations in Japanese news all use 万 and 億, and slipping by a factor of ten is the most common learner mistake. Practising with real figures, such as your own salary or a city’s population, makes the grouping automatic.
Where you see kanji numbers
Arabic numerals dominate horizontal Japanese, but kanji numbers appear in many places:
- Vertical text. Novels, newspapers, formal letters and many books written top to bottom use kanji numbers.
- Fixed expressions and words. 一人 (one person), 二人 (two people), 一番 (number one, best), 一緒 (together), 三日 (third day of the month).
- Traditional menus and signs. Prices on old-style menus, often written vertically, use kanji with 円 for yen.
- Dates and era years. Japanese uses era names alongside the Western calendar, and forms often ask for years like 令和八年, Reiwa 8, which is 2026.
- Names. Many family and place names contain number kanji: 三木, 五十嵐, 八王子.
Numbers in Japanese also combine with counter words that depend on what is being counted: 三本 for three long thin objects, 三枚 for three flat ones, 三人 for three people. The counters are a vocabulary topic of their own, but the number kanji in front of them are always the same.
Dates and times in kanji
Dates are where number kanji meet a handful of other everyday characters, and they are worth learning together.
Months are simply numbers plus 月 (moon, month): 一月 is January, 十月 is October, 十二月 is December. No separate month names are needed. Days are numbers plus 日 (sun, day), and years are numbers plus 年 (year), so a full date in vertical writing looks like 二〇二六年十月十五日, the fifteenth of October 2026, written with the circle 〇 for zero.
The readings of days are the irregular part. The first ten days of the month have traditional readings rather than the ordinary number readings: 一日 is tsuitachi, 二日 is futsuka, 三日 is mikka, and so on up to 十日, tōka. 二十日, the twentieth, is hatsuka, and 十四日 and 二十四日 use yokka for the four. The kanji stay perfectly regular; only the pronunciation changes. When you write dates, you only need the number kanji and 日, and the readings can be learned separately.
Times use 時 (hour) and 分 (minute): 三時 is three o’clock, 三時十五分 is quarter past three. Half past is 半: 三時半. Days of the week use the characters for the sun, moon and five elements, 日 月 火 水 木 金 土, which are worth learning alongside the numbers because they appear on every calendar and timetable.
Writing the number kanji well
Because they are so simple, number kanji show every flaw in proportion. A few tips:
一, 二 and 三 depend entirely on line length and spacing. In 二, the lower line is longer than the upper. In 三, the middle line is the shortest and the bottom the longest. Equal lines look wrong to a native reader.
四 is often written with the wrong stroke order by beginners. The outer frame comes first, then the inner strokes, and the bottom line closes the box last.
七 and 十 look similar in some handwriting. In 七 the vertical stroke bends to the right at the bottom; in 十 it stays straight.
九 has a hooked second stroke that should sweep out and up, not stop.
万 and 方 (direction) differ by a single dot. 万 has no dot above, and its first stroke is a horizontal line across the top.
Our guides on how to write kanji neatly and stroke count cover proportion and counting strokes, and how to remember kanji stroke order explains the general rules that the number kanji follow.
Formal numbers on contracts and banknotes
For legal and financial documents, Japanese also has complex forms called daiji, used so that amounts cannot be altered. A single horizontal stroke 一 can easily be turned into 二 or 三, so contracts and receipts sometimes write 壱 for one, 弐 for two, 参 for three and 拾 for ten. You can see some of these on Japanese banknotes. Learners rarely need to write them, but recognising them prevents confusion when signing documents or reading old receipts.
Practising numbers from memory
Number kanji are an ideal early handwriting project because they are short and constantly useful:
- Learn 一 to 十 with correct stroke order in a single session; they are all among the 80 characters taught in the first year of Japanese school, as our guide to kyōiku kanji shows.
- Add 百, 千, 万, 円 and 年 (year), which complete most everyday numbers.
- Write real numbers from memory: today’s date, your age, a price you saw, your phone number.
- Practise the ten-thousand grouping by writing large figures in kanji: populations, salaries, prices of houses.
- Read vertical text with numbers, such as a novel page or a newspaper column, and write the numbers you find.
Spreading this over a week, a few minutes a day, makes the characters automatic. Our article on how many kanji to practise writing a day explains why short, frequent sessions work better than long ones.
Common mistakes
Writing 一十 for ten or 一百 for a hundred. The one is omitted before 十, 百 and 千.
Grouping by thousands. One million is 百万, not 千千.
Unequal or equal lines in 二 and 三. Line length carries the shape.
Confusing 万 and 方. Watch the dot.
Reading 四 as shi everywhere. Many words use yon; learn readings in words.
Writing kanji numbers in horizontal everyday text. In a horizontal email or form, Arabic numerals are normal and kanji numbers can look old-fashioned or hard to scan. Use kanji where Japanese writers do: vertical text, fixed words and traditional contexts.
Key takeaways
Japanese number kanji use ten digit characters, 一 to 十, and unit characters 百, 千, 万 and 億, combined from the largest unit down. Large numbers group by ten thousand, so a million is 百万 and a hundred million is 一億. Kanji numbers appear in vertical text, fixed words, traditional menus, era dates and names, while horizontal text usually uses Arabic numerals. They are short, frequent characters that reward careful attention to proportion and stroke order, and they make an excellent first project for writing kanji from memory.
Frequently asked questions
How do you write numbers in kanji?
With ten digit characters, 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十, plus unit characters for powers of ten: 百 (hundred), 千 (thousand), 万 (ten thousand) and 億 (hundred million). Numbers are built by combining them: 二十三 is 23, 三百五十 is 350, 二万 is 20,000. Arabic numerals are more common in everyday Japanese, but kanji numbers appear in vertical text, prices on traditional menus, dates and set phrases.
Why does Japanese count in ten thousands?
Because the large units group by four digits rather than three. 万 is ten thousand and 億 is a hundred million, ten thousand ten-thousands. So one million is 百万, a hundred ten-thousands, and ten million is 千万. English speakers often slip by a factor of ten until they start grouping large numbers by four digits in their head.
When are kanji numbers used instead of 1, 2, 3?
Mostly in vertical writing, such as novels, newspapers and formal letters, in fixed expressions like 一人 (one person) or 一番 (number one), in traditional settings such as restaurant menus and signs, on calendars and documents that use era years, and in names. Horizontal text, prices in shops and technical writing usually use Arabic numerals.
What are the formal number kanji on banknotes and contracts?
They are called daiji, complex forms used to prevent alteration in legal and financial documents, because simple strokes like 一 can easily be changed into 二 or 三. 壱 is used for one, 弐 for two, 参 for three and 拾 for ten. You will see some of them on banknotes and in contracts, but you rarely need to write them yourself.
How do I practise writing number kanji?
Start with 一 to 十, which are simple and appear inside many other characters, then add 百, 千, 万 and 円 (yen). Write real numbers from memory, such as prices and dates, rather than drilling single characters. {{appName}}, free in early access, is built around writing kanji from memory, which suits short, frequently used characters like these.
