Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
There are two sets of numbers in Japanese: the native Japanese system and the Sino-Japanese system. The Sino-
Japanese numbers are used in combination with counter words (助数詞 josūshi), when counting things, actions and
events. When counting people there are different forms of the native numbers from 1-10, and there are also different
forms of these numbers for dates. The native Japanese numbers are usually only used up to 10.
The Western (Arabic) numerals are generally used in horizontal texts, while the Kanji numerals are used in vertical texts.
Notes
Large numbers are divided into units of ten thousand, so 1 million is one hundred ten-thousands: 百萬 (hyaku man).
The numbers 4 and 9 are considered unlucky in Japanese: 4, when pronounced shi, sounds like the word for death (死),
and 9, when pronounced ku, sounds like the word for suffering (苦). So they are often pronounced yon and kyu instead.
On financial and legal documents complex forms of the numerals known as 大字 (daiji) are used to prevent fraud.
Japanese 大字 (daiji) numerals
The first row of the table shows the 大字 (daiji) numerals. Those in [square brackets] are no longer commonly used.