Japanese numbers with kanji

Learn it the numbers in japanese with kanji from 1 to greater than a hundred and a thousand!

You numbers in japanese they are represented by a series of kanji, the Japanese ideograms.

In the not-too-distant past, symbols for numbers in Japanese were used a lot, but nowadays, the situation has changed a bit.

For ease of writing, it has become very common to see numbers written with our Indo-Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…) instead of their representation in kanji.

Japanese numbers with kanji

Although they are written with Indo-Arabic numerals, the numbers must be read in oriental pronunciation, preserving their traditional reading.

Hover your mouse cursor over Japanese letters to see their pronunciation and translation.

Japanese numbers from one to ten

To get started, you will need to learn the basic Japanese symbols that represent Japanese numbers. These same symbols will later combine to form larger numbers.

Japanese numbers greater than ten

For numbers greater than ten, the Japanese start making combinations between their symbols. In a way, counting in Japanese is something like our counting system. In the cases below, let's just add the numbers in Japanese, joining the kanji on the right with the kanji on the left.

Didn't I say it was easy? Just reviewing, the only thing we need to do is follow the pattern below:

十一 = 10 ( 十 ) + 1 ( 一 ). Which gives 11.

十二 = 10 ( 十 ) + 2 ( 二 ). That gives 12.

And so we continued until we reached number 19.

Japanese numbers greater than nineteen

It's time to figure out how to count from 20 to 99 using Japanese numbers. Rest assured that this is also a very easy step to complete.

It won't be necessary to write all the numbers in Japanese here. Just understand how Japanese counting works to know how all the numbers in this sequence are written.

To form the number 20 in Japanese, we put the kanji 二 in front of 十, creating a 2x10 idea. Note:

二十 (にじゅう) – 20

二十一 (にじゅういち) – 21

二十二 (にじゅうに) – 22

二十三 (にじゅうさん) – 23

Note that the numbers on the left side of the 十 are used to multiply and the numbers on the right side are used to add. The pattern for forming these numbers in Japanese is as follows:

二十 = 2 x 10 = 20

二十一 = 2 x 10 + 1 = 21

二十二 = 2 x 10 + 2 = 22

And so on.

With this same rule, you can form all numbers in Japanese up to 99. For example, 36 would be 3 x 10 + 6 = 三十六. How about a little practice writing random numbers between 1 and 99?

Japanese numbers greater than one hundred and one thousand

This time, we're going to need two new kanji to form the Japanese numbers greater than one hundred: 百 and 千. Combining these two numbers with the others we've learned so far, we can build numbers with much larger dimensions.

To form Japanese numbers greater than one hundred and one thousand, we use the same rules we learned in the previous topics. The number that comes in front of the kanji for one thousand or one hundred is used to multiply, and the number that comes after is used to add. Just note:

Now comes the interesting part of numbers in Japanese. If we want to write the number 181 in Japanese, how do we do it? Just use what we've learned so far. First we need the kanji 百 (100) and after the kanji 八十一 (81). It would look something like this:

百八十一 – ひゃくはちじゅういち

181 = 100 + 8 x 10 + 1. Which gives 181.

Let's now form the number 3.584. First we need the kanji 三千 (3,000), after the kanji 五百 (500) and after the kanji 八十四 ( 84 ).

三千五百八十四 – さんぜんごひゃくはちじゅうよん

3,584 = 3,000 + 5 x 100 + 8 x 10 + 4. That's 3,584.

I hope that was clear. In case of doubts or suggestions, please contact us. OK?

Below video teaches the count in Japanese from 1 to 1000:

Kanji calligraphy exercise

Below are the Japanese ideographic symbols used in this article. Selecting the desired kanji and copy and paste them into Worksheet for Kana and Kanji Practice  by clicking on the Generate button, a new window will open where you can see the file for printing. Then just print the symbols and try to write it yourself. Just print and practice.