Japanese Days of the Week and Months

Talking about dates is one of the most useful early skills in any language. This guide to the Japanese days of the week and the months of the year gives you the kanji and romaji for each, explains the natural meaning behind the day names, and points out the few readings that catch learners by surprise.

The good news is that the month system is almost pure logic, and the days follow a neat pattern built from the elements. Learn them here and you will be able to make plans, read a calendar, and talk about the year with ease.

The Days of the Week

Each Japanese day of the week ends in youbi (曜日), and the first character names an element or celestial body. Here is the full week.

1. Sunday 日曜日 (nichiyoubi): the sun day.
2. Monday 月曜日 (getsuyoubi): the moon day.
3. Tuesday 火曜日 (kayoubi): the fire day.
4. Wednesday 水曜日 (suiyoubi): the water day.
5. Thursday 木曜日 (mokuyoubi): the wood day.
6. Friday 金曜日 (kinyoubi): the gold or metal day.
7. Saturday 土曜日 (doyoubi): the earth or soil day.

The Meaning Behind the Day Names

The seven day names come from the sun, the moon, and five elements that are also linked with the classical planets, a system shared across much of East Asia.

• Sun and moon. Nichi (sun) and getsu (moon) open the week, just as Sunday and Monday do in English.
• The five elements. Fire (ka), water (sui), wood (moku), metal or gold (kin), and earth (do) fill out Tuesday through Saturday.
• A memory aid. Remembering the order fire, water, wood, metal, earth makes the middle of the week easy to recall.

The Months of the Year

Japanese months could not be simpler: take the number of the month and add gatsu (月), which means month. So January is month one, ichigatsu.

1. January 一月 (ichigatsu)
2. February 二月 (nigatsu)
3. March 三月 (sangatsu)
4. April 四月 (shigatsu)
5. May 五月 (gogatsu)
6. June 六月 (rokugatsu)
7. July 七月 (shichigatsu)
8. August 八月 (hachigatsu)
9. September 九月 (kugatsu)
10. October 十月 (juugatsu)
11. November 十一月 (juuichigatsu)
12. December 十二月 (juunigatsu)

Watch These Tricky Readings

Three months do not use the reading you might expect from counting, so they are worth memorizing on their own.

• April is shigatsu, using shi rather than yon.
• July is shichigatsu, using shichi rather than nana.
• September is kugatsu, using ku rather than kyuu.
• The rest are regular. Every other month uses the plain number reading plus gatsu.

Traditional Month Names

Before the modern system, each month had a poetic traditional name. These are rarely used in daily life now, but you will meet them in literature, on calendars, and in cultural contexts.

• January 睦月 (mutsuki): the month of affection and togetherness.
• February 如月 (kisaragi): a month name linked with wearing extra layers in the cold.
• March 弥生 (yayoi): the month of growing life, as plants revive.
• April 卯月 (uzuki): named after the u-no-hana flower that blooms then.
• December 師走 (shiwasu): literally the running of the teachers, suggesting a busy year-end.

Days of the Month

Dates have their own readings, and the first ten in particular are irregular, so they take extra practice. A few key ones:

• The 1st 一日 (tsuitachi): a special word, not the regular number.
• The 2nd 二日 (futsuka).
• The 3rd 三日 (mikka).
• The 20th 二十日 (hatsuka): another special reading.
• From the 11th on, most dates use the number plus nichi, such as juuichinichi for the 11th, with a few exceptions.

Putting Days and Months Into Sentences

Once you know the words, using them is straightforward. To say what day it is, you can pair the day with desu, as in getsuyoubi desu for it is Monday. To ask what day it is, you might say nanyoubi desu ka, meaning what day of the week is it. The particle ni is often used to say on a certain day or in a certain month, for example when arranging to meet.

A full date in Japanese is given from largest unit to smallest: year, then month, then day. So you state the month before the day, the opposite order from some Western styles. This big-to-small pattern is consistent across Japanese dates, addresses, and names, so getting used to it here helps in many other situations.

A Note on the Weekend and Holidays

Saturday (doyoubi) and Sunday (nichiyoubi) make up the typical weekend, and you will often hear shuumatsu, meaning weekend, in conversation. Public holidays can shift the rhythm of the week, and some dates for festivals and observances change from year to year or follow older calendars. If you are planning around a specific Japanese holiday, it is best to check the official source for the exact date in a given year, since these can vary.

Tips for Learning Dates

• Learn the week by its elements. Linking each day to sun, moon, fire, water, wood, metal, and earth makes them stick.
• Lean on the month pattern. Number plus gatsu covers all twelve months instantly.
• Drill April, July, and September. Their special readings are the main thing to memorize.
• Practice real dates. Say today’s day and date out loud each morning to build the habit.

Final Thoughts

The Japanese days of the week and months reward a little study with a lot of everyday usefulness. Master the element-based week, the simple number-plus-gatsu months, and the few irregular readings, and you will handle calendars, plans, and dates in Japanese with confidence.