What are the Japanese days of the month? (2024)

Most of the month days follow the pattern "Sino-Japanese number plusnichi", as in nijūichinichi (21日) for the twenty-firstday of the month. The first day of the month is calledtsuitachi (一日), and the second to tenth, fourteenth,twentieth, and twenty-fourth days use ka rather than nichifor the day, and native Japanese numerals like futsuka (二日)for the day, rather than ninichi. (See What are the Japanese numbers from 1 to 100? for more onnative and Sino-Japanese numbers.) Also, the pronunciation ku ofthe number nine, rather than kyū, is used for the nineteenth andtwenty-ninth.

The names for the days of the month plus kan () are also usedfor a period of days. For example nanokakan (七日間) is "aperiod of seven days". However, tsuitachi is not used in thisform. Nijūyojikan (二十四時間) (twenty-four hours) is a moreusual way to say a period of exactly one day.[1]

DayRōmajiKanaKanjiNote
1Tsuitachiついたち一日Tsuitachi is the first day of the month. It comes fromtsukitachi (月立ち), tsuki () (moon) plustatsu (立つ) (to stand up), via a corruption of the sound.[2]
2Futsukaふつか二日
3Mikkaみっか三日
4Yokkaよっか四日
5Itsukaいつか五日
6Muikaむいか六日
7Nanokaなのか七日
8Yōkaようか八日Mnemonic to distinguish yōka and yokka: Eight days is longerthan four days, and this uses a long vowel, whereas yokka (the fourth)uses a short vowel.
9Kokonokaここのか九日
10Tōkaとおか十日
11Jūichi nichiじゅういちにち十一日
12Jūni nichiじゅうににち十二日
13Jūsan nichiじゅうさんにち十三日
14Jūyokkaじゅうよっか十四日This breaks the pattern of using Chinese-style numbers for the tens.
15Jūgo nichiじゅうごにち十五日
16Jūroku nichiじゅうろくにち十六日
17Jūshichi nichiじゅうしちにち十七日
18Jūhachi nichiじゅうはちにち十八日
19Jūku nichiじゅうくにち十九日Jūku is more common than jūkyū.[3]
20Hatsukaはつか二十日This breaks the pattern of using Chinese-style numbers. Hatachiis twenty in the Japanese counting system. See What are the Japanese numbers from 1 to 100?
21Nijūichi nichiにじゅういちにち二十一日
22Nijūni nichiにじゅうににち二十二日
23Nijūsan nichiにじゅうさんにち二十三日
24Nijūyokkaにじゅうよっか二十四日
25Nijūgo nichiにじゅうごにち二十五日
26Nijūroku nichiにじゅうろくにち二十六日
27Nijūshichi nichiにじゅうしちにち二十七日
28Nijūhachi nichiにじゅうはちにち二十八日
29Nijūku nichiにじゅうくにち二十九日Nijūku is more common than Nijūkyū.[4]
30Sanjū nichiさんじゅうにち三十日
31Sanjūichi nichiさんじゅういちにち三十一日

See also Where did the Japanese get their names for the weekdays?

References

  1. 「1日間」という言葉は正誤どちらでしょうか? at Yahoo! Chiebukuro
  2. つい‐たち【一‐日/朔=日/×朔】 from the Digital Daijisen
  3. 19日= じゅうく?じゅうきゅう? at lang8
  4. 29の読み at Yahoo! Chiebukuro

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