Japanese numerical system
From Conservapedia
This entry makes use of Japanese characters and will require Japanese language support to be installed on your computer in order to avoid the characters being replaced by question marks, or blanked out.
The Numerical System in Japan is overwhelmingly "Western-style" (i.e. Arabic numerals), in other words, most numbers you'll see displayed in shops or on TV will be the familiar 1, 2, 3, etc. It is still common practice, however, especially in restaurants and more traditional establishments, or outside the big cities, to come across traditional Japanese numbers.
Much like the Arabic system, it is based on the number 10, but it differs in that it includes additional characters for 100, 1,000, and 10,000 and higher.
Interestingly, items in Japan are grouped in fives or tens, for example you will buy dishes in sets of five. Japanese has no native word for dozen, but it has come into use (as da-su) from Western influences.
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The Numbers
Counting in Japanese is actually quite easy. In order to count up to 99, all you need to know is the Japanese terms for 1 through 10, which are set out below.
| Arabic Number | Japanese | Pronunciation |
| 0 | 零 | rei (or zero) |
| 1 | 一 | ichi |
| 2 | 二 | ni |
| 3 | 三 | san |
| 4 | 四 | yon (or shi) |
| 5 | 五 | go |
| 6 | 六 | roku |
| 7 | 七 | nana (or shichi) |
| 8 | 八 | hachi |
| 9 | 九 | kyuu |
| 10 | 十 | jyuu |
After 10, come the higher numbers, which are:
| Arabic Number | Japanese | Pronunciation |
| 100 | 百 | hyaku |
| 1,000 | 千 | sen |
| 10,000 | 万 | man |
| 100,000,000 | 億 | oku |
Interestingly, Japanese high numbers are grouped on sets of four zeros rather than three, as those in the West are accustomed to. Therefore, one million would be hyaku man (“one hundred ten thousands”).
Counting in Japanese
From 1 to 10, it's fairly simple, for obvious reasons. After 10, the system remains relatively simple, for the same 10 characters are used in various combinations for the higher numbers. So, for example 12 would be written as "ten and two" or 十二 and pronounced jyuu san. 36 would be "three tens and six" or 三十六 (san jyuu roku) and 99 would be "nine tens and nine" (kyuu jyuu kyuu) or 九十九.
The system works the same for the higher numbers. Thus 101 is 百一 (hyaku ichi); 204 is 二百四 (ni hyaku yon). It can become a bit cumbersome with larger numbers, for example 23456 is 二万三千四十六 (ni man san sen yon hyaku go jyuu roku).
Here is a short list of examples:
| Arabic Number | Japanese | Pronunciation |
| 11 | 十一 | jyuu ichi |
| 12 | 十二 | jyuu ni |
| 21 | 二十一 | ni jyuu ichi |
| 23 | 二十三 | ni jyuu san |
| 30 | 三十 | san jyuu |
| 42 | 四十二 | yon jyuu ni |
| 50 | 五十 | go jyuu |
| 67 | 六十七 | roku jyuu nana |
| 150 | 百五十 | hyaku go jyuu |
| 200 | 二百 | ni hyaku |
| 300 | 三百 | san byaku |
| 1,500 | 千五百 | sen go hayaku |
| 2,000 | 二千 | ni sen |
| 10,000 | 万 | ichi man (one ten thousand) |
| 100,000 | 十万 | jyuu man (ten ten thousands) |
| 1,000,000 | 百万 | hyaku man (hundred ten thousands) |
Even if the number is displayed in "Western" style, the pronunciation remains the same. Thus, whilst "twenty one" can be displayed as either "21" or "二十一", it will always be pronounced "ni jyuu ichi".
Exceptions
Of course, it wouldn't be Japanese if there weren't exceptions to the rule to trip up the unwary beginner. These exceptions are fairly simple, however.
- Only use shi for "four" when the number is in the units column. So, you can use shi or yon in 3654, but only use yon for 40 (yon jyuu not shi jyuu), 400, 4,000, etc.
- Likewise, use "shichi" for "seven" only in the units column. So, you can use shichi or nana in 9607, but use nana for 70 (nana jyuu not shichi jyuu), 700, 7,000, etc.
- 600 is pronounced as roppyaku (not roku hyaku)
- 800 is pronounced as happyaku (not hachi hyaku)
- 8,000 is pronounced as hassen (not hachi sen)
The Numbers 4, 7 and 9
As with most kanji, the names ascribed to the numbers originate from Chinese. However, the names for the numbers 4, 7 and 9 were later changed, with the original names now used only in compound words and standard phrases now.
The digits 4 and 9 were renamed because shi and ku were homophones of "death" and "agony" respectively, and thus were replaced with the Japanese yon and kyuu. The digit 7 was renamed nana, because shichi sounds like ichi, which is, of course "one".
Currency
It is also worth mentioning that whilst you might be familiar with the yen symbol "¥" from business reports, it is unlikely you will see that symbol used on prices in Japan. Instead, the symbol 円 (en) will follow the quoted price. 円 means "circle" or "round" and refers, of course, to the shape of a coin.
Formal Numbers
In addition to the numbers listed above, Japanese also makes use of "formal" numbers, called daiji (大字). These days they are mostly used in legal and financial documents, as they are based on the more complex Chinese formal numbers, which reduces the potential for numbers such as 1 (一) or 2 (二) to be fraudulently altered. Formal numbers are only used for the numbers 1, 2, 3, 10 and 10,000, as follows:
| Number | Normal | Formal |
| 1 | 一 | 壱 |
| 2 | 二 | 弐 |
| 3 | 三 | 参 |
| 10 | 十 | 拾 |
| 10,000 | 万 | 万 or 萬 |
The reason formal numbers are used, is that it is easy to change a 1 (一) into a 2 (二) or 3 (三); a 3 (三) into a 5 (五), or a 10 (十) can be changed into 1,000 (千). The complexity of the formal numbers prevents this.
Although a visitor is unlikely to be confronted with legal or financial documents, one place where you will encounter formal numbering is on the banknotes currently in circulation. The four denomination yen notes are the 1,000-yen, 2,000-yen, 5,000-yen, and 10,000-yen, which bear the formal numbers 千, 弐千, 五千, and 壱万 (one ten thousand) respectively.
Numbers versus Counters
One of the tricky things about Japanese numbering is that there is more than one way of saying each number. The "standard" way of counting from 1 to 10 sees each numeral as a mathematical entity, that simply represents an abstract number.
The other way of counting is when you are talking about the number of actual, tangible objects. Thus, if you were "it" in a game of kick the can and had to count to one hundred, you would say "ichi ni san...". However, if counting out how many sweets you have in your hand you would say "hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu, ..."
The former can be called "numbers", and the latter, "counters". However, it does not end there, but gets even trickier. Different kinds of objects require different kinds of counters. They can be said to be similar to English expressions such as "a cup of ~," "a sheet of ~" and so on. There are a variety of counters, often based on the shape of the object. The counters are attached directly to a number, for example enpitsu ni-hon (two pencils). The counters can be grouped as follows:
- Objects
| Counter | Represents |
| hon 本 | Long, cylindrical objects: trees, pens, etc. |
| mai 枚 | Flat, thin objects: paper, sheets, etc. |
| ko 個 | Broad category of small and compact items; also military units |
| hai 杯 | Liquid in cups, glasses, bowls, etc. |
| satsu 冊 | Bound objects,books, magazines, etc. |
| dai 台 | Vehicles, machines, etc. |
| kai 階 | Floors of a building |
| ken 軒 | Houses, buildings, etc. |
| soku 足 | pairs of footwear, socks, sandals, etc. |
| tsuu 通 | Letters |
- Duration
| Counter | Represents |
| jikan 時間 | Hour, as in ni-jikan = 2 hours |
| fun 分 | Minute, as in go-fun = 5 minutes |
| byou 秒 | Second, as in sanjuu-byou = 30 seconds |
| hi 日 | Day, as in go-hi = 5 days |
| ka 日 | Day of the month, as in go-ka = 5th day |
| shuukan 週間 | Week, as in san-shuukan = 3 weeks |
| kagetsu か月 | Month, as in ni-kagetsu = 2 months |
| nenkan 年間 | Year or school grades, as in juu-nenkan = 10 years |
| ban / ya 晩 / 夜 | Nights, as in san-ban = 3 nights |
| haku 泊 | Nights (of a stay in e.g. a hotel |
- Animals
| Counter | Represents |
| hiki 匹 | Insects, fish, small animals (dogs, cats, etc.) |
| tou 頭 | Large animals, cows, horses, etc. |
| wa 羽 | Birds |
- Frequency
| Counter | Represents |
| kai 回 | Times, as in ni-kai(twice) |
| do 度 | Times, as in ichi-do (once) |
| bai 倍 | Multiples, as in ni-bai (two-fold) |
- Order
| Counter | Represents |
| ban 番 | Ordinal numbers, such as ichi-ban (first place, number one) |
| tou 等 | Class or grade, such as san-tou (third grade) |
- People
| Counter | Represents |
| nin 人 | Counting people, so san-nin is 3 people. However, hitori (one person) and
futari (two people) are exceptions here. |
| mei 名 | More formal than nin |
- Writing
| Counter | Represents |
| ba 場 | Scenes of a play, so ni-ba is 2 scenes. |
| bun 文 | Sentences so ichi-bun is one sentence |
| danaku 段落 | Paragraphs |
| go / gon 語 / 言 | Words |
| gyou 行 | Lines of text |
| bun 文 | Sentences so ichi-bun is one sentence |
| ji 字 | Number of letters, kanji or kana |
| kaku 画 | Number of strokes in a kanji |
| pēji 頁 | Number of pages |
| mon 問 | Questions |
- Other
| Counter | Represents |
| sai 才 or 歳 | Age, as in go-sai (5 years' old) |
To further complicate matters, things which are deemed to be shapeless, or that are not clearly categorized are counted by using Native Japanese numbers.
Examples
It is best to show the above using a couple of examples. Remember that the word order is different from English. A typical order is "noun + particle + quantity + verbs."
- Example 1
本を二冊買いました
Hon o ni-satsu kaimashita
I bought two books (lit: book two bought)
- Example 2
コーヒーを二杯ください
Koohii o ni-hai kudasai
Please bring two coffees (lit: coffee two (do for me) please). By the way, because "coffee" is not a native Japanese word, it is written in katakana, instead of kanji, or hiragana.
Counting People
The only thing you really need to remember, as a non-native speaker of the language, is the trick relating to the numbers of persons.
If you enter a restaurant alone and are asked "nan nin desu ka?" (How many people?), a reply of "hitotsu", or "ichi" will probably earn you a blank stare. If you remember that one human is hitori and two are futari, the rest is easy. After two, simply add "nin" to the end of the "number", and you'll create the "counter" for the number of humans who will be joining you.
Dates, Weekdays and Months
As with a Japanese numbers, counters also play a role when writing out the date. Because of the specificity and importance, Japanese dates have been given their own page.
