The ten core number kanji
Japanese numbers are built from ten basic kanji that you can combine to form any number. Once you learn these ten characters, you can count to 9,999 without learning a single additional symbol.
The ten characters are: 一 (1, ichi), 二 (2, ni), 三 (3, san), 四 (4, shi/yon), 五 (5, go), 六 (6, roku), 七 (7, shichi/nana), 八 (8, hachi), 九 (9, ku/kyuu), 十 (10, juu). Memorise these and the rest is arithmetic.
How numbers combine
Japanese uses a base-10 positional system. Eleven is 十一 (juuichi — ten-one). Twenty is 二十 (nijuu — two-ten). Thirty-five is 三十五 (sanjuugo — three-ten-five). The pattern is perfectly regular — there are no irregular words like "eleven" or "twelve" as in English.
Hundred is 百 (hyaku), thousand is 千 (sen), and ten-thousand is 万 (man). Japanese groups numbers in units of ten thousand rather than thousands, which is worth knowing when you encounter large figures.
四 has two readings: shi and yon. The reading shi sounds identical to the word for death (死), so yon is preferred in everyday speech. Similarly, 九 (ku) sounds like suffering (苦), so kyuu is often used instead.
Where kanji numbers appear
Kanji numbers show up in formal writing, dates, traditional contexts, and price tags at some shops. Modern Japanese also uses Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3) widely. Train schedules, receipts, and menus will mix both systems freely.
One place kanji numbers are essential: the Japanese calendar. Years are expressed in era names followed by a kanji number — 令和七年 means year 7 of the Reiwa era (2025).
Practice reading Japanese
Hiragana and katakana are the foundation of reading any Japanese text.