5.5. The months and the days

5.5.1. The months


Japanese lost the names of months hundreds of years ago, and now months are called with sequential numbers. After a number, just say the word (ga)(tu) "gatu", which means month.

EnglishJapanese
WordMeaning
January
(i)(ti)(ga)(tu)
itigatu
 The first month
February
(ni)(ga)(tu)
nigatu
 The second month
March
(sa)(n)(ga)(tu)
sangatu
 The third month
April
(si)(ga)(tu)
sigatu
 The fourth month
May
(go)(ga)(tu)
gogatu
 The fifth month
June
(ro)(ku)(ga)(tu)
rokugatu
 The sixth month
July
(si)(ti)(ga)(tu)
sitigatu
 The seventh month
August
(ha)(ti)(ga)(tu)
hatigatu
 The eighth month
September
(ku)(ga)(tu)
kugatu
 The ninth month
October
(zi)(small yu)(u)(ga)(tu)
zyûgatu
 The tenth month
November
(zi)(small yu)(u)(i)(ti)(ga)(tu)
zyûitigatu
 The eleventh month
December
(zi)(small yu)(u)(ni)(ga)(tu)
zyûnigatu
 The twelfth month

For the names of the months, the common digit names of 4, 7, and 9 are not used. ((yo)(n)(ga)(tu) "yongatu", (na)(na)(ga)(tu) "nanagatu", and (ki)(small yu)(u)(ga)(tu) "kyûgatu" are not used.)

5.5.2. The ancient names of the months


Here is a list of the ancient names of the months. Just skip this paragraph if you are not interested.

EnglishJapanese
WordMeaning
January
(mu)(tu)(ki)
mutuki
 The month of friendship
February
(ki)(sa)(ra)(gi)
kisaragi
 The month of the rebirth of plants
March
(ya)(yo)(i)
yayoi
 The month of growing plants
April
(u)(du)(ki)
uzuki
 The month of the rabbit, which is the fourth animal of the Chinese zodiac.
May
(sa)(tu)(ki)
satuki
 The month of rice sprouts
June
(mi)(na)(du)(ki)
minazuki
 The month of water
July
(hu)(mi)(du)(ki)
humizuki
 The month of letters
August
(ha)(du)(ki)
hazuki
 The month of leaves
September
(na)(ga)(tu)(ki)
nagatuki
 The month of long nights
October
(ka)(n)(na)(du)(ki)
kannazuki
 The month of gods
November
(si)(mo)(tu)(ki)
simotuki
 The month of frost
December
(si)(wa)(su)
siwasu
 The month of busy people

5.5.3. The days of the week


The days of the week are named after the sun, the moon, and planets. They are translations of the days of the week in European languages such as Latin. Sunday is the first day of the week in Japan.

EnglishJapanese
WordMeaning
Sunday
(ni)(ti)(yo)(u)(bi)
nitiyôbi
 The day of the sun ((ta)(i)(yo)(u) "taiyô")
Monday
(ge)(tu)(yo)(u)(bi)
getuyôbi
 The day of the moon ((tu)(ki) "tuki")
Tuesday
(ka)(yo)(u)(bi)
kayôbi
 The day of Mars ((ka)(se)(i) "kasei")
Wednesday
(su)(i)(yo)(u)(bi)
suiyôbi
 The day of Mercury ((su)(i)(se)(i) "suisei")
Thursday
(mo)(ku)(yo)(u)(bi)
mokuyôbi
 The day of Jupiter ((mo)(ku)(se)(i) "mokusei")
Friday
(ki)(n)(yo)(u)(bi)
kin'yôbi
 The day of Venus ((ki)(n)(se)(i) "kinsei")
Saturday
(do)(yo)(u)(bi)
doyôbi
 The day of Saturn ((do)(se)(i) "dosei")

The suffix (yo)(u)(bi) "yôbi" in the days of the week means shine + day. The suffix (se)(i) "sei" in the planets' names means star. The prefixes (ni)(ti) "nichi" and (ge)(tu) "getu" of Sunday and Monday come from different words that mean the sun and the moon respectively.

5.5.4. The seasons


The Japanese word for a season is (ki)(se)(tu) "kisetu". There are four season names in Japan.

EnglishJapaneseMonths
Spring
(ha)(ru)
haru
 March, April, May
Summer
(na)(tu)
natu
 June, July, August
Autumn
(a)(ki)
aki
 September, October, November
Winter
(hu)(yu)
huyu
 December, January, February

Actually Japan also has the following season from the mid of June to the mid of July, in which season there is much more rain than any other season:

(tu)(yu)
LH
tuyu

It is called the rainy season or just tsuyu in English.

5.5.5. The days of the month


To my regret, the names of the days of the month in Japanese are not as easy as the names of the months, because they preserve ancient names.

The days 11th through 31st except the 14th, 20th, and 24th have straighforward names. Their names are the combination of the number and word (ni)(ti) "niti", which means a day. For example, the 15th day is called (zi)(small yu)(u)(go)(ni)(ti) "zyûgoniti". The word (ni)(ti) sometimes becomes (n)(ti) "nti" in colloquial Japanese.

For other days, please look at the table below. Notice that they are similar to the traditional number names. The suffix (ka) "ka" (or possibly (u)(ka) "uka") was a counter for days in ancient Japanese. Using (ni)(ti) for the days listed below is understandable, so don't hesitate to use (ni)(ti) when you can't remember their real names.

EnglishJapanese
WordMeaning
1
(tu)(i)(ta)(ti)
tuitati
 The beginning of the month.
It came from (tu)(ki) "tuki" (month, moon) + (ta)(tu) "tatu" (to stand up)
2
(hu)(tu)(ka)
hutuka
 The second day
3
(mi)(small tu)(ka)
mikka
 The third day
4
(yo)(small tu)(ka)
yokka
 The fourth day
5
(i)(tu)(ka)
ituka
 The fifth day
6
(mu)(i)(ka)
muika
 The sixth day
7
(na)(no)(ka)
nanoka
 The seventh day
8
(yo)(u)(ka)
yôka
 The eighth day
9
(ko)(ko)(no)(ka)
kokonoka
 The ninth day
10
(to)(o)(ka)
tôka
 The tenth day
14
(zi)(small yu)(u)(yo)(small tu)(ka)
zyûyokka
 The fourteenth day
10
(zi)(small yu)(u)		 + 4th day
(yo)(small tu)(ka)
20
(ha)(tu)(ka)
hatuka
 The twentieth day
24
(ni)(zi)(small yu)(u)(yo)(small tu)(ka)
nizyûyokka
 The twenty-fourth day
20
(ni)(zi)(small yu)(u)		 + 4th day
(yo)(small tu)(ka)
(others)
A day number +(ni)(ti)
niti
 This is a suffix added to a number.

5.5.6. How to read date and time


In Japanese, it is necessary to say the biggest part first, then go down to smaller parts. This is because of the head-last rule of Japanese. This rule is applied not only for date but also for time and addresses.

Dates are read in the following order: a year, a month, a day of the month, a day of the week. To read a year, just add (ne)(n) "nen", which means a year, after the number.

Example: Monday, June 16th, 1997 is 1997 (ne)(n) 6 (ga)(tu) 16 (ni)(ti) (ge)(tu)(yo)(u)(bi) "sen kyûhyaku kyûzyû nananen rokugatu zyûrokuniti getuyôbi". The Japanese style of abbreviation of the date is 1997/6/16 (year/month/day).

Please remember the American style and the European style are also different from each other.

American: day-of-week, month/day/year
European: day-of-week, day/month/year
Asian: year/month/day, day-of-week

To read time, add (zi) "zi" after hours, (hu)(n) "hun" after minutes, and (bi)(small yo)(u) "byô" after seconds. For instance, 11:29:07 is 11 (zi) 29 (hu)(n) 7 (bi)(small yo)(u) "zyûitizi nizyû kyûhun nanabyô".

When you say both date and time, say date first. Please remember the biggest part comes first in Japanese.


Further readings:

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