Japanese Days of the Week: Kanji, Meaning and a Memory Trick
The Japanese days of the week all end in 曜日 (yōbi, day of the week), and each one starts with a kanji for the sun, the moon or a natural element. Sunday is 日曜日 (nichiyōbi), the sun day, and Monday is 月曜日 (getsuyōbi), the moon day. The other five use fire, water, wood, gold and earth. Learn those seven kanji and the whole week falls into place.
What are the Japanese days of the week?
Here are all seven, starting with Sunday, the way many Japanese calendars do.
| Day | Kanji | Hiragana | Romaji | First kanji means |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | 日曜日 | にちようび | nichiyōbi | 日 sun |
| Monday | 月曜日 | げつようび | getsuyōbi | 月 moon |
| Tuesday | 火曜日 | かようび | kayōbi | 火 fire |
| Wednesday | 水曜日 | すいようび | suiyōbi | 水 water |
| Thursday | 木曜日 | もくようび | mokuyōbi | 木 wood, tree |
| Friday | 金曜日 | きんようび | kin'yōbi | 金 gold, metal |
| Saturday | 土曜日 | どようび | doyōbi | 土 earth, soil |
The apostrophe in kin'yōbi shows that ん (n) and よ (yo) are said separately: kin, then yōbi, not ki-nyō-bi.
These seven words appear in most study lists for the JLPT N5, the first level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. You can see more words at that level in our JLPT N5 vocabulary list.
What does 曜日 (yōbi) mean?
曜日 (yōbi) simply means day of the week. The first kanji, 曜, is linked to the bodies that shine in the sky, and 日 here means day. So 月曜日 is, word for word, the moon day of the week.
In speech and in writing, you will often hear a shorter form without the last 日: 月曜 (getsuyō), 金曜 (kin'yō) and so on. On calendars, timetables and receipts, the day is often cut to a single kanji in brackets, for example 5日(金) for Friday the 5th.
The names come from the sun, the moon and the five planets you can see without a telescope. In Japanese, the planets share the same kanji: 火星 (kasei, Mars), 水星 (suisei, Mercury), 木星 (mokusei, Jupiter), 金星 (kinsei, Venus) and 土星 (dosei, Saturn). This seven-day system reached Japan from China long ago, and came into everyday use after Japan adopted the Western calendar in the 1870s.
Is there an easy way to remember them?
Yes. Start with two links to English. Sunday is the sun day (日) and Monday is the moon day (月), just as in Japanese. Then remember the other five as one short list: fire, water, wood, gold, earth.
Say it a few times: sun, moon, fire, water, wood, gold, earth. Once the order sticks, you only need the kanji. They are among the simplest you will meet, and each one is a common word in its own right, such as 水 (mizu, water) and 木 (ki, tree). Our guide to how many kanji there are explains why starting with everyday kanji like these makes sense.
How do you ask what day it is in Japanese?
今日は何曜日ですか。
Kyō wa nan'yōbi desu ka.
What day is it today?
金曜日です。
Kin'yōbi desu.
It is Friday.
The particle は is said wa here, and it marks today as the topic. Our article on wa vs ga explains how it works.
To say on a day, add に (ni) after it:
月曜日に映画を見ます。
Getsuyōbi ni eiga o mimasu.
I will watch a film on Monday.
For something that happens every week, put 毎週 (maishū, every week) in front: 毎週土曜日 (maishū doyōbi, every Saturday).
How do you say weekend and weekday?
- 週末 (shūmatsu, weekend)
- 平日 (heijitsu, weekday)
- 土日 (donichi, Saturday and Sunday), a short, everyday way to say the weekend
For example, 週末は何をしますか。 (Shūmatsu wa nani o shimasu ka, What are you doing at the weekend?)
Practise the week with LanguaCards
In LanguaCards, every Japanese card has audio and romaji, so you hear getsuyōbi and kin'yōbi as you read them. You can also make your own pack with all seven days and review them together until the whole week feels familiar.