7 Surprising Truths About Japanese Days of the Week – What’s Easy, What’s Not

Learn­ing the Japan­ese days of week might sound tough at first, espe­cial­ly with all the kan­ji involved. But the good news is, once you under­stand the pat­tern, it’s actu­al­ly sim­ple and log­i­cal. All sev­en days end in “ようび” (youbi), which basi­cal­ly means “day of the week.”

Each day starts with a unique kan­ji that rep­re­sents ele­ments like fire, water, or the moon. These are easy to rec­og­nize with just a lit­tle prac­tice. Just like in Eng­lish, the days go from Mon­day to Sun­day, and the struc­ture stays con­sis­tent.

Whether you’re sched­ul­ing a meet­ing or book­ing a trip in Japan, know­ing the Japan­ese days of week will def­i­nite­ly come in handy. Stick with this guide, and you’ll be read­ing cal­en­dars like a local.

How to Say Japanese days of week?

The Japan­ese days of the week fol­low a pat­tern that’s easy to pick up once you see the log­ic behind it. Mon­day is get­suyōbi (月曜日), Tues­day is kayōbi (火曜日), Wednes­day is suiyōbi (水曜日), Thurs­day is mokuyōbi (木曜日), Fri­day is kin’yōbi (金曜日), Sat­ur­day is doyōbi (土曜日), and Sun­day is nichiyōbi (日曜日). Each name ends in “yōbi”, which means “day of the week”, while the first part comes from nature or celes­tial ele­ments like the moon, fire, water, and the sun—giving each day a unique mean­ing root­ed in tra­di­tion.

The Story Behind Japanese Weekday Names: Nature, Planets, and Meaning

Let’s break it down and explore where each Japan­ese days of week name real­ly comes from. Like many oth­er lan­guages, Japan­ese names for the days of the week are tied to astron­o­my and mythol­o­gy — and they trace all the way back to ancient Chi­na. The key part here is the char­ac­ter 曜 (よう, yō), which hints at their ori­gin. In Chi­nese, this char­ac­ter refers to some­thing that shines — like a celes­tial body. Think of the sun, the moon, and the five plan­ets you can see with­out a tele­scope: Mer­cury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Sat­urn. These are known as the “sev­en lumi­nar­ies,” and they’re the rea­son we have sev­en days — each one linked to a dif­fer­ent one of these glow­ing giants in the sky.

Sunday: 日曜日 (にちようび, Nichiyōbi)

日 means “sun.” So, 日曜日 lit­er­al­ly means “sun day.” This day also con­nects to Amat­era­su, the sun god­dess in Shin­to belief.

Monday: 月曜日 (げつようび, Getsuyōbi)

月 stands for “moon.” Like in many oth­er cul­tures, the moon is linked with Mon­day in Japan­ese as well.

Tuesday: 火曜日 (かようび, Kayōbi)

火 means “fire.” This day is tied to Mars, often called the “Fire Star” in old Japan­ese astron­o­my because of its red glow.

Wednesday: 水曜日 (すいようび, Suiyōbi)

水 means “water.” It rep­re­sents Mer­cury, known as the “Water Star.”

Thursday: 木曜日 (もくようび, Mokuyōbi)

木 means “wood” or “tree.” This refers to Jupiter, which was con­sid­ered the “Wood Star,” sym­bol­iz­ing growth.

Friday: 金曜日 (きんようび, Kinyōbi)

金 stands for “gold” or “met­al.” It con­nects to Venus, called the “Met­al Star” in old astron­o­my.

Saturday: 土曜日 (どようび, Doyōbi)

土 means “earth.” This day is relat­ed to Sat­urn, also known as the “Earth Star.”

How to Talk About Your Week Like a Native Speak­er

今日 (きょう, kyō) – Today

昨日 (きのう, kinō) – Yes­ter­day

一昨日 (おととい, oto­toi) – The day before yes­ter­day

明日 (あした, ashita) – Tomor­row

明後日 (あさって, asat­te) – The day after tomor­row

この間 (このあいだ, kono aida) – The oth­er day / A few days ago

平日 (へいじつ, hei­jit­su) – Week­day

週末 (しゅうまつ, shū­mat­su) – Week­end

Talking Naturally with Days of the Week in Japanese

Once you get the hang of the Japan­ese days of the week, you’ll see them used in lots of every­day phras­es. Here are a few use­ful ones to help you sound more nat­ur­al in con­ver­sa­tions:

• 月曜日から金曜日まで (Get­suyōbi kara Kinyōbi made)
• “From Mon­day to Fri­day”
• This is a help­ful phrase when talk­ing about your work or school week.
• 金曜日の夜は何をしますか？ (Kinyōbi no yoru wa nani o shi­ma­su ka?)
• “What are you doing Fri­day night?”
• Per­fect for mak­ing week­end plans or chat­ting with friends.
• 日曜の憂鬱 (Nichiyō no yūut­su)
• “The Sun­day blues”
• This describes the feel­ing of stress or sad­ness that comes when the week­end ends and Mon­day is just around the cor­ner.

Using these sim­ple phras­es can help you feel more con­fi­dent and make your Japan­ese sound more nat­ur­al and real.

Sure! Here’s a unique and well-orga­nized table show­ing how Japan­ese days of week con­nects to a nat­ur­al ele­ment:

Kan­ji	Pro­nun­ci­a­tion	Mean­ing (Ele­ment)	Asso­ci­at­ed Day
日	nichi	Sun	Sun­day (Nichiyōbi)
月	get­su	Moon	Mon­day (Get­suyōbi)
火	ka	Fire	Tues­day (Kayōbi)
水	sui	Water	Wednes­day (Suiyōbi)
木	moku	Wood/Tree	Thurs­day (Mokuyōbi)
金	kin	Gold/Metal	Fri­day (Kinyōbi)
土	do	Earth	Sat­ur­day (Doyōbi)

This con­nec­tion to the nat­ur­al ele­ments makes learn­ing Japan­ese week­days both inter­est­ing and mem­o­rable!

Learn­ing the Japan­ese days of week might sound tough at first, espe­cial­ly with all the kan­ji involved. But the good news is, once you under­stand the pat­tern, it’s actu­al­ly sim­ple and log­i­cal. All sev­en days end in “ようび” (youbi), which basi­cal­ly means “day of the week.”

Each day starts with a unique kan­ji that rep­re­sents ele­ments like fire, water, or the moon. These are easy to rec­og­nize with just a lit­tle prac­tice. Just like in Eng­lish, the days go from Mon­day to Sun­day, and the struc­ture stays con­sis­tent.

Whether you’re sched­ul­ing a meet­ing or book­ing a trip in Japan, know­ing the Japan­ese days of week will def­i­nite­ly come in handy. Stick with this guide, and you’ll be read­ing cal­en­dars like a local.

How to Say Japanese days of week?

The Japan­ese days of the week fol­low a pat­tern that’s easy to pick up once you see the log­ic behind it. Mon­day is get­suyōbi (月曜日), Tues­day is kayōbi (火曜日), Wednes­day is suiyōbi (水曜日), Thurs­day is mokuyōbi (木曜日), Fri­day is kin’yōbi (金曜日), Sat­ur­day is doyōbi (土曜日), and Sun­day is nichiyōbi (日曜日). Each name ends in “yōbi”, which means “day of the week”, while the first part comes from nature or celes­tial ele­ments like the moon, fire, water, and the sun—giving each day a unique mean­ing root­ed in tra­di­tion.

The Story Behind Japanese Weekday Names: Nature, Planets, and Meaning

The Japan­ese days of the week aren’t just arbi­trary names—they’re a fas­ci­nat­ing blend of ancient astron­o­my, mythol­o­gy, and cul­tur­al exchange root­ed in China’s “sev­en lumi­nar­ies” (七曜, shichiyō). At the heart of this sys­tem lies the kan­ji 曜 (yō), mean­ing “to shine”—a nod to the celes­tial bod­ies that inspired each Japan­ese days of week:

• Sun (日) → Sun­day (Nichiyōbi) – Linked to Amat­era­su, Japan’s sun god­dess.
• Moon (月) → Mon­day (Get­suyōbi) – A glob­al pat­tern (think “Mon­day = Moon-day”).
• Fire (火) → Tues­day (Kayōbi) – Tied to Mars, the “fire star” in East Asian astrol­o­gy.
• Water (水) → Wednes­day (Suiyōbi) – Rep­re­sents Mer­cury, the “water star.”
• Wood (木) → Thurs­day (Mokuyōbi) – Sym­bol­izes Jupiter’s growth ener­gy.
• Met­al (金) → Fri­day (Kinyōbi) – Con­nects to Venus’s radi­ant beau­ty.
• Earth (土) → Sat­ur­day (Doyōbi) – Reflects Saturn’s ground­ing influ­ence.

This sys­tem, import­ed from Tang Dynasty Chi­na over 1,200 years ago, shows how Japan merged sci­ence and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty into every­day lan­guage. Today, these names remind us that the Japan­ese week­days are more than timekeepers—they’re a cos­mic code wait­ing to be decod­ed!

Sunday: 日曜日 (にちようび, Nichiyōbi)

日 means “sun.” So, 日曜日 lit­er­al­ly means “sun day.” This day also con­nects to Amat­era­su, the sun god­dess in Shin­to belief.

Monday: 月曜日 (げつようび, Getsuyōbi)

月 stands for “moon.” Like in many oth­er cul­tures, the moon is linked with Mon­day in Japan­ese as well.

Tuesday: 火曜日 (かようび, Kayōbi)

火 means “fire.” This day is tied to Mars, often called the “Fire Star” in old Japan­ese astron­o­my because of its red glow.

Wednesday: 水曜日 (すいようび, Suiyōbi)

水 means “water.” It rep­re­sents Mer­cury, known as the “Water Star.”

Thursday: 木曜日 (もくようび, Mokuyōbi)

木 means “wood” or “tree.” This refers to Jupiter, which was con­sid­ered the “Wood Star,” sym­bol­iz­ing growth.

Friday: 金曜日 (きんようび, Kinyōbi)

金 stands for “gold” or “met­al.” It con­nects to Venus, called the “Met­al Star” in old astron­o­my.

Saturday: 土曜日 (どようび, Doyōbi)

土 means “earth.” This day is relat­ed to Sat­urn, also known as the “Earth Star.”

How to Talk About Your Week Like a Native Speaker

今日 (きょう, kyō) – Today

昨日 (きのう, kinō) – Yes­ter­day

一昨日 (おととい, oto­toi) – The day before yes­ter­day

明日 (あした, ashita) – Tomor­row

明後日 (あさって, asat­te) – The day after tomor­row

この間 (このあいだ, kono aida) – The oth­er day / A few days ago

平日 (へいじつ, hei­jit­su) – Week­day

週末 (しゅうまつ, shū­mat­su) – Week­end

Everyday Phrases with Japanese Weekday Names

Talking Naturally with Days of the Week in Japanese

Once you get the hang of the Japan­ese days of the week, you’ll see them used in lots of every­day phras­es. Here are a few use­ful ones to help you sound more nat­ur­al in con­ver­sa­tions:

• 月曜日から金曜日まで (Get­suyōbi kara Kinyōbi made)
• “From Mon­day to Fri­day”
• This is a help­ful phrase when talk­ing about your work or school week.
• 金曜日の夜は何をしますか？ (Kinyōbi no yoru wa nani o shi­ma­su ka?)
• “What are you doing Fri­day night?”
• Per­fect for mak­ing week­end plans or chat­ting with friends.
• 日曜の憂鬱 (Nichiyō no yūut­su)
• “The Sun­day blues”
• This describes the feel­ing of stress or sad­ness that comes when the week­end ends and Mon­day is just around the cor­ner.

Using these sim­ple phras­es can help you feel more con­fi­dent and make your Japan­ese sound more nat­ur­al and real.

Sure! Here’s a unique and well-orga­nized table show­ing how each day of the week in Japan­ese con­nects to a nat­ur­al ele­ment:

Kan­ji	Pro­nun­ci­a­tion	Mean­ing (Ele­ment)	Asso­ci­at­ed Day
日	nichi	Sun	Sun­day (Nichiyōbi)
月	get­su	Moon	Mon­day (Get­suyōbi)
火	ka	Fire	Tues­day (Kayōbi)
水	sui	Water	Wednes­day (Suiyōbi)
木	moku	Wood/Tree	Thurs­day (Mokuyōbi)
金	kin	Gold/Metal	Fri­day (Kinyōbi)
土	do	Earth	Sat­ur­day (Doyōbi)

This con­nec­tion to the nat­ur­al ele­ments makes learn­ing Japan­ese week­days both inter­est­ing and mem­o­rable!

Conclusion:

Mas­ter­ing the Japan­ese days of the week—Nichiyōbi (Sun­day), Get­suyōbi (Mon­day), Kayōbi (Tues­day), Suiyōbi (Wednes­day), Mokuyōbi (Thurs­day), Kinyōbi (Fri­day), and Doyōbi (Saturday)—is eas­i­er once you under­stand their ele­men­tal mean­ings and celes­tial ori­gins. Each day’s kan­ji con­nects to nature (sun, moon, fire, water, etc.) and ancient Chi­nese astron­o­my, mak­ing them log­i­cal and mem­o­rable.

With this guide, you’ve learned:
✔️ Japan­ese day names with Eng­lish equiv­a­lents
✔️ The cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance behind each kan­ji
✔️ Prac­ti­cal phras­es for dai­ly con­ver­sa­tions

Now you’re ready to sched­ule plans, read cal­en­dars, and speak nat­u­ral­ly about dates in Japan­ese! Keep prac­tic­ing, and soon the Japan­ese days of the week will feel like sec­ond nature.