Japanese Days of the Week: A Complete Guide for Learners                                                                                                                                     Mastering the days of the week is a key milestone in your Japanese language learning journey. Whether you’re scheduling a meeting, catching up with friends, or simply following along with Japanese content, knowing how to identify and pronounce days in Japanese is essential. Beyond communication, it’s also a window into Japan’s rich cultural and linguistic history.

 

This guide cov­ers every­thing you need to enhance your under­stand­ing of the days of the week in Japanese—from their struc­ture and his­tor­i­cal ori­gins to tips for mem­o­riza­tion and fun phras­es. By the time you’re done with this post, you’ll not only know the words but also have the tools to remem­ber and use them effec­tive­ly.

 

Understanding the Days of the Week in Japanese

Days of the week in Japan­ese are more than just vocabulary—they reflect the influ­ence of plan­e­tary ele­ments, mythol­o­gy, and the struc­ture of dai­ly life in Japan. Sim­i­lar to many West­ern lan­guages, the Japan­ese days of the week are based on celes­tial bod­ies and nat­ur­al ele­ments.

Here’s a quick break­down to start:

• Kan­ji (Chi­nese char­ac­ters): Rep­re­sent the day name
• Hira­gana (pho­net­ic script): Guides pro­nun­ci­a­tion
• Roman­iza­tion (roma­ji): Rep­re­sents the pho­net­ic sound of the word in the Roman alpha­bet

Every Japan­ese week­day ends with the char­ac­ter 曜 (you), which trans­lates to “day of the week.”

The Basic Structure:

Japan­ese

Roman­iza­tion

Eng­lish Trans­la­tion

月曜日 get­suy­oubi Mon­day

火曜日 kay­oubi Tues­day

水曜日 suiy­oubi Wednes­day

木曜日 mokuy­oubi Thurs­day

金曜日 kiny­oubi Fri­day

土曜日 doy­oubi Sat­ur­day

日曜日 nichiy­oubi Sun­day

Notice a pat­tern? Each day has roots in the five ele­ments and the celes­tial sys­tem, much like how West­ern days cor­re­spond to Roman gods or plan­ets.

 

Breaking Down Each Day of the Week

Here’s a clos­er look at each day, includ­ing its kan­ji, pro­nun­ci­a­tion, and mean­ing.

Monday — 月曜日 (Getsuyoubi)

• Kan­ji Break­down: 月 (get­su) means “moon.” 曜日 (you) means “day off.”
• Mean­ing: Moon-day, akin to “Mon­day” in Eng­lish.
• Pro­nun­ci­a­tion: geh-too-yoh-bee

Tuesday — 火曜日 (Kayoubi)

• Kan­ji Break­down: 火 (ka) means “fire.”
• Mean­ing: Fire-day, rep­re­sent­ing pas­sion and ener­gy.
• Pro­nun­ci­a­tion: kah-yoh-bee

Wednesday — 水曜日 (Suiyoubi)

• Kan­ji Break­down: 水 (sui) means “water.”
• Mean­ing: Water-day, rep­re­sent­ing flow and adapt­abil­i­ty.
• Pro­nun­ci­a­tion: soo-ee-yoh-bee

Thursday — 木曜日 (Mokuyoubi)

• Kan­ji Break­down: 木 (moku) means “tree.”

**Mon­day (月曜日 — Get­suy­oubi)**  

- **Kan­ji Break­down:** 月 (get­su) means “moon.”  

- **Mean­ing:** Moon-day, rep­re­sent­ing calm­ness and intro­spec­tion.  

- **Pro­nun­ci­a­tion:** ge-tsu-yoh-bee  

 

**Tuesday (火曜日 — Kayoubi)**  

- **Kan­ji Break­down:** 火 (ka) means “fire.”  

- **Mean­ing:** Fire-day, sym­bol­iz­ing ener­gy and pas­sion.  

- **Pro­nun­ci­a­tion:** ka-yoh-bee  

 

**Wednes­day (水曜日 — Suiy­oubi)**  

- **Kan­ji Break­down:** 水 (sui) means “water.”  

- **Mean­ing:** Water-day, asso­ci­at­ed with flu­id­i­ty and adapt­abil­i­ty.  

- **Pro­nun­ci­a­tion:** sui-yoh-bee  

 

**Friday (金曜日 — Kinyoubi)**  

- **K**Japanese Day Names and Their Mean­ings**

 

**Fri­day (金曜日 — Kiny­oubi)**  

- **Kan­ji Break­down:** 金 (kin) means “gold.”  

- **Mean­ing:** Gold Day, empha­siz­ing pros­per­i­ty and indul­gence.  

- **Pro­nun­ci­a­tion:** keen-yoh-bee  

 

**Saturday (土曜日 — Doyoubi)**  

- **Kan­ji Break­down:** 土 (do) means “earth.”  

- **Mean­ing:** Earth Day, focus­ing on ground­ing and reflec­tion.  

- **Pronunci­a­tion:** doh-yoh-bee  

**Sunday (日曜日 — Nichiyoubi)**  

- **Kan­ji Break­down:** 日 (nichi) means “sun” or “day.”  

- **Mean­ing:** Sun Day, rep­re­sent­ing bright­ness and pos­i­tiv­i­ty.  

• - **Pro­nun­ci­a­tion:** nee-chee-yoh-bee sun.”
• Mean­ing: Sun-day, a day of vital­i­ty and warmth.
• Pro­nun­ci­a­tion: nee-chee-yoh-bee

By learn­ing the kan­ji and their mean­ings, you’ll gain deep­er insight into Japan­ese cul­ture and its ties to nature and the cos­mos.

“Learn­ing the kan­ji for each day helps learn­ers con­nect with the lan­guage’s his­tor­i­cal depth,” notes Hiroshi Yamamo­to, a native Japan­ese lan­guage tutor.

 

Historical and Cultural Origins

Why are the Japan­ese days of the week so close­ly tied to celes­tial ele­ments? The ori­gins lie in both Chi­nese and West­ern astrol­o­gy. Dur­ing the 6th cen­tu­ry, Japan adopt­ed Chi­nese cos­mol­o­gy, blend­ing it with their own folk­lore and Bud­dhist tra­di­tions.

Connections to Planets:

• Monday’s moon ties back to astrol­o­gy as a sym­bol of change.
• Friday’s gold relates to Venus, which rep­re­sents love and lux­u­ry.
• Sunday cel­e­brates Amat­era­su, the Sun God­dess in Japan­ese mythol­o­gy.

These con­nec­tions aren’t just linguistic—they’re cul­tur­al arti­facts sym­bol­iz­ing har­mo­ny between celes­tial and nat­ur­al forces.

“Understanding the days of the week in Japanese is foundational for effective communication and cultural appreciation,” says Dr. Tanaka, a Japanese linguistics professor.

 

Powerful Tips to Memorize the Days of the Week

Mem­o­riz­ing sev­en for­eign words can feel over­whelm­ing, but these strate­gies can make it eas­i­er:

1. Mnemon­ics:

Cre­ate phras­es like “Giant Cats Swim More Kind­ly Down Nar­row” to match the days’ first syl­la­bles (Get­su, Ka, Sui, Moku, Kin, Do, Nichi).

1. Flash­cards:

Use apps like Anki or phys­i­cal cards to test your­self on kan­ji, hira­gana, and roman­ized rep­re­sen­ta­tions.

1. Dai­ly Prac­tice:

Inte­grate the words into your sched­ule by label­ing your plan­ner or cal­en­dar in Japan­ese.

1. Songs and Rhymes:

Find or cre­ate a catchy tune using the days to make them stick.

1. Full Sen­tences:

Prac­tice com­plete sen­tences like, “火曜日にミーティングがあります。” (Kay­oubi ni meetingu ga ari­ma­su, “I have a meet­ing on Tues­day”).

“Incor­po­rat­ing the days of the week into dai­ly con­ver­sa­tion prac­tice accel­er­ates mas­tery,” sug­gests Emi­ly Carter, author of Japan­ese for Begin­ners.

 

Fun Facts and Phrases About Days of the Week

• 🗓 Lucky Days:

Accord­ing to the Rokuyo cal­en­dar sys­tem, cer­tain days are con­sid­ered more aus­pi­cious for wed­dings, busi­ness open­ings, and trav­el.

• 🌞 Com­mon Phrase:

“日曜日は休みです。” (Nichiy­oubi wa yasu­mi desu) — “Sun­day is a day off.”

• 🔄 Weekly Idiom:

“七転び八起き” (nanako­ro­bi yao­ki) — “Fall sev­en times, get up eight.” While not direct­ly tied to weeks, it rep­re­sents resilience, fit­ting the theme of week­ly progress.

 

Why Learning the Days of the Week Enhances Your Japanese Skills

Mas­ter­ing the days of the week unlocks count­less oppor­tu­ni­ties in your Japan­ese learn­ing:

1. Dai­ly Com­mu­ni­ca­tion:

Sched­ul­ing, plan­ning, and ask­ing ques­tions about dates become much eas­i­er.

1. Cul­tur­al Con­nec­tion:

Gain insights into how the Japan­ese lan­guage inter­twines with celes­tial and his­tor­i­cal influ­ences.

1. Con­fi­dence Build­ing:

Know­ing foun­da­tion­al vocabu­lary like days of the week boosts your over­all con­fi­dence in the lan­guage.