Guide
The 7 Kanji for the Days of the Week
If you learn seven kanji, you can read every day of the week on a Japanese calendar. Each day is named after one of the seven “lights” in the sky: the sun, the moon, and the five planets you can see without a telescope. English does the same thing: Sunday is the sun’s day, Monday is the moon’s day, and Saturday is Saturn’s day.
The pattern: ___曜日
Every day of the week ends with 曜日 (YOUBI), “day of the week.” Put one kanji in front of it, and you have the name of the day.
| Day | Japanese | Reading | The kanji means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 月曜日 | げつようび GETSUYOUBI | moon |
| Tuesday | 火曜日 | かようび KAYOUBI | fire (Mars) |
| Wednesday | 水曜日 | すいようび SUIYOUBI | water (Mercury) |
| Thursday | 木曜日 | もくようび MOKUYOUBI | tree (Jupiter) |
| Friday | 金曜日 | きんようび KINYOUBI | gold, metal (Venus) |
| Saturday | 土曜日 | どようび DOYOUBI | soil, earth (Saturn) |
| Sunday | 日曜日 | にちようび NICHIYOUBI | sun |
Tap a kanji to open its page with the readings, stroke order, and a short video.
Why fire, water, tree, gold, and soil?
In Japanese, the planets are named after five elements. Mars is 火星 (KASEI, the “fire star”), Mercury is 水星 (SUISEI, the “water star”), Jupiter is 木星 (MOKUSEI, the “tree star”), Venus is 金星 (KINSEI, the “gold star”), and Saturn is 土星 (DOSEI, the “soil star”). So Tuesday is not really “fire day.” It is the day of the fire star, Mars. Spanish and French work the same way: martes and mardi come from Mars.
The readings are on-yomi
Most of these kanji have a short native Japanese reading (kun-yomi) when they stand alone: 月 is TSUKI (moon), 火 is HI (fire), 水 is MIZU (water), 木 is KI (tree). But in the days of the week, you hear the on-yomi, the readings that came from Chinese: GETSU, KA, SUI, MOKU, KIN, DO, NICHI.
- 土 is read DO here. You will also see TO in other words, and TSUCHI when it means soil.
- 日 appears twice in 日曜日: first as NICHI (sun), then as BI in YOUBI (day).
- On calendars and timetables, the days are often shortened to one kanji: 月 火 水 木 金 土 日. A sign that says 土日 (DONICHI) means “Saturday and Sunday,” the weekend.
A memory trick: the week as a picture
Picture the night sky with the moon (月). Below it, a campfire (火) by a river (水), next to a tree (木). Someone has buried gold (金) in the soil (土), and in the morning, the sun (日) comes up. That is Monday to Sunday, in order.
Example sentences
きょうは 何曜日ですか。
KYOU WA NANYOUBI DESU KA.
What day is it today?
月曜日に 学校へ 行きます。
GETSUYOUBI NI GAKKOU E IKIMASU.
I go to school on Monday.
金曜日の よるは ひまです。
KINYOUBI NO YORU WA HIMA DESU.
I am free on Friday night.
日曜日は 店が 休みです。
NICHIYOUBI WA MISE GA YASUMI DESU.
The shop is closed on Sundays.
The kanji 休 in the last sentence means “rest.” Its whole story is in Why Does 休 Mean “Rest”?
Next
Some of these kanji look a lot like others. 土 and 士, or 木 and 本, are easy to mix up. See Look-Alike Kanji for Beginners.
Stroke order data: KanjiVG © Ulrich Apel, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. The kanji graphics on this page are drawn from KanjiVG data (stroke width and color changed, animated) and are shared under the same license.