Japanese Dates: Months, Days and Years

The date order: year, month, day

A Japanese date puts the biggest unit first and marks each part with a kanji: the year with 年 (ねん), the month with 月 (がつ) and the day with 日 (にち or another reading). So October 30, 2026 is written 2026年10月30日 and read にせんにじゅうろくねん じゅうがつ さんじゅうにち. The day of the week often follows in parentheses with just its first kanji, as in 2026年10月30日(金) for Friday. The days of the week guide covers those seven kanji.

Every part is a number in front of a counter, so the date builds directly on Japanese numbers. Years are read as ordinary numbers: 2026 is にせんにじゅうろく, and 年 attaches to the end. Arabic numerals are standard in horizontal writing, while kanji numerals like 十月三十日 appear in vertical text, formal invitations and some printed calendars.

• Short forms drop the kanji: 2026/10/30 or 2026.10.30, always in year-month-day order.
• Without a year, the order stays the same: 10月30日 is October 30.
• There is no ordinal word like the English "th". The number plus 日 already means the day of the month.

The twelve months

Month names could not be simpler: the number one to twelve plus 月, read がつ. January is 一月 (いちがつ), literally the first month, and December is 十二月 (じゅうにがつ). Only three readings need attention:

• 四月 (しがつ), April, uses し instead of よん.
• 七月 (しちがつ), July, uses しち instead of なな.
• 九月 (くがつ), September, uses く instead of きゅう.
• The rest are regular: いちがつ, にがつ, さんがつ, ごがつ, ろくがつ, はちがつ, じゅうがつ, じゅういちがつ, じゅうにがつ.

Japan also has traditional month names, such as 睦月 (むつき) for January and 師走 (しわす) for December. They appear in poetry, letters, seasonal greetings and period dramas, but everyday Japanese uses the numbered months. Of the old names, 師走 is the one you are most likely to hear, usually to describe the busy end of the year.

Do not confuse 一月 (いちがつ, January) with 一か月 (いっかげつ, one month). The small か, also written ヶ or カ, turns the month name into a length of time: 三か月 (さんかげつ) is three months.

Days of the month: the irregular readings

This is where most learners slow down. The first ten days use old native Japanese numbers instead of the Chinese-derived いち, に, さん, which is the same split explained in onyomi vs kunyomi. A few later days keep the pattern too. Here are all the irregular ones:

Every other day is a regular number plus にち: 11日 is じゅういちにち, 15日 is じゅうごにち and 30日 is さんじゅうにち. Two of those still borrow special number readings. The 17th and 27th usually use しち (じゅうしちにち, にじゅうしちにち), and the 19th and 29th usually use く (じゅうくにち, にじゅうくにち), the same choices as in the month names. You will also hear なな and きゅう in those dates.

Two learning tricks help. First, the 14th and 24th simply reuse よっか from the 4th. Second, most of the first ten share a pattern with the native counting words ひとつ, ふたつ, みっつ: ふつか and ふたつ, みっか and みっつ, よっか and よっつ. The 1st is the odd one out, because ついたち comes from an old word for the start of the month. The Japanese counters guide shows the same native numbers at work in つ.

Asking about dates and saying them in sentences

The question words follow the same pattern as the answers. 何年 (なんねん) asks what year, 何月 (なんがつ) asks what month and 何日 (なんにち) asks what day of the month. Together they make the most common date question:

• 今日は何月何日ですか。(きょうは なんがつ なんにち ですか, What is the date today?)
• 十月三十日です。(じゅうがつ さんじゅうにち です, It is October 30.)
• 誕生日はいつですか。(たんじょうび は いつ ですか, When is your birthday?)
• 三月三日です。(さんがつ みっか です, It is March 3.)
• 五月五日に会いましょう。(ごがつ いつか に あいましょう, Let's meet on May 5.)

Use に when something happens on a specific date, as in 五月五日に. Do not use に with relative words like today or next month, which stand on their own: 来月行きます (らいげつ いきます, I will go next month).

Words for today, this month and this year

Relative time words are often more useful than full dates. Several have special readings, so learn them as whole words:

• Days: 昨日 (きのう, yesterday), 今日 (きょう, today), 明日 (あした, tomorrow), 毎日 (まいにち, every day).
• Months: 先月 (せんげつ, last month), 今月 (こんげつ, this month), 来月 (らいげつ, next month), 毎月 (まいつき, every month).
• Years: 去年 (きょねん, last year), 今年 (ことし, this year), 来年 (らいねん, next year), 毎年 (まいとし or まいねん, every year).

Notice that 月 is read げつ in these words, not がつ. がつ is for naming a month of the year, while げつ appears in compounds about months as units, including the か月 durations above. Also note that 一日 has two meanings: ついたち is the 1st of the month, and いちにち is one whole day.

Era years: 令和 and 元年

Alongside the Western calendar, Japan counts years by imperial era. The current era, 令和 (れいわ), began on May 1, 2019, so 2026 is 令和8年. The first year of an era is written 元年 (がんねん) rather than 1年, so 2019 was both 平成31年 and 令和元年. Government forms, bank paperwork and many official documents ask for the era year, sometimes abbreviated to a letter, such as R8 for 令和8年.

To convert, add the era year to the year before the era began: for 令和, add 2018, so 令和8年 is 2018 + 8 = 2026. For 平成 (へいせい), which started in 1989, add 1988. Most people only need the current era and the one their birth year falls in.

The kanji in dates are among the first a learner meets. 月, 日, 年, 今, 毎 and 何 are all JLPT N5 kanji, and you can practice the number readings with the Japanese number converter. Moji covers these characters in its N5 set with spaced repetition reviews, which suits words you will read on every calendar and receipt.