Numerals and Dates on Japanese Boxes

Inscriptions on Japanese boxes, scrolls and certificates are written in characters, usually from top to bottom and right to left. Dates, sizes and ages are written with Japanese numerals, sometimes in formal forms that look unfamiliar even to beginners in the language. This page explains what you need to read them.

Everyday numerals

Formal forms were used on documents to prevent alteration and appear on many old boxes and receipts. You may also meet 廿 for twenty and 卅 for thirty.

Building a number

Numbers are built by combining characters: 三十五 is three-ten-five, 35, and 千九百五十五 is 1955. On boxes, a year is usually written with an era name, so 昭和四拾五年 reads Shōwa 45, which is 1970. See our era names reference for conversions.

Months and seasons

Dates may use simple numbered months, 一月 to 十二月, or traditional names. Many inscriptions give only a season.

• Traditional months. 睦月 first month, 如月 second, 弥生 third, 卯月 fourth, 皐月 fifth, 水無月 sixth, 文月 seventh, 葉月 eighth, 長月 ninth, 神無月 tenth, 霜月 eleventh and 師走 twelfth.
• Seasons. 春 spring, 夏 summer, 秋 autumn, 冬 winter, often with 初 early, 仲 middle or 晩 late.
• Auspicious day. 吉日 stands in for a precise day, a common convention.

Ages and signatures

Elderly artists often added their age to a signature, written as 八十歳 or 八十翁, an old man of eighty. Ages were traditionally counted from one at birth, so an artist of eighty by this reckoning might be seventy-nine by Western counting. An age combined with known birth dates is a useful way to date late works.

Sizes and quantities

Boxes may record sizes in traditional units, such as 尺 and 寸, and quantities with counters, such as 一対 for a pair or 五客 for a set of five for guests. Our page on traditional measurements gives the conversions.

Related references

• Glossary of Box Inscriptions
• The Japanese Zodiac and Calendar
• Reading Signatures and Seals on Paintings