1 in Japanese
一
Updated June 2026
1 in Japanese is 一, written いち in hiragana and read ichi. Ichi, and the gemination that turns hon into ip-pon
NUMERAL
1
KANJI
一
HIRAGANA
いち
ROMAJI
ichi
Counter-attached forms
How 1 attaches to common counters. Each links to the per-counter deep-dive.
Cultural context
One is deeply woven into everyday Japanese through 一番 (ichiban), literally "number one," which is the ordinary word for "the best," "first," or "most" — ichiban suki (favourite), ichiban-sen (platform 1). The four-character idiom 一期一会 (ichi-go ichi-e), rooted in the tea ceremony, means "one time, one meeting": treasure each encounter because it will never recur exactly again. One carries no unlucky reading, unlike 4 and 9. Source: Wikipedia "Japanese numerals" and "Ichi-go ichi-e".
Daiji formal form (for cheques and contracts)
Real sentence examples
コーヒーを一杯飲みました (kōhī o ip-pai nomimashita): I drank one cup of coffee.
一番の思い出は京都旅行です (ichiban no omoide wa kyōto ryokō desu): my best memory is the trip to Kyoto.
Pronunciation and morphology notes
One is ichi, and it is the heaviest gemination trigger of all the digits. Before a counter starting with h, the h doubles to p: ip-pon (一本, long objects), ip-piki (一匹, small animals), ip-pai (一杯, cupfuls), ip-pun (一分, minutes). Before k it geminates too: ik-ko (一個), ik-kai (一回), ik-ken (一軒). Before s it doubles to is-: is-sai (一歳, one year old). Two counters stay native and irregular: 一人 is hitori (not ichi-nin) for one person, and the general native form is hitotsu (一つ). The daiji form 壱 appears on cheques and contracts to stop 一 being altered into 二 (2) or 三 (3).
Frequently asked questions
How do you write 1 in Japanese?
1 is written 一 in kanji and いち in hiragana. In romaji (modified Hepburn) it is ichi.
What is 1 in hiragana?
1 in hiragana is いち. Hiragana spells out the reading ichi phonetically; the kanji form is 一.
What is the formal (daiji) form of 1?
The daiji form of 1 is 壱. Daiji are elaborate kanji used on cheques, contracts, and official documents to stop anyone altering the simpler 一.
Related numbers
Browse the full reference or jump to a related section.