60 in Japanese
六十
Updated June 2026
60 in Japanese is 六十, written ろくじゅう in hiragana and read roku-jū. Sixty (kanreki, the calendar-return year)
NUMERAL
60
KANJI
六十
HIRAGANA
ろくじゅう
ROMAJI
roku-jū
Counter-attached forms
How 60 attaches to common counters. Each links to the per-counter deep-dive.
Cultural context
Kanreki (還暦) is the 60th-birthday celebration marking the completion of one full 60-year sexagenary cycle (the combination of the 10 heavenly stems and 12 earthly branches that repeats every 60 years). The celebrant traditionally wears a red vest (chanchanko) symbolising rebirth and the start of a new cycle.
Real sentence examples
父は六十歳で還暦のお祝いをしました (chichi wa roku-jus-sai de kanreki no o-iwai o shimashita): my father celebrated his kanreki (60th birthday).
六十年の歴史がある会社です (roku-jū-nen no rekishi ga aru kaisha desu): the company has a 60-year history.
Pronunciation and morphology notes
Sixty in standard counting is roku-jū. The age 60 (roku-jus-sai) carries cultural weight as kanreki, the year of completing one full Chinese-Japanese zodiac cycle. The chanchanko (ちゃんちゃんこ, the red vest) is the traditional gift.
Frequently asked questions
How do you write 60 in Japanese?
60 is written 六十 in kanji and ろくじゅう in hiragana. In romaji (modified Hepburn) it is roku-jū.
What is 60 in hiragana?
60 in hiragana is ろくじゅう. Hiragana spells out the reading roku-jū phonetically; the kanji form is 六十.
Related numbers
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