8 in Japanese
八
Updated June 2026
8 in Japanese is 八, written はち in hiragana and read hachi. Hachi: the lucky number that widens toward fortune
NUMERAL
8
KANJI
八
HIRAGANA
はち
ROMAJI
hachi
Counter-attached forms
How 8 attaches to common counters. Each links to the per-counter deep-dive.
Cultural context
Eight is lucky because of the shape of its kanji, 八, which widens toward the bottom. This is 末広がり (suehiro-gari, "spreading out toward the end"), read as a sign of growing prosperity and an ever-widening future. The luck comes from the widening shape itself, not from a sound-pun. Source: Wikipedia "Japanese superstitions".
Daiji formal form (for cheques and contracts)
Real sentence examples
八時に学校が始まります (hachi-ji ni gakkō ga hajimarimasu): school starts at 8 o’clock.
切手を八枚ください (kitte o hachi-mai kudasai): eight stamps, please.
Pronunciation and morphology notes
Eight is hachi, and it geminates before some counters: hap-pon (八本), hap-piki (八匹), hak-ko (八個), and has-sai (八歳). Before other sounds it stays plain: hachi-nin, hachi-mai, hachi-en, hachi-ji. Plain variants (hachi-hon beside hap-pon) are heard, but the geminated readings are the standard taught forms. The general native form is yattsu (八つ). The daiji form is 捌.
Frequently asked questions
How do you write 8 in Japanese?
8 is written 八 in kanji and はち in hiragana. In romaji (modified Hepburn) it is hachi.
What is 8 in hiragana?
8 in hiragana is はち. Hiragana spells out the reading hachi phonetically; the kanji form is 八.
What is the formal (daiji) form of 8?
The daiji form of 8 is 捌. Daiji are elaborate kanji used on cheques, contracts, and official documents to stop anyone altering the simpler 八.
Related numbers
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