88 in Japanese
八十八
Updated May 2026
Eighty-eight (beiju, the rice age)
NUMERAL
88
KANJI
八十八
HIRAGANA
はちじゅうはち
ROMAJI
hachi-jū-hachi
Counter-attached forms
How 88 attaches to common counters. Each links to the per-counter deep-dive.
Cultural context
Beiju (米寿) is the 88th-birthday celebration. The kanji 米 (kome, rice) can be decomposed into 八十八 (88), giving the celebration its name. Beiju gifts traditionally include rice or rice-related items. The 88-year milestone is one of several traditional Japanese longevity celebrations alongside kanreki (60), koki (70), kiju (77), and hakuju (99).
Real sentence examples
祖母の米寿のお祝いに親戚が集まりました (sobo no beiju no o-iwai ni shinseki ga atsumarimashita): relatives gathered for grandmother's beiju (88th-birthday) celebration.
八十八ヶ所の霊場巡りを四国でしました (hachi-jū-hak-kasho no reijou-meguri o shikoku de shimashita): I made the 88-temple pilgrimage in Shikoku.
Pronunciation and morphology notes
88 is hachi-jū-hachi. The compound hachi-jū-hak-kasho (88 places) is used for the Shikoku Pilgrimage of 88 Buddhist temples, an 1,140-kilometre walking route around the island of Shikoku. The age 88 (beiju, 米寿) is the “rice age” longevity celebration based on the kanji decomposition.
Related numbers
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