88 in Japanese
八十八
Updated June 2026
88 in Japanese is 八十八, written はちじゅうはち in hiragana and read hachi-jū-hachi. 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.
Frequently asked questions
How do you write 88 in Japanese?
88 is written 八十八 in kanji and はちじゅうはち in hiragana. In romaji (modified Hepburn) it is hachi-jū-hachi.
What is 88 in hiragana?
88 in hiragana is はちじゅうはち. Hiragana spells out the reading hachi-jū-hachi phonetically; the kanji form is 八十八.
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