9 in Japanese
九
Updated May 2026
Kyu or ku: the milder unlucky
NUMERAL
9
KANJI
九
HIRAGANA
きゅう
or く
ROMAJI
kyū
or ku
Counter-attached forms
How 9 attaches to common counters. Each links to the per-counter deep-dive.
Cultural context
Kuphobia (milder): the reading ku sounds like 苦 (suffering / pain). The number 9 is less universally avoided than 4 but is still treated with care in some hospitals and gift contexts. Kyu is the safer reading and dominates in counting. Source: Wikipedia "Japanese superstitions" and NHK Pronunciation Dictionary on ku vs kyu register.
Daiji formal form (for cheques and contracts)
Real sentence examples
九時から会議が始まります (ku-ji kara kaigi ga hajimarimasu): the meeting starts from 9 o'clock.
私たちのチームは九人です (watashi-tachi no chiimu wa kyū-nin desu): our team is nine people.
Pronunciation and morphology notes
Nine has two readings. Kyu is the default in counting and most counter attachments. Ku survives in time (ku-ji = 9 o'clock), months (ku-gatsu = September), and a few set phrases (ku-bu-ku-rin = “a 99% chance” literally “9 portions out of 9 chains”). Phone numbers always use kyu to avoid mishearing ku as roku (6) or other digits. The daiji form 玖 is rare but real.
Related numbers
Browse the full reference or jump to a related section.