Moon in Japanese is 月, read tsuki. Four strokes, and the shape descends from a pictograph of a crescent rather than a full disc, which is why it stands upright and narrow. Inside compounds the reading shifts to getsu or gatsu, and the same character does double duty as the word for month.
Moon in Japanese
Moon in Japanese is 月 (tsuki), both the kanji and the everyday spoken word. Say tsuki and any Japanese speaker pictures the moon in the sky. In compounds the character switches to its Chinese-derived readings, getsu or gatsu, and in those contexts it usually means month instead.
That second meaning is the practical thing to know. 一月 (ichigatsu) is January, 今月 (kongetsu) is this month, and 月曜日 (getsuyoubi) is Monday. A lone 月 on a form or a calendar means Monday or month, never the moon overhead.
The Kanji for Moon: 月
- Character: 月
- On’yomi: ゲツ (getsu), ガツ (gatsu)
- Kun’yomi: つき (tsuki)
- Stroke count: 4
- General meaning: moon, month, Monday in date contexts
- Radical: 月 is itself a radical, Kangxi number 74. Be aware that a visually identical shape called nikuzuki appears in body-part characters such as 肝 (liver) and 腕 (arm), where it derives from 肉 (flesh), not from the moon
It is one of the first characters Japanese children learn, and one of the most frequent in the language, because every date written in Japanese contains it.
Japanese Symbol for Moon
The Japanese symbol for the moon is 月, and it is a picture before it is a word. The ancient form shows a crescent, not a disc: a curved outline with a mark or two inside. The sun 日 was drawn as a closed circle and the moon as a crescent so the two could not be confused, and that contrast survives. 日 is squat and closed. 月 is tall and narrow.
Look at the glyph and you can still find the crescent. The left stroke leans inward like the inside curve of a sickle, the right side hooks, and the two short horizontals are what remains of the marks that filled the old outline. Where 日 sits square and static, 月 tips slightly, which is why calligraphers like it in vertical columns.
How to Write 月 in Japanese
Four strokes, in this order.
First, the left side: a single stroke that starts at the top and sweeps down and slightly left, ending in a taper. Second, the frame: one continuous stroke that runs across the top, turns sharply down the right side, and finishes with a small hook flicking left at the bottom. Third and fourth, the two short horizontals inside, written top one first, then the lower one. Both attach to the left stroke and reach across to the right side.
Two habits separate a good 月 from a wobbly one. Keep it taller than it is wide, roughly a two-to-one rectangle, because a squared-off 月 starts to look like 日 or 目. And space the two inner horizontals evenly, dividing the interior into three bands of similar height.
How to Say Moon in Japanese
Tsuki is the word to learn. The tsu is one sound, the same consonant cluster English has at the end of “cats,” and the final i is barely voiced. Say it as “tskee,” quick and light, not “tuh-soo-kee.” Getsu is “geh-tsoo” with a hard g. Gatsu is “gah-tsoo.”
Real sentences:
- 今夜は月がきれいです。(Kon’ya wa tsuki ga kirei desu.) The moon is beautiful tonight.
- 満月が出ている。(Mangetsu ga dete iru.) The full moon is out.
- 三日月が空に浮かんでいる。(Mikazuki ga sora ni ukande iru.) A crescent moon is floating in the sky.
- 来月日本に行きます。(Raigetsu Nihon ni ikimasu.) I am going to Japan next month.
- 月曜日に会いましょう。(Getsuyoubi ni aimashou.) Let us meet on Monday.
There is a story, told often and sourced to nobody, that the novelist Natsume Sōseki told his students to translate “I love you” as 月がきれいですね. Treat it as folklore rather than history. It has stuck because it describes something true about how the language handles feeling: point at the moon, and the rest is understood.
Words and Compounds With 月
- 満月 (mangetsu): full moon.
- 三日月 (mikazuki): crescent moon, literally third-day moon, counting from the new moon.
- 月光 (gekkou): moonlight.
- 月夜 (tsukiyo): a moonlit night.
- 名月 (meigetsu): the harvest moon, the celebrated bright moon of autumn.
- 月見 (tsukimi): moon viewing.
- 今月 (kongetsu): this month. Its partners are 先月 (sengetsu, last month) and 来月 (raigetsu, next month).
- 月曜日 (getsuyoubi): Monday, abbreviated to a bare 月 on almost every Japanese calendar.
Moon in Japanese Culture
The moon sits deeper in Japanese aesthetics than in most Western ones. Moon viewing is a named seasonal practice, tsukimi, observed in autumn on the fifteenth night of the eighth lunar month with pampas grass and round rice dumplings set out on a tray. It is treated as the quiet counterpart to spring hanami, the same attention turned to something cold and passing instead of something warm and brief. Classical poetry returns to the moon constantly, which is the sensibility captured by mono no aware.
Two figures anchor it in myth. Tsukuyomi, the moon deity, was born from the right eye of the god Izanagi, while the sun goddess Amaterasu came from his left. And in the tenth-century Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, Princess Kaguya is found inside a stalk of bamboo, raised on earth, and finally taken back to the moon by celestial envoys while her human parents watch. Japan’s oldest surviving prose tale ends with the moon reclaiming someone.
Everyday life keeps the imagery going. A raw egg dropped into hot noodles is 月見そば (tsukimi soba), the yolk standing in for the moon, and folklore reads the dark patches on the lunar surface as a rabbit pounding rice cakes.
As a Tattoo
月 is one of the most elegant four-stroke characters available. Its vertical proportions suit a forearm, a spine, or the inside of a bicep, and the interior strokes give it enough structure to stay readable as ink spreads. Among single-character kanji tattoos it is a genuinely good choice.
Know the double meaning. To a Japanese reader, an isolated 月 is as likely to read “month” or “Monday” as “moon.” This is not a mistranslation risk so much as a tone risk: the character is plainer than the image in your head. If you want the moon unmistakably, 満月 (mangetsu, full moon) or 三日月 (mikazuki, crescent) removes all doubt and gives you a two or three character column.
For moonlight specifically, 月光 (gekkou) is a real and common word, and it reads more lyrical than 月 alone.
Beware the flesh radical. Because nikuzuki looks the same, adding a second character can push 月 toward anatomical vocabulary rather than lunar imagery. Look up any pairing before committing to it.
The character is written identically in Japanese and Chinese. A brushed rendering lets the left downstroke curve and the hook flick; a printed form keeps it rectangular and modern. Confirm with a native speaker before you ink.
Lay out 月 or 三日月 in the Japanese Tattoo Generator, and see how celestial motifs sit in the tradition in our guide to japanese tattoo meanings.
Related Kanji
FAQ
How do you say moon in Japanese?
The moon is 月, said tsuki. Pronounce it “tskee,” with the first vowel almost swallowed and the whole word light and quick. Inside compound words the same character is read getsu or gatsu, as in 満月 (mangetsu, full moon) and 一月 (ichigatsu, January).
What is the kanji for moon?
The kanji for moon is 月, four strokes, and it is a radical in its own right. Its readings are tsuki alone and getsu or gatsu in compounds. It appears in 満月 (mangetsu, full moon), 三日月 (mikazuki, crescent moon), and 月光 (gekkou, moonlight).
What is the Japanese symbol for moon?
月 is the symbol, and it descends from a drawing of a crescent rather than a full disc. That is why it is tall and narrow instead of round: scribes needed it to contrast clearly with 日, the sun, which was drawn as a closed circle. The two short interior strokes are what remains of the marks inside the old outline.
Does 月 also mean month?
Yes. 月 means month in date contexts, so 一月 is January and 今月 is this month. 月曜日 (getsuyoubi) is Monday, and Japanese calendars abbreviate that to a single 月. If you see the character on a schedule or a form, read it as the day or the month, not the moon.
What is the kanji for crescent moon?
三日月 (mikazuki), literally third-day moon, counting from the new moon. It is three characters and reads unambiguously as a crescent, which makes it a safer choice than a bare 月 when the crescent shape is the thing you actually mean.
Is the moon important in Japanese culture?
Very. Moon viewing has its own autumn practice, tsukimi, with pampas grass and rice dumplings, and the moon is a standing image in classical poetry for beauty that is present and passing. The moon deity Tsukuyomi appears in the creation myths, and the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter ends with Princess Kaguya returning there.