HOW TO USE
原稿用紙
げんこうようし
Genkō yōshi
What is げんこうようし(genkōyōshi)?
Genkō yōshi is a type of Japanese paper used for formal writing.
It is printed with squares, typically 200 or 400 per sheet, each square
takes one single Japanese character or punctuation mark.
Genkō yōshi can be used horizontally or vertically, as shown.
Horizontal writing:
Read from top to bottom
Vertical writing:
Read from right to left
Why use げんこうようし？
Japanese primary and secondary students are required to hand in
assignments, such as letters, essays and so on, written on genkō
yōshi. Essays and school entrance examinations are also written on
genkō yōshi paper.
There are special rules how to write on genkō yōshi. Knowing these
rules is essential.
BASIC RULES FOR
VERTICAL WRITING
• Japanese is written from top to bottom
• And, right to left
One square per Japanese character
• Write only 1 Japanese character (hiragana,
katakana or kanji) in each square
• Small kana such as ゃ、ゅ、ょ、っ take 1
square each but are written in the top right
quarter of a genkō yōshi square
• Long katakana sounds ie ジュース are
written as one vertical line (not
horizontally)
kanji
katakana
long sound
katakana
hiragana
small hiragana
small katakana
One square for Japanese punctuation
• Full stops and commas 。、take 1 square
each and are written in the top right
quarter of a genkō yōshi square
full stop
• Opening quotation mark (speech marks)
「 go in the top right quarter of a genkō
yōshi square
opening
speech mark
• Closing quotation mark (speech marks) 」
go in the bottom left quarter of a genkō
yōshi square
closing
speech mark
comma
End of the line punctuation
When a sentence ends in the
last box of a line, put the
punctuation mark:
1.
on the right bottom quarter
in the same box along with
the character, OR
2. outside the genkō yōshi
boxes on the right.
inside
outside
New paragraph – indent one box
• Start each new paragraph with one empty box
new
paragraph
Leave empty
for a new
paragraph
ESSAY WRITING
Essay title and author’s name
• Write the title of the essay on the right
side of the genkō yōshi paper.
• Indent 3 boxes, start writing in the
fourth box.
• Write your name on the next line, leave
1 box blank at the bottom of the line.
• Put a dot in the centre of the box
between your first and last name
Leave 3
empty
boxes
title
author’s name
dot
Leave 1
empty box
Start the essay
• Start the essay on the 3rd line of the
genkō yōshi page
• Leave an empty box (it is a new
paragraph)
Start of the essay
(leave a blank box
at the start of a
paragraph)
Summary
Look at this essay. Can you spot the errors?
Did you find all the errors? Why are they errors?
LETTER WRITING
Dear~
Leave 3
empty
boxes
• Start the letter on the right side of
the genkō yōshi paper.
• Leave 3 genkō yōshi boxes empty
• Start writing in the 4 th box
• Put the name of the person you are
writing to followed by さん、ちゃん、
くん、せんせい then へ and comma
へ and
comma
Content
• Usually start the first paragraph with a greeting and
by talking about the season or weather
• Write in the main body of the letter details such
events, directions, thoughts, feelings, responses to
any questions etc
• The last paragraph has any final greetings/goodbyes
From ~
• On the next line, leave 2 genkō
yōshi squares empty then write the
date (year, month, day)
• On the next line, at the bottom of
the page, write your name followed
by より (putting a dot between your
first and last name), leave no empty
squares
Leave 2
empty
boxes
date
より then
leave no
boxes
empty
name
Look at this letter. Can you spot the errors?
Did you find all the errors? Why are they errors?