八

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 八時に会いましょう。▶ —
   Lets meet at eight.
2. 八月は夏休みです。▶ —
   August is summer vacation.

Collocations

Mnemonic

Hachi (八) is the on-yomi for eight; Yamato readings are yattsu (8 items) and youka (8th of month or 8 days). Hachiji (8 oclock), hachigatsu (August, summer-break season), hachinin (8 people), hachijuu (80), happun (8 minutes, rendaku). Culturally, the kanji shape suehirogari ("widening toward the bottom") makes 8 auspicious in Japan — a fan opening up, encoding a future that grows ever richer. Wedding gifts and New Year amounts (80,000 yen, 888 yen) skew toward 8. The homophone hachi (蜂, bee) is also familiar. Yaoya (八百屋, greengrocer) literally "shop of 800 vegetables" uses yao (eight hundred = very many) plus ya (shop). Yaoyorozu no kami (the 8 million Shinto deities = infinitely many kami) is a foundational Shinto term. Happou bijin (literally beauty for all eight directions = a person who tries to please everyone, a negative nuance specific to Japan). The kanji is shared across the Sinosphere: Sino-Korean pal, Chinese ba (auspicious because the pronunciation resembles fa 發財 wealth), Japanese hachi.

Quick check

1. Why is 8 auspicious in Japan?

   • Kanji shape suehirogari (widening downward) — a fan opening up
   • Borrowed from Chinese fa pronunciation
   • Buddhist ritual
   • Tokugawa shogunate policy