今週

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 今週の月曜日に会いましょう。▶ —
   Let's meet this Monday.
2. 今週は雨が多い。▶ —
   There is a lot of rain this week.

Collocations

Mnemonic

Konshuu (今週) means "this week" — 今 (now) + 週 (week). The deictic ladder: senshuu (先週, last week), konshuu (this week), raishuu (来週, next week), saraishuu (再来週, week after next). The kanji 週 fuses 辶 (movement) and 周 (go round) = "one full circuit" = the 7-day cycle. Historical note: East Asia originally counted in jun (旬), 10-day units. The 7-day week entered with Meiji-era westernization. Japanese day names (日·月·火·水·木·金·土) map ancient Chinese five elements plus the sun and moon onto the seven celestial bodies of the planetary week — Korean and Chinese share the system. Saturday-Sunday weekends became standard in Japan only after the 1986 shuukyuu futsuka-sei (two-day-off week) policy; before then half-Saturday work was normal. Today do-nichi yasumi (Saturday-Sunday off) is the default. JLPT N5 anchors konshuu / senshuu / raishuu plus the youbi (day-of-week) cluster.

Quick check

1. When did East Asia adopt the 7-day week?

   • Meiji-era import — previously East Asia used jun (10-day cycle)
   • Kofun era
   • Edo era
   • Postwar Shouwa