About Japanese Numbers..?

Question

I am wondering the meaning of each number in japanese. I know the numbers are ichi, ni, san, s**+ (yo/yon), go, roku, shichi (nana), hachi, kyuu, juu, ju-ichi, ju-ni . If these are incorrect let me know, this should be 1-12. I am curious of what each word represents or means, such as, 4- in japanese means death. (this is what research showed me) but I have not been able to find other numbers. Thanks.

Answer 1

Yeah those numbers are right. You can say "Ku" for 9, and "Toh" for 10 as well.

四＝s**+ has the same pronounciation as 死=s**+ which means death so it's considered unlucky. Also 九＝Ku has the same pronounciation as 苦=Ku which means suffering. Like the "13" in the western world. But, younger people don't really care about these traditions that much as the world is increasingly being westernised.

49 is also considered unlucky because it's a combination of the two numbers (but this might have something to do with buddhist beliefs - I'm not a buddhist so I don't know much about that)

That's pretty much it I think. Oh yeah 七＝Shichi is a lucky number, but that might be a western influence. There are also the seven deities of good fortune "Shichifukujin" in japan, which might be a source of traditional reasons if there are any.

Anyway not all numbers have meanings really. And, also remember that kanji came from China in the first place, so it might be better to ask chinese people what they mean.

For example, 八＝Hachi, the character looks as if it is spreading to eternity. But that's not something that comes from japan, it's from china (well at least the character is from china - interpretation might be something from japan).

Hope that helps

Answer 2

I don't speak Japanese but I do speak Chinese.

well as the above post says...same sort of tradition with the numbers except 9 isn't considered unlucky in China, most of the time its considered actually lucky.

8 is considered lucky because its pronunciation is "ba"  which somehow sounds like "fa" from the word 发财 "get rich"  yeah I don't think it sounds the same either but thats what EVERYONE accepts as the reason.  

There doesn't seem to be be much MEANING behind them... just lucky/unlucky ones.