Japanese typographic symbols

This page lists Japanese typographic symbols which are not included in kana or kanji.

The links in the Unicode column lead to the Unihan database.

Repetition marks

Main article: Iteration mark

	JIS X 0208	JIS X 0213	Unicode	Name(s)	Usage
々	2139	1-1-25	U+3005	noma (ノマ?) kuma (クマ?) kurikaeshi (繰り返し?) dō no jiten (同の字点?)	Kanji repetition mark. For example 様様 could be written 様々.
仝	2138	1-1-24	U+4EDD	dō no jiten (同の字点?)	Kanji repetition mark
ヽ	2152	1-1-19	U+30FD	katakanagaeshi (かたかながえし?) kurikaeshi (くりかえし?)	Katakana iteration mark
ヾ	2153	1-1-20	U+30FE		Katakana iteration mark with a dakuten
ゝ	2154	1-1-21	U+309D	hiraganagaeshi (ひらがながえし?) kurikaeshi (くりかえし?)	Hiragana iteration mark. For example はは (haha) could be written はゝ.
ゞ	2136	1-1-22	U+309E		Hiragana iteration mark with a dakuten
〃	2137	1-1-23	U+3003	nonoten (ノノ点?)	Ditto mark. The name originates from resemblance to two katakana no characters (ノノ).
〱			U+3031		Kana vertical repetition mark
〲			U+3032		Kana vertical repetition mark with a dakuten
〳 〵		1-2-19 (top), 1-2-21 (bottom)	U+3033 (top), U+3035 (bottom)	kunojiten (くの字点?)	Repetition mark used in vertical writing. It means repeat the previous two or more kana.
〴 〵		1-2-20 (top), 1-2-21 (bottom)	U+3034 (top), U+3035 (bottom)		Kunojiten with a dakuten

Brackets and quotation marks

	JIS X 0208	JIS X 0213	Unicode	Name(s)	Usage
「」	2156, 2157	1-1-54, 1-1-55	U+300C, U+300D	kagi (鉤?, "hook") kagikakko (鉤括弧?, "hook brackets")	Usual Japanese quotation marks
『』	2158, 2159	1-1-56, 1-1-57	U+300E, U+300F	kagi (鉤?) nijūkagikakko (二重鉤括弧?, "double hook brackets")	Japanese version of double quotes, often used when indicating a book title
（）	2169, 216A	1-1-42, 1-1-43	U+FF08, U+FF09	pāren (パーレン?, "parenthesis") kakko (括弧?) marugakko (丸括弧?, "round brackets") shōkakko (小括弧?, "small brackets")
〔〕	216C, 216E	1-1-44, 1-1-45	U+3014, U+3015	kikkō (亀甲?, "tortoise shell")	Used to insert comments into quoted text
［］	216D, 216E	1-1-46, 1-1-47	U+FF3B, U+FF3D	kakko (括弧?) kagikakko (かぎかっこ?)
｛｝	216F, 2170	1-1-48, 1-1-49	U+FF5B, U+FF5D	burēsu (ブレース?, "brace") namikakko (波括弧?, "wave brackets") nakakakko (中括弧?, "middle brackets")
〈〉	2171, 2172	1-1-50, 1-1-51	U+3008, U+3009	kakko (括弧?) yamakakko (山括弧?, "hill brackets") gyume (ギュメ?, "guillemets") yamagata (山がた?, "hill-shaped [symbol]")	The name gyume comes from the guillemets
《》	2173, 2174	1-1-52, 1-1-53	U+300A, U+300B	kakko (括弧?) yamakakko (二重山括弧?, "double hill brackets") gyume (二重ギュメ?, "double guillemets") yamagata (二重山がた?, "double hill-shaped [symbol]")
【】	2179, 217A	1-1-58, 1-1-59	U+3010, U+3011	kakko (括弧?) sumitsukakko (すみつきかっこ?)	Used in headings, for example in dictionary definitions
〖〗		1-2-58, 1-2-59	U+3016, U+3017
〘〙		1-2-56, 1-2-57	U+3018, U+3019
〚〛			U+301A, U+301B

Phonetic marks

	JIS X 0208	JIS X 0213	Unicode	Name(s)	Usage
っ	2443	1-4-35	U+3063	sokuon (促音?, "double consonant")	Doubles the sound of the next consonant. For example, "かた" /kata/ becomes "かった" /katːa/.
ッ		1-5-35	U+30C4
ー	213C	1-1-28	U+30FC	chōonpu (長音符?, "long sound symbol") onbiki (音引き?) bōbiki (棒引き?) bōsen (棒線?, "bar line")	Indicates a lengthened vowel sound. Often used with katakana. The direction of writing depends on the direction of text.
゛	212B	1-1-11	U+309B	dakuten (濁点?, "voiced point") nigori (濁り?, "voiced") tenten	Used with both hiragana and katakana to indicate a voiced sound. For example, ta (た?) becomes da (だ?), shi (し?) becomes ji (じ?).
゜	212C	1-1-12	U+309C	handakuten (半濁点?, "half-voice point") handaku (半濁?, "half-voiced") maru (丸?, "circle")	Used with hiragana and katakana to indicate a change from a hahifuheho sound to a papipupepo sound.

Punctuation marks

	JIS X 0208	JIS X 0213	Unicode	Name(s)	Usage
。	2123	1-1-3	U+3002	kuten (句点?, "sentence point", "period") maru (丸?, "circle", "small ball")	Marks the end of a sentence. Japanese equivalent of full stop or period.
、	2122	1-1-4	U+3001	tōten (読点?, "reading point")	Japanese equivalent of a comma
・	2126	1-1-6	U+30FB	nakaguro (中黒?, "middle black") potsu (ぽつ?) nakaten (中点?, "middle point")	Used to separate foreign words and items in lists. For example, if "ビルゲイツ" is written instead of "ビル・ゲイツ", a Japanese person unfamiliar with the names might have difficulty understanding which part represents the given name and which one represents the surname. This symbol is known as an interpunct in English.
゠ ＝			U+30A0, U+FF1D	daburu haifun (ダブルハイフン?, "double hyphen")	Sometimes replaces an English en dash or hyphen when writing foreign words in katakana. It is also rarely used to separate given and family names, though the middle dot (nakaguro) is much more common in these cases. See also double hyphen.

Other special marks

	JIS X 0208	JIS X 0213	Unicode	Name(s)	Usage
〆	213A	1-1-26	U+3006	shime (しめ?)	This character is used to write shime in shimekiri ("deadline") and similar. Variant 乄 as well, to indicate that a letter is closed.
〜	2141	1-1-33	U+301C	nyoro (にょろ?) naishi (ないし?) nami (波?, "wave") kara (から?)	Used in "to from" constructions in Japanese, such as 月〜金曜日 "from Monday to Friday". In horizontal writing and on computers, the fullwidth tilde ～ (U+FF5E) is often used instead.
…	2144	1-1-36	U+2026	tensen (点線?, "dot line") santen rīda (三点リーダ?, "three-dot leader")	A line of dots corresponding to one half of a Japanese ellipsis; also used as an ellipsis informally
‥	2145	1-1-37	U+2025	tensen (点線?, "dot line") niten rīda (二点リーダ?, "two-dot leader")	Rarely used
ヶ	2576	1-5-86	U+30F6		A simplified version of the kanji 箇 (the generic counter). Most commonly used in indicating a period of months, for example, 一ヶ月 "one month", or in place names. See small ke.
• ◦		1-3-32, 1-3-31	U+2022, U+25E6	bōten (傍点?, "side dot") wakiten (脇点?, "side dot")	Adding these dots to the sides of characters emphasizes the character in question. It is the Japanese equivalent of the use of italics for emphasis in English.
※	21A6	1-2-8	U+203B	kome (米?, "rice") komejirushi (米印?, "rice symbol")	This symbol is used in notes (注, chū) as a reference mark, similar to an asterisk
＊	2196	1-1-86	U+FF0A	hoshijirushi (星印?, "star symbol") asuterisuku (アステリスク?, "asterisk")	This symbol is used in notes (注, chū)
〽		1-3-28	U+303D	ioriten (庵点?)	This mark is used to show the start of a singer's part in a song
〓	222E	1-2-14	U+3013	geta kigō (ゲタ記号?, "geta symbol")	Used as a proofreader's mark indicating unavailability of a glyph, such as when a character cannot be displayed on a computer. The name comes from geta, a type of Japanese shoe.
♪ ♫ ♬ ♩	2276	1-2-86, 1-2-91, 1-2-92, 1-2-93	U+266A, U+266B, U+266C, U+2669	onpu (音符?, "musical note")	Often used as an emoticon in informal text to indicate a singsong tone of voice or a playful attitude

Organization-specific symbols

	JIS X 0208	JIS X 0213	Unicode	Name(s)	Usage
〒	2229	1-2-9	U+3012	yūbin (郵便?)	Used to indicate post offices on maps, and printed before postcodes. See also Japanese addressing system and Japan Post.
〶			U+3036		Variant postal mark in a circle
〠		1-6-70	U+3020		Variant postal mark with a face
〄			U+3004	jisumāku (jisumāku (ジスマーク?, "JIS mark") nihon kougyou kikaku (日本工業規格?, "Japanese Industrial Standards", "JIS")	This mark on a product shows that it complies with the Japanese Industrial Standards
Ⓧ			U+24CD		This mark is used on music or print publications to indicate the farthest date at which the item must be sold at a fixed price under saihan seido, Japan's resale price maintenance system.[citation needed] Sometimes it is printed as just an uncircled "X".
Ⓨ			U+24CE		This mark is used on music or print publications to indicate the earliest date at which the item must be sold at a fixed price under saihan seido.[citation needed] It is typically the item's release date for music, or the publication date for print matter. On music releases, this mark may be absent, and the years 1984–1990 may be indicated by the letters "N", "I", "H", "O", "R", "E", and "C". Sometimes it is printed as just an uncircled "Y".

See also

• Japanese map symbols
• Japanese punctuation
• Japan postal mark