Traditional Japanese composition paper: 200 character cells per sheet for writing practice.

Free Genkō Yōshi (原稿用紙) PDF. Traditional 200-cell Japanese composition paper for kanji, hiragana and katakana practice.

Genkō Yōshi | Free Printable Japanese Writing Paper PDF

Genkō Yōshi (Japanese Writing Paper)

The defining rule of genkō yōshi is one symbol per cell, including 。(period), 、(comma), and small kana like っ. Multi-character compounds still get one cell each. The strict one-to-one mapping is what produces the consistent visual rhythm.

One character per cell, including punctuation

Conventional Japanese writing indents the first cell of each new paragraph (leaving cell 1 empty and starting at cell 2). This convention is universal in formal writing, essays, novels, exam papers. Don't break it without reason.

Indent the first cell of a paragraph

When writing rare or difficult kanji, write the hiragana reading in the narrow column beside the main cell. This is standard in children's books and any writing aimed at less-fluent readers.

Use the column gutters for furigana

Japanese quotation marks 「」 and 『』 each take one cell, with one for the opening mark and one for the closing. The opening mark sits in the upper-left of its cell; the closing mark sits in the lower-right of its cell. The visual asymmetry signals which is which.