Japanese writers, students, and editors measure length in manuscript pages (原稿用紙) rather than words. This tool counts paragraphs and characters in Japanese text and converts the character count into genko yoshi pages using the standard 400-character-per-page sheet.
How it works
Paragraphs are found by splitting the text on blank lines: a run of one or more empty lines marks a paragraph boundary, while a single newline inside a block is treated as a soft wrap.
For the page estimate, every non-whitespace character counts as one square on the manuscript sheet — kana, kanji, and full-width punctuation alike. The page count is then:
pages = manuscript_characters / 400400 comes from the 20×20 grid of the standard 400字詰原稿用紙 sheet.
What genko yoshi is and why it matters
原稿用紙 (genkō yōshi) is squared manuscript paper — a grid of boxes, each holding exactly one character. The standard sheet is 20 columns by 20 rows, giving 400 squares per page. Every kanji, kana, and full-width punctuation mark occupies one square; each line of the grid typically represents one sentence or clause.
The 400-square sheet is still the reference unit for:
- Literary competitions and prizes — most Japanese short story and essay contests specify a length in manuscript pages rather than character counts.
- Publishing submissions — editors and agents expect manuscript lengths quoted in 原稿用紙枚数.
- School essays — many Japanese high schools and universities assign essays in units of 400-character pages.
- Light novel and manga script submissions — these industries use the same convention.
Knowing your page count is therefore useful not just for formatting but for meeting stated length requirements precisely.
What counts as a character
On actual 原稿用紙, every square must be filled — even full-width punctuation (。、「」・) gets its own box. Half-width ASCII characters typically occupy half a box or share one. This tool counts all non-whitespace characters, matching the way a Japanese editor tallies a submission, and shows a separate kana-plus-kanji figure if you need to strip out any Latin characters in the text.
Worked example
A short story submission of 1,000 manuscript pages at 400 characters each requires approximately 400,000 characters. A 2,000-character text equals five 原稿用紙 pages. For contest entries that quote a page limit, the 400-character page is the figure to plan against — anything longer risks immediate disqualification, so building in a small margin below the cap is sensible.