Digits

kanji	kun-yomi			on-yomi
一	ひとつ	一つ	one, only	いち	一	one, best, first
二	ふたつ	二つ	two	に	二	two
三	みっつ	三つ	three, tri-	さん	三	three, tri-
四	よつ	四つ	four	し	四	four
	よん	四	four
五	いつつ	五つ	five	ご	五	five
六	むっつ	六つ	six	ろく	六	six
七	ななつ	七つ	seven	しち	七	seven
	なな	七	seven
八	やっつ	八つ	eight	はち	八	eight
九	ここのつ	九つ	nine	く	九	nine
				きゅう	九	nine

comments: suggestions to memorize some of these kanjis.

• 六 (6) looks like a combination of the digits of the roman number 6, i.e., VI
• 七 (7) is an upside-down 7 crossed out the European way

Numerology

We count with on-yomis (ichi, ni, san, …). Unfortunately, the on-yomi of 4 is ‘shi’, which means ‘dead’ in Cantonese, so it is considered an unlucky number, which is why Chinese families dislike buying houses whose number includes a 4 [wikipedia]. Thus, the Japanese modified the kun-yomi ‘yotsu’ into ‘yon’, to have an alternate way to count 4 without the unlucky implication.

Likewise, the on-yomis of 7 and 9 – ‘shichi’ and ‘ku’, sound like ‘near-certain death’ and ‘pain and suffering’ in Japanese, so they were given the alternate names ‘nana’ (a modification of ‘nanatsu’) and ‘kyuu’ (a modification of ‘ku’ that sounds as ‘relief’) [wikipedia].

Shopping

十	とお	十	ten	じゅう	十	ten
百				ひゃく	百	hundred
千				せん	千	thousand
金	おかね	お金	money, metal	きん	金	gold
円	まる	円	circle, round	えん	円	yen

comments: suggestions to memorize some of these kanjis.

• 十 (10) is the roman number 10, i.e., X, standing on a leg.
• 百 (100) looks like ‘100’ rolled 90° to the right

All the multiples of 10, 100 and 1,000 are the first digit followed by the multiplier, e.g., 20 is ni-juu, 200 is ni-hyaku, and 2,000 is ni-sen; the following are the only exceptions:

八百屋 (やおや, ya-o-ya)

The suffix 屋 (や – ya) indicates a store of some kind, or a person that works at that store. For example, 魚屋 (sakana-ya) is either a store that sells fish, or the person that works at that store. The same goes for パン屋 (pan-ya – bread store, a.k.a. bakery), 本屋 (hon-ya – book store), 肉屋 (niku-ya – meat shop), 花屋 (hana-ya – flower shop), and many others. Well… with this background we would be at a loss with a store called 八百屋 (the 800-store) that is pronounced, of all things, やおや (ya-o-ya). What does it sell?

It turns out that in English we use the word ‘zillion’ to describe a large number, while Japanese used to use the number ‘800’, so the 800-store is a store that sells a large number of ‘things’, and it turns out to be… a produce shop; yeap… a store that sells vegetables. The pronunciation appears to be a combination of the abbreviation of ‘yasai’ (vegetable), and ‘o-ya’ (respectable shop), i.e., ‘yasai-o-ya’, reduced to ‘ya-o-ya’. What throws us off is that the pronunciation and the writing have nothing to do with each other.

Strokes

These are the strokes of each kanji, based on the strokes of other kanjis and radicals. In general, we write the parts of the kanji from top-to-bottom, and from left-to-right.