The Solar System in Japanese

Astronomy is one of my favorite subjects. In this post I will name all the planets (including Pluto) in Japanese. We will also learn some useful Japanese words related to space and the solar system.

Learn the names of the planets in Japanese with the help of the below table.

PlanetsNames in KanjiNames in HiraganaNames in Romaji
Mercury水星すいせいSuisei
Venus金星きんせいKinsei
Earth地球ちきゅうChikyū
Mars火星かせいKasei
Jupiter木星もくせいMokusei
Saturn土星どせいDosei
Uranus天王星てんのうせいTennousei
Neptune海王星かいおうせいKaiousei
Pluto冥王星めいおうせいMeiousei

Note that the first five planets’ names (excluding Earth) are associated with the five elements.  These five classical elements are called Wǔ Xíng in Chinese, they are namely water, metal, fire, wood and earth. Wu Xíng is applied to the concept of phenomena like time, space and existence. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn being close to the Earth, exert their influence on life on our planet. Hence, Wu Xíng elements are assigned to all the five planets that astrologically affect the Earth.

In many parts of the world, days of the week are named after the sun, moon and planets. Similarly, the Chinese names for days of the week are also associated with the five above mentioned planets, the sun and the moon. All these seven celestial bodies are visible to the naked eye, from the surface of the Earth.

The Japanese names of the planets as well the days of the week are 漢語 kango or words of Chinese origin. Learn how to say the days of the week in Japanese from my previous lesson Dates and Days in Japanese.

Vocabulary

EnglishKanjiHiraganaRomaji
Sun  太陽たいようTaiyou
Moon月 つきTsuki
Stars 星 ほしHoshi
Constellation 星座 せいざSeiza
Satellite 衛星 えいせいEisei
Telescope 望遠鏡 ぼうえんきょうBouenkyou
Universe/Space 宇宙 うちゅうUchuu
Alien 宇宙人 うちゅうじんUchuujin
Astronaut 宇宙飛行士 うちゅうひこうしUchuuhikoushi
Galaxy         銀河 ぎんがGinga
Milky Way  天の河あまのがわAmanogawa
Solar System太陽系たいようけいTaiyoukei

5 thoughts on “The Solar System in Japanese

  1. Artur José says:

    Check the romaji form of Earth, think there is a small mistake.

    1. Hi Artur,

      Thanks for stopping by and noticing the error. I have corrected it.

  2. harrison says:

    can you add just planet

    1. Oliver Miyazaki 1/28/24 says:

      I’m 8 years old and Japanese this will really help me tyb(thank you

  3. Bobby Swann says:

    Hello.
    Do you have The Pleiades names in Japanese, illustrated?
    Thankyou

    Subaru enthusiast, Northern Ireland

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