Genkō Yōshi (Japanese Manuscript Paper) Calculator

Convert Japanese text into 400-character manuscript-paper pages, simulating real line breaks — plus character and word counts.

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What is genkō yōshi?

Genkō yōshi (原稿用紙) is the traditional Japanese manuscript paper: a grid of squares, one character per square, usually 20 characters × 20 lines = 400 squares per sheet. Schools, literary contests and publishers in Japan still measure the length of a text in "manuscript sheets" rather than word counts.

There are two ways to count: the simple division (total characters ÷ 400) and the real sheet count, which simulates placing characters into the grid. Every line break wastes the rest of its line, so dialogue-heavy prose takes noticeably more real sheets than the simple division suggests. This tool shows both numbers, along with plain character and word counts for non-Japanese text.

Notes

• Japanese contests that say「400字詰め原稿用紙◯枚以内」almost always mean the real sheet count, line breaks included.
• The simulation here is the plain method: no kinsoku rules (which tuck a line-leading punctuation mark into the previous line), so word-processor "manuscript mode" may differ by a line or two.
• Spaces occupy a square, as they do on real paper.