1.
manuscript paper; Japanese writing grid paper
Paper printed with a grid of squares, each designed to hold one character. The standard format has 400 squares (20 columns × 20 rows). Used for writing essays, compositions, and manuscripts in Japanese schools and by authors.
Usage
原稿用紙 is a staple of Japanese education. Students learn to write compositions following specific rules: one character per square, punctuation marks in their own squares, and special placement rules for opening brackets and quotation marks. The standard 400-character sheet (四百字詰め) is used as a unit of length in publishing.
Common collocations
- 原稿用紙何枚 (how many sheets of manuscript paper)
- 四百字詰めの原稿用紙 (400-character manuscript paper)
- 原稿用紙に書く (write on manuscript paper)
Cultural note
In publishing, the length of a manuscript is often measured in sheets of 原稿用紙. For example, a novel might be described as "原稿用紙三百枚" (300 pages of manuscript paper, or about 120,000 characters).