Amizu Japan

How to Read a Japanese Knitting Chart: A Beginner's Symbol Guide

Read a Japanese knitting chart without Japanese: which way to read, what the boxes mean, and the symbols for knit, purl, yarn over and decreases.

By Naruhiko (Naru) ·

Drafted in English with AI, from the sources listed at the end. How these guides are made.

On this page
  1. The grid: what each box means
  2. Reading direction, in plain steps
  3. Two ideas that confuse people
  4. The symbols you will see first
  5. Needle sizes in Japanese patterns
  6. Is there a standard for these symbols?
  7. A slow first chart
  8. FAQ
  9. Sources

A Japanese knitting chart is a picture of the right side of your fabric, drawn as a grid. The boxes are stitches. You read it from the bottom up, and you read each row from right to left when the right side faces you. On the way back (wrong-side rows of flat knitting), the order flips to left to right and each symbol flips too: a knit becomes a purl and a purl becomes a knit. In the round, you read right to left on every row.

If you remember only that paragraph, you can start. The rest of this guide covers the grid, the common symbols, and the rules that cause most mistakes.

The grid: what each box means

A chart is built on a square grid: as All About explains, the vertical direction is 段 (dan, row) and the horizontal direction is 目 (me, stitch). Each box holds one symbol for one stitch. The beginner book sample cited here also draws each chart as a grid of boxes next to a photo of the stitch pattern, so you can compare the chart with the fabric.

Japanese charts are drawn as the fabric looks from the front, so what you see is what you will get on the right side. All About says the chart shows the work as seen from the front, and the Japanese industrial standard for these symbols (JIS L 0201) says the same: in principle, a symbol shows the right side of the fabric.

Reading direction, in plain steps

  1. Start at the bottom right box (the first stitch of the first row).
  2. Read right to left across the row. This is a right-side row if you are knitting flat.
  3. Next row up: in flat knitting, you turn the work, so you read left to right. amimono, a Japanese knitting site, puts it this way: a row that runs right to left is worked from the right side, and a row that runs left to right is worked from the wrong side.
  4. On wrong-side rows, flip each symbol. The same amimono guide says that when you work left to right, a knit symbol is worked as a purl and a purl symbol as a knit.
  5. In the round (輪編み, wa-ami), hus says the chart is read in one direction only, right to left. The right side is always facing you, so there is nothing to flip.
Chart rowDirection you readWhat you do with a knit box
Right-side row (flat)right to leftknit
Wrong-side row (flat)left to rightpurl
Any row (in the round)right to leftknit

Two ideas that confuse people

Blank boxes. Some charts use empty boxes for one of the two basic stitches, and the key says which. amimono’s example key says empty boxes are purl stitches. Always read the key first.

Garter stitch alternates rows of symbols. A beginner book sample draws garter stitch as alternating rows of knit and purl symbols, and says you work only knit stitches on both right-side and wrong-side rows. That is the flip rule at work: the chart shows the front, but on every other row you are knitting from the back.

The symbols you will see first

In the beginner book sample, a vertical bar ( | ) is a knit stitch (表目, omote-me) and a horizontal bar ( ー ) is a purl stitch (裏目, ura-me). Its stockinette chart (メリヤス編み) is a grid of all vertical bars, while garter stitch (ガーター編み) alternates a row of ー and a row of |. That sample also draws ribbing (ゴム編み) as vertical columns and seed stitch (かのこ編み) as a checkerboard.

Symbol (describe)JapaneseRomajiEnglishNotes
vertical bar表目omote-meknitthe “V” you see on the front
horizontal bar裏目ura-mepurlthe back of a knit stitch
circle ( ○ )かけ目kake-meyarn overadds a stitch; usually paired with a decrease
a peak whose right leg runs on past the top右上2目一度migi-ue 2-me ichidoskp (slip 1, knit 1, pass the slipped stitch over)right stitch ends on top
a peak whose left leg runs on past the top左上2目一度hidari-ue 2-me ichidok2tog (knit 2 together)left stitch ends on top

The shapes above are as drawn in Nihon Vogue’s online symbol guide; the stitch descriptions follow the JIS standard. Books redraw these marks in their own style, so match them against the key.

Yarn over and decrease belong together

Clover describes the pair this way: you work a かけ目 (yarn over) with a 2目一度 right next to it, so the stitch count in the row stays the same. The pair is used to make lace-like holes. Clover’s sample uses a 左上2目一度 (the decrease that leaves the left stitch on top, worked as a knit), but says that some patterns use a 右上2目一度 instead.

How each one is worked:

  • 左上2目一度 (left stitch on top): Clover says it is a decrease, worked here as a knit stitch, that leaves the left stitch on top. In US terms this is k2tog, which the Craft Yarn Council calls a right-leaning decrease.
  • 右上2目一度 (right stitch on top): the amimono tutorial’s steps are: insert the needle into the right stitch from the front and slip it onto the right needle without working it, knit the left stitch, then pass the slipped stitch over the knit one. That is exactly the Craft Yarn Council’s definition of skp, a left-leaning decrease. (ssk also leans left but is worked differently.)

Note the naming: the Japanese names say which stitch ends up on top, while the English descriptions say which way the decrease leans. So the “right” decrease in Japanese (右上) is the one English patterns call left-leaning.

Needle sizes in Japanese patterns

The needle size is usually printed as a number followed by 号 (gō). A larger number means a thicker needle, per a Mynavi beginner book sample: its table runs from 0号 at 2.1 mm up to 15号 at 6.6 mm. The needle size chart checks these values against the makers’ own charts and converts each size to US and UK.

Is there a standard for these symbols?

Yes. Japan’s industrial standard JIS L 0201, 編目記号 (English title “Letter symbols for knitting stitch”; the 1995 edition, reconfirmed in October 2025) covers stitch symbols for home knitting machines and hand knitting. Despite the word “letter” in its English title, its text gives drawn symbols with a name and a description for each, grouped into machine knitting, needle knitting, crochet, and Afghan stitch. The needle-knitting group includes every symbol in the table above. In practice, books reprint their own symbol key, so always check the page legend.

A slow first chart

  1. Find the key page and find 表目 and 裏目.
  2. Draw a 4-by-4 grid of stockinette (all vertical bars).
  3. Cast on 4 stitches. Knit the first row from the right.
  4. Turn and read the second row from the left; the symbols are still vertical bars on the chart, but you purl them.
  5. Check: does the number of stitches on your needle match the number of boxes?

FAQ

Which way do I read a Japanese knitting chart? Bottom to top; right to left on right-side rows, left to right on wrong-side rows (flat). In the round, always right to left.

Do I need to flip symbols on wrong-side rows? Yes. A knit symbol becomes a purl on the way back, and a purl becomes a knit.

What do 表目 and 裏目 mean? 表目 (omote-me) is a knit stitch and 裏目 (ura-me) is a purl stitch. Hamanaka says 裏目 is the back side of a 表目.

Why does a Japanese chart look different from a US chart? Both show the right side of the fabric, but always check the key: one Japanese example key (amimono) says empty boxes are purl, while the beginner book sample cited here draws knit as a vertical bar.

Where is the crochet version? See the Japanese crochet symbols guide.

Sources

All pages below were opened on 2026-10-17.