Amizu Japan

Choosing Japanese Yarn Without Reading Japanese: Label Terms From Hamanaka, Daruma, and Diamond Decoded

Decode Japanese yarn labels: fiber, weight, length, needle number, gauge, color, lot and care symbols, using real Hamanaka, Daruma and Diamond pages.

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 label fields at a glance
  2. A real label, decoded (Daruma Merino Wool)
  3. Fiber content: 品質 or 構成
  4. Weight and length: 量目, 玉巻, 糸長
  5. Needle and hook: 使用針
  6. Gauge: 標準ゲージ
  7. Thickness words: 極細 to 超極太
  8. Color number and lot: 色番号 and ロット
  9. Care symbols: 洗濯表示
  10. FAQ
  11. Sources

A Japanese ball band packs the same facts as any other: fiber, weight, length, recommended needle, gauge, color, and care. What changes is the vocabulary. The key lines to find are 品質 or 構成 (fiber content), 量目 or 玉巻 (ball weight), 糸長 (yardage, in meters), 使用針 (recommended needle or hook), 標準ゲージ (gauge), and 色番号 plus lot. This guide walks through each term using real product pages from Hamanaka, Daruma (Yokota), and Diamond Keito, and finishes with the care symbols.

The label fields at a glance

JapaneseRomajiEnglishWhat it tells you
品質 / 品質表示hinshitsu / hinshitsu hyōji“Quality” (Daruma’s English field name)Fiber content, e.g. 100% wool
構成kōseicompositionHamanaka’s name for the same field
量目ryōme“Quantity”Ball weight in grams, with length in parentheses on Daruma
玉巻 / 仕立tamamaki / shitateball-wound / how it’s made upHamanaka’s “50g玉巻(約60m)”: weight and length
糸長itonagayarn lengthMeters per ball. 約 (yaku) means “about”
使用針 / 棒針・かぎ針shiyō-bari / bō-bari, kagi-bari“Needle (JPN)”Needle (棒針) and hook (かぎ針) number
標準ゲージhyōjun gēji“Gauge”Stitches and rows in a swatch
色番号 / 色数iro-bangō / irokazucolor number / number of colorsWhich shade; how many shades exist
ロットlottolotDye batch
生産国seisan-kokucountry of originWhere it was made
洗濯表示sentaku hyōjicare symbolsHow to wash

Quick note on 品質. On these bands it does not mean “quality grade.” It means what the yarn is made of (Daruma’s English field name is simply “Quality” for the fiber content).

A real label, decoded (Daruma Merino Wool)

Daruma’s product page for its 100% merino yarn lists the following. The Japanese and English fields are on the same page, which makes it a handy Rosetta stone.

Japanese fieldValue on the pagePlain English
品質表示ウール（メリノウール）100％100% wool (merino)
量目40g(約88m)40 g, about 88 m
使用針棒針6～7号・かぎ針6/0～7/0号Knitting needles No.6 to 7; crochet hooks 6/0 to 7/0
標準ゲージ20～21目・28～30段（メリヤス編）20 to 21 stitches and 28 to 30 rows, in stockinette
色数2222 colors
生産国日本Japan

(Daruma prints an English version of each field on the same page. Its gauge field is spelled “Guage” there, so do not search for it by that English spelling.)

Now convert it. Needle No.6 to 7 is 3.9 to 4.2 mm, and hook 6/0 to 7/0 is 3.5 to 4.0 mm (see the needle size chart and hook size chart). Japanese gauge counts are conventionally per 10 cm (Hamanaka’s Q&A defines standard gauge as a 10 cm square; Daruma’s page does not repeat the size, so check the band). To compare with a US pattern that counts per 4 inches, multiply by 1.016: 20 to 21 stitches per 10 cm is about 20.3 to 21.3 stitches per 4 in, and 28 to 30 rows becomes about 28.4 to 30.5.

For ball size, 88 m is about 96 yd and 40 g is about 1.4 oz. Note that this ball is only 40 g. Always compare yarns by length, not by number of balls.

Fiber content: 品質 or 構成

You will see percentages written with full-width numbers and a ％ sign (for example ６３％). These are the fiber names that appear on the Hamanaka, Daruma, and Diamond pages cited here:

JapaneseRomajiEnglish
ウールūruwool
メリノウールmerino ūrumerino wool
アクリルakuriruacrylic
綿mencotton
レーヨンrēyonrayon
ポリエステルporiesuterupolyester
ナイロンnaironnylon
モヘヤ（キッドモヘヤ）mohea (kiddo mohea)mohair (kid mohair)

One practical note: Diamond’s online shop lists blends like “ウール 63％ モヘヤ 10％（キッドモヘヤ）ナイロン 27％”. That list is not in descending order, so do not assume the first fiber is the largest share. Read the numbers.

Weight and length: 量目, 玉巻, 糸長

Hamanaka’s Bonny page says 仕立: 50g玉巻(約60m), meaning a 50 g ball wound to about 60 m. Diamond writes it as separate bullets: 30g玉巻 and 糸長 約135m.

Two points matter.

Length is an estimate, and home measurement comes up short. Hamanaka’s Q&A explains that the printed length is measured under a specified starting load per the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS), and if you measure without that load, the yarn comes out shorter, especially for stretchy yarns. The printed number is mainly meant for comparing yarns: with the same ball weight, a longer length means a thinner, lighter yarn.

Use meters to compare yarns. Both Daruma pages cited here call their wool 並太 (namibuto, “regular thickness”), but Merino Wool is 88 m per 40 g (220 m per 100 g) and Dulcian Wool is 75 m per 40 g (187.5 m per 100 g). That is a 17% difference in length for the same weight, under the same name. Quantity estimates built on grams alone will be off.

Needle and hook: 使用針

Needles are 棒針 (bō-bari, “stick needle”) with a 号 number, and hooks are かぎ針 (kagi-bari) with a /0 number, so a band might read 「棒針6～7号・かぎ針6/0～7/0号」. Convert them with the needle chart and hook chart. Hamanaka’s Bonny page gives only a needle range (8 to 10号) and a single hook size (7.5/0), each with a gauge. Daruma gives ranges for both.

Gauge: 標準ゲージ

Hamanaka defines it as the stitches and rows in a 10 cm square: stockinette (メリヤス) for knitting, and 長編み (naga-ami, “long stitch”; double crochet in US terms, treble in UK terms) for crochet. It is the gauge you would usually get with the specified needle, and Hamanaka stresses that it varies from person to person. The advice on the Q&A page is to knit a test swatch larger than 10 cm, because the edges change size, and to change the needle number if needed. Cables and other crossed-stitch patterns in particular tend to differ from the printed gauge.

Hamanaka’s Bonny example: knitting 15 stitches by 20 rows, crochet 13 stitches by 6 rows in 長編み.

Thickness words: 極細 to 超極太

The words on the front of a Japanese band describe thickness, but each brand ties them to different needle numbers. Hamanaka’s Q&A gives these knitting-needle ranges:

JapaneseRomajiHamanaka needle rangeApprox. mm
極細gokubosoabout 2号2.7
中細chūbosoabout 3号3.0
合太aibuto4 to 5号3.3 to 3.6
並太namibuto5 to 8号3.6 to 4.5
太futo8 to 10号4.5 to 5.1
極太gokubuto10 to 12号5.1 to 5.7
超極太chōgokubuto15号 or larger6.6 or more

Compared with the Craft Yarn Council’s categories, the needle ranges suggest that 並太 sits around “Light / DK” (CYC 3: 3.75 to 4.5 mm) and 合太 around “Fine / Sport”. That is only a reading of the overlap, not an official equivalence: CYC itself calls its ranges guidelines, the ranges overlap, and brands differ. Daruma’s own English names are not consistent, though. Its wool 並太 pages (Merino Wool and Dulcian Wool) say “DK,” its acrylic 並太 (Dulcian) says “Heavy Worsted,” its acrylic-and-wool blend 並太 says “Wool Blend Worsted,” and its 極太 merino says “Worsted.” So even one brand uses several English words for 並太. When in doubt, go by meters per gram, gauge, and needle mm.

Brands also differ numerically: Hamanaka puts 極太 at 10 to 12号, while Daruma’s 極太 merino page lists 9 to 11号.

Color number and lot: 色番号 and ロット

Each color has a number (and often a name; Daruma lists “1 きなり / Ecru”). The lot (ロット) is a dye batch. Hamanaka’s Q&A says the lot is shown as a letter next to the color number, and that colors vary slightly from batch to batch, so you should use the same lot when joining balls. Even the same lot can drift over time with light and storage, so check a few rows of knitting when you add a ball.

Diamond describes its own system on its online shop: each color is managed in three lot classes, written A, B, and O on the label, and the shop sends the same lot unless you request otherwise. Diamond says to specify the lot when reordering to continue a project, and that you do not need to worry about the lot if you are not joining yarn.

A simple rule for projects: add up the length you need, divide by the length on the band (糸長), round up, and add one more ball. For example, a pattern that needs 500 m of the Daruma merino above works out to 500 ÷ 88 = 5.7, so 6 balls, plus 1 spare makes 7. Buy them together so the lot matches.

Care symbols: 洗濯表示

Japan’s care symbols come from the JIS L 0001 standard, which the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA, 消費者庁) summarizes in two current versions: one for labels from 2016-12-01 to 2024-08-19, and one for labels from 2024-08-20. Both can be on shelves. (Labels from before December 2016 use an older system, which the CAA also documents.) The newer page (labels from 2024-08-20) is the one summarized below.

The system has five base shapes:

ShapeJapaneseMeaning
Wash tub洗濯処理Washing, with the maximum water temperature as a number in °C
Triangle漂白処理Bleaching
Square乾燥処理Drying: a circle inside is tumble-drying; lines inside are line or flat drying
Ironアイロン仕上げ処理Ironing; dots give the temperature level
Circle商業クリーニング処理Professional cleaning

Modifiers: one line under a symbol means a gentler treatment; two lines mean a very gentle one. In the drying square, one vertical line means hang-dry after spinning, two vertical lines mean drip-dry on a line, one horizontal line means flat-dry after spinning, and two horizontal lines mean drip-dry flat. A diagonal line adds “in the shade.”

What knitters mostly look for:

  • Hand-wash symbols. The 2024 version has two: hand wash with water up to 30°C, and hand wash up to 40°C. The 2016 version has only the 30°C one. A “do not wash” tub also exists.
  • Flat drying (a square with a horizontal line) is the one to look for if the yarn is delicate.
  • Iron temperature. The 2024 version lists 210°C, 160°C, and 120°C (with a separate 120°C “no steam” symbol); the earlier version lists 200°C, 150°C, and 110°C (no steam). Dots in the iron show the level.

One more detail from the standard: the JIS text says that if one of the five base symbols is absent from a label, all treatments of that type are considered possible. For yarn, do not rely on that. Japan’s labeling law treats hand-knitting yarn as 糸 (ito, “yarn”), and the CAA’s guide for yarn lists only two required items: the fiber content, and the labeler’s name with an address or phone number. Care symbols are not on that list, so a ball band may carry none at all.

FAQ

What is 並太 in US yarn weights? There is no official equivalent. Its needle range (Hamanaka: 5 to 8号, about 3.6 to 4.5 mm) overlaps the Craft Yarn Council’s “Light / DK” category most closely, and some Daruma 並太 wool pages say “DK” in English, while Daruma’s acrylic 並太 says “Heavy Worsted.” Check the gauge and meters per gram.

Why is the ball shorter than the band says? The printed length is measured under a defined starting load per JIS, and without it the yarn measures shorter. Hamanaka says the number is mostly for comparing yarns.

Do I need to match the lot? If you are joining balls in one piece, yes, if you can: Hamanaka says to use the same lot where possible, and Diamond keeps three lot classes (A, B, O). Differences between lots are not always visible to the eye, so test a few rows.

What does 「約」 mean before the length? “About.” Lengths are approximate.

Can I knit a US pattern with Japanese yarn? Yes. Convert the needle numbers to mm, swatch, and compare stitches per 4 inches or 10 cm. If the pattern is a Japanese chart, start with how to read one.

Sources

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