Japanese New Year card
The greeting, the year’s animal and your name, set vertically.
Examples temporarily replace the input and settings. You can restore your previous work.
Pro keeps the settings you use every week and puts them one click away. See Pro
Your files stay on your device
This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored, and you can even turn off your internet connection before you start.
Example
Example: an English teacher’s nengajo for 2027, the Year of the Sheep
Emily Carter (fictitious) teaches English in Japan and makes her nengajo in November 2026 for her colleagues and her host family. Which card 年賀状; greeting left blank; her own three lines; picture Plum blossoms; decoration The year’s animal, stamped in red; vertical; postcard size.
- Made from September on, the card is for the coming year: the date line fills in as 令和九年 元旦 (New Year’s Day of Reiwa 9, 2027) and the red seal shows 未, the sheep, 2027’s animal.
- The blank greeting becomes 謹賀新年. Her lines are set in columns from right to left; she writes 昨年 rather than 去年 for last year, the usual custom, as 去 means to leave.
- Her address turns vertical as it would be written by hand: the digits become kanji one by one and the hyphens upright strokes.
| Typed | On the card |
|---|---|
| Greeting (blank) | 謹賀新年 |
| 昨年は大変お世話になりました / 日本で三年目の春を迎えます / 本年もどうぞよろしくお願いいたします | three vertical columns, right to left |
| Date line (blank) | 令和九年 元旦 |
| 〒000-0000 | 〒〇〇〇ー〇〇〇〇, set vertically |
| みなみ市さくら町3-8-2 サクラハイツ101 | みなみ市さくら町三ー八ー二 サクラハイツ一〇一 |
| エミリー・カーター | her name in the leftmost column, top to bottom |
| Decoration: the year’s animal | 未 in a red seal |
年賀状.pdf, one postcard-size page, 100 × 148 mm, with nothing of ours on it. She prints it on the message side of blank hagaki and the addresses on the other side with the address printing tool.
How it works
- Choose the greeting. 謹賀新年 and 迎春 are the short formal ones; the longer sentences suit a card to someone you do not write to often.
- Leave the message blank for the usual three lines, or type your own — one line per row, and they are set in vertical columns from right to left.
- Type your name and address at the left. The date line fills itself in with the coming year and 元旦.
- Download and print on a blank hagaki. Print the address side separately with the address printing tool.
Frequently asked questions
- Which year does it print?
- The year being wished in. Cards are written in November and December for the January after them, so from September the card is dated to next year — and the animal stamped on it is next year’s animal, not this year’s.
- Can I put a photograph on it?
- This draws the written side only. Make the card here, then put your photograph on it in Add text to PDF, with its Image button, or print this over a photo card you already have.
- What if the recipient is in mourning?
- Then you do not send a 年賀状 at all — you send a 寒中見舞い in January instead, which is the mid-winter option in the “which card” setting, or our separate mid-winter page.
- Can I write it horizontally?
- Yes. Writing direction: Horizontal sets the greeting, the message and your address across the card, with the address kept as typed (3-8-2, 101). This page draws the message side only; the address side is printed separately with the address printing tool.
- What if I make the card in January?
- Before September the card is dated to the current year, so a card made on 3 January 2027 still says 令和九年 元旦 with 未. From 1 September the date and the animal move on to the next year.
- Is anything uploaded?
- No. The card is drawn in your browser.
- Is it free?
- Yes, and this one carries nothing of ours at the foot — it is a card you post to somebody, so it prints exactly as you see it.