How to read a Japanese knitting pattern (diagrams and symbols)

Open a Japanese knitting book, or a 1980s Japanese knitting magazine, and you'll find hardly any written instructions. There's a drawing of each piece covered in numbers, a few stitch charts and a handful of characters. That's it.

It looks daunting. It isn't, once you know the conventions. In fact it's one of the clearest ways to write a pattern, and you don't need to read a word of Japanese to follow it. You need four things: the schematic, the shaping code, the chart symbols and a short list of key words.

The drawing is the pattern

A Western pattern tells you what to do, row by row. A Japanese pattern shows you the finished shape of each piece and gives you the numbers to get there. You read it like a map.

On the page you'll usually find:

• A schematic (garment diagram) for each piece: back, front, sleeve, and bands or collar.
• Stitch charts for anything other than plain fabric.
• A small materials box: yarn, needle sizes, gauge (tension) and finished measurements.
• Very brief text, often just a few lines on making up. You can usually manage without it.

How to read the schematic

The schematic is a line drawing of one piece, drawn roughly to scale.

Start at the bottom. Pieces are knitted from the bottom up unless an arrow says otherwise. Arrows on the diagram show the direction of knitting, so check them before you cast on.

The numbers are centimetres. The "cm" is usually left off. Each measurement usually has its stitch or row count beside it in brackets. A side edge labelled "16 (36段)" means 16 cm, worked over 36 rows. A lower edge labelled "45 (98目)" means 45 cm wide, over 98 stitches.

The cast-on count sits at the base. Look along the bottom edge. If the ribbing is worked afterwards (more on that further down), the count may sit just above the rib instead.

The stitch pattern's name sits in the middle of the piece. If it's anything other than plain stockinette (stocking stitch), garter stitch or simple rib, there'll be a matching chart elsewhere on the page.

Bands get their own strip. Ribbed welts, button bands and neckbands are usually drawn separately along the edge, labelled with their depth, row count and stitch (often ゴム編み, rib).

Shaping is shown on one side only. Where both armholes or both sides of a neckline match, the shaping is usually marked once and you mirror it.

The shaping code: 2-1-3

Down the sloping edges of the schematic you'll see little stacks of three numbers, such as 2-1-3. This is the heart of a Japanese pattern. The order never changes:

rows – stitches – times

So 2-1-3 means every 2nd row, decrease (or increase) 1 stitch, 3 times.

Some things that make the stacks easier:

• Read each stack from the bottom up, in the order you knit.
• The drawing tells you whether it's an increase or a decrease. An edge sloping outwards is an increase; sloping inwards, a decrease. The code itself rarely says.
• 1 stitch is a decrease or increase. 2 or more at once is usually a bind-off (cast-off) or cast-on. The first step of an armhole often has the word 伏せ目 (bind off) beside the number, as in "4目伏せ目": bind off 4 stitches.
• 平 means "straight". A line like "10段平" means work 10 rows even. It usually sits at the top of a stack: the rows worked after the last shaping.
• Check the totals. Multiply out each line and make sure it matches the stitch counts at the top of the piece. It's the quickest way to catch a misread number.

Sources differ slightly on how the very first line of an armhole or neckline is written. Some put a "1"; some leave the row number off. If that first step looks odd, read it as "on the next row, do this many stitches once".

Charts and symbols

Japanese charts work much like Western ones. A few habits to know:

• The chart shows the right side of the fabric. Every symbol shows how the stitch looks from the front.
• Read from the bottom. Right-side rows go right to left; wrong-side rows go left to right.
• On wrong-side rows, do the opposite. A knit symbol on a wrong-side row means purl, and the other way round, so the front looks like the chart.
• Row 1 may be the cast-on. Many Japanese charts count the cast-on as the first row, so the numbering can be one row "ahead" of a Western chart.
• Arrows and numbers at the edge show which side each row is worked from. Check them before you start.

The symbols are standardised. The Japanese Industrial Standard JIS L 0201 ("letter symbols for knitting stitch", 1995 edition) sets out symbols for hand knitting, crochet and machine knitting, and states that symbols in principle show the face (right side) of the fabric. Hobby books and magazines use the same basic set but add plenty of their own for special stitches, so always check the key that comes with your pattern.

The decrease names catch out a lot of Western knitters. Japanese names describe which stitch ends up on top, not which way the decrease leans. Right-hand stitch on top (右上) leans left, like an ssk. Left-hand stitch on top (左上) leans right, like a k2tog.

And a blank square doesn't always mean knit. In some charts it means purl, or a different stitch altogether. Look for the note under the chart.

Fourteen words worth knowing

You don't need to learn Japanese. But these characters turn up on almost every page, and once a few of them are familiar the patterns start to make sense.

Gauge and needle sizes

Gauge is given per 10 cm square. Look for "10cm" in the materials box, with a stitch count, a row count and the stitch pattern it was measured in. That's the same as a modern Western 4 in (10 cm) swatch, which makes life easy. Here's how to measure gauge properly.

Needles have their own numbers. Japanese needle sizes are numbered (号, gō) and don't match UK or US numbers. Each size goes up by 0.3 mm:

Most of these fall between standard Western metric sizes. A Japanese No. 6 (3.9 mm) is between a 3.75 mm and a 4 mm needle, so pick the nearer one and swatch. Your gauge matters more than the needle anyway, so that's no hardship. Thicker needles are usually given in mm.

If your pattern is from a 1980s magazine

Vintage Japanese magazine patterns have their own habits:

• Often one size only. Many designs came in a single size, so you'll need to regrade for your own measurements. Our guide to resizing vintage knitting patterns explains how.
• Ribbing worked afterwards. Some pieces start with a provisional cast-on, and the welt is picked up and knitted downwards at the end.
• Methods left to you. The cast-on, bind-off and exact decrease method often aren't specified. Use whatever suits the edge.
• Grafting and joining shown as drawings. Shoulders may be joined with a three-needle bind-off or grafted rather than sewn. Little dots or matching marks on the diagram show which points line up.
• Very little text. Most of the information is in the numbers. If a word puzzles you, it's usually in the materials box or making-up notes and won't change your knitting.
• Generous, boxy shapes. Dropped shoulders and wide bodies were very fashionable, and the ease is part of the design. Go by the finished measurements, not just the size. See how vintage knitwear should fit.

Before you cast on

1. Find the gauge box and knit a 10 cm swatch.
2. Convert the needle number to mm.
3. Find the schematic for your first piece and check the arrows.
4. Read the cast-on count at the base and the pattern name in the middle.
5. Write out each shaping stack in plain words, bottom to top.
6. Match every chart to its piece and check the symbol key.
7. Multiply out the shaping and check it against the stitch counts at the top.

That's the whole method. Once you've done it for one piece, the rest of the pattern reads much faster.

If you'd rather someone else did the decoding, our patterns are rebuilt from the original written instructions and written out in full for your size (US 4–24 / UK 8–28, 32–52 in bust), your yarn and your gauge. Every one was chosen and checked by a knitter. Stuck on a symbol? Email support@vintagetomodernknits.com and a real person will help.

Also worth reading: resizing vintage knitting patterns, how to measure gauge properly, vintage knitting abbreviations explained and the gauge to yarn weight tool.

Last updated 2026-10-11.