What Do the Greetings on a Nengajo Mean?
Most nengajo carry one of a small set of fixed greetings, usually printed in decorative calligraphy. If you've received a card and can't read it, or you're writing one and don't know which phrase to choose, here is what the common ones mean and how they differ.
The main phrases
- 謹賀新年 (kinga shinnen) — "Respectfully celebrating the new year." A formal four-character greeting, appropriate for cards to superiors, teachers, and business contacts as well as friends. Its history on printed cards is well documented: Japan's National Diet Library reference service maintains a researched entry tracing when kinga shinnen first appeared on New Year's cards, part of the phrase's spread with mass-printed cards in the modern era.
- 恭賀新年 (kyōga shinnen) — A similarly formal four-character greeting with the same respectful register.
- 賀正 (gashō) and 迎春 (geishun) — Short two-character greetings, "celebrating the new year" and "welcoming spring." Important nuance: because they lack the honorific element of the four-character phrases, they are considered casual. Use them for friends and family, not for a boss or client.
- あけましておめでとうございます (akemashite omedetō gozaimasu) — "Congratulations on the opening of the year," the standard spoken greeting written out in full. Warm and broadly usable; dropping gozaimasu makes it casual.
A card typically pairs one of these with a follow-up line, most commonly 今年もよろしくお願いします (kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegai shimasu) — a request for the recipient's continued goodwill in the coming year. That pairing — celebration plus relationship maintenance — is the essential structure of the nengajo message, as the Nippon.com overview of the custom describes.
Choosing the right register
The practical rule of thumb: four-character phrases and the full akemashite omedetō gozaimasu are safe for everyone; two-character phrases and shortened forms are for people you're close to. When in doubt, err formal — a slightly stiff card causes no offense, while a breezy one to a superior can.
What not to write
Two conventions are worth knowing. First, avoid words associated with endings or misfortune — terms meaning "to break," "to fall," "to fail" — in a New Year's message; the genre is relentlessly forward-looking. Second, if the recipient's household is in mourning, celebratory greetings are set aside entirely; see our guide to mourning etiquette and nengajo for how that works.
Adding a personal line
Printed greetings do the ceremonial work, but a single handwritten sentence — thanks for something specific from the past year, or hopes to meet soon — is widely considered what makes a card feel genuine. Even one line in English is appreciated when writing to Japanese friends who know you're not a native writer.
Once your message is chosen, make sure the outside of the card is right too: see how to address a nengajo and when it needs to arrive.