The Hobonichi Techo is one of the most beloved planners in the world — and one of the most confusing to buy for the first time. Multiple formats, two sizes in most of them, Japanese and English editions, January and April start dates, dated and undated versions, and a cover system so extensive it arrives with its own annual catalogue. If you've been meaning to try a Hobonichi but aren't sure where to begin, this guide will settle it.
At The Journal Shop, we've stocked Hobonichi longer than any other retailer in Europe — we were the first shop on the continent to carry them, back before most UK customers had heard the name. We've spent that time learning what questions people actually ask and what answers genuinely help. This is the guide we wished existed when we first discovered these planners.
What is the Hobonichi Techo?
The Hobonichi Techo (techo is the Japanese word for planner, from the characters for hand and book) is a daily planner made by Hobonichi, a Tokyo-based company founded by Shigesato Itoi — a copywriter, essayist, and the creator of the beloved Mother/EarthBound video game series. The first Techo was published in 2002 after a reader poll on Hobonichi's website returned 700 enthusiastic votes for a simple, thoughtfully designed everyday planner. Itoi wanted something he could carry everywhere and write in on a whim — a student's planner for adults.
What distinguishes the Hobonichi from other planners is the combination of three things: the paper, the binding, and the philosophy.
The paper is Tomoe River — an extraordinarily thin writing paper that resists feathering and bleedthrough with fountain pen inks better than papers ten times its thickness. Despite being barely thicker than tracing paper, a full-year A6 Techo is only about 12mm thick, and you can use both sides of every page.
The binding is thread-sewn, using a method called ito-kagari, combined with a soft glue that allows the spine to open completely flat. Every Hobonichi lies perfectly flat when opened — on a desk, on your knee, or folded back on itself. The planner was opened and closed 3,000 times during testing to confirm the binding would hold for a full year of daily use.
The philosophy is of deliberate simplicity. There are no complex planning systems baked in, no habit tracker grids forcing particular behaviours, no productivity methodology. Each daily page has a date, a 24-hour timeline, a faint grid, and space. What you do with it is your decision.
The Hobonichi range: which format is which
The range has expanded considerably since 2002. Here is a clear breakdown of every format.
A6 Original — the classic
The original Hobonichi, and still the most popular. A6 size (roughly 10.5 × 14.8cm) — similar to a large paperback. One page per day. The English-language edition is called the Planner; the Original refers to the Japanese edition, though both are available in English and run on the same daily-page format.
Each daily page has a header box with the date, day of the week, and moon phase; five small checkboxes; a 24-hour timeline down one side; and a faint 3.7mm dot grid filling the rest of the page. A "secret line" — a faint rule dividing the page roughly in half — helps separate your timeline from your writing, though you can ignore it entirely if it doesn't suit your style.
A full year of daily pages runs to over 400 pages. Despite this, the A6 Techo is only about 12mm thick and weighs less than a baseball. It fits in a coat pocket or a small bag without complaint.
Best for: Daily journalers, those who write at length, anyone who wants a single go-everywhere companion for the year. Also excellent for anyone new to Hobonichi — the A6 is where most people start.
A5 Cousin — twice the space
The A5 Cousin has the same daily page format as the A6 Original, but twice the page size (approximately 21 × 14.8cm). The additional space makes a significant difference if you write a great deal, use the planner for bullet-style journaling, or want to include sketches and ephemera. The Cousin is roughly the size of a hardcover novel and noticeably heavier than the A6.
The Cousin also includes a weekly vertical section at the front of the book — a separate set of hourly columns for each day of the week — for anyone who wants to plan ahead as well as record daily notes.
Best for: Writers and journalers who consistently fill pages, people with large handwriting, anyone who wants more room for decoration, collage, and ephemera. Also a natural choice if you find the A6 cramped but like the daily format.
Hobonichi Weeks — the weekly planner
The Weeks is a weekly planner in a slim, vertical format (approximately 18.8 × 9.4cm). All seven days of the week appear on the left-hand page; the right-hand page is a faint dot-grid memo space. The Weeks uses cream-toned Tomoe River paper rather than the white paper of the daily planners, and its format is designed around being carried everywhere and consulted constantly.
The Weeks MEGA is identical to the standard Weeks but with three times the memo pages at the back — useful for those who use the memo section heavily for lists, notes, and ideas.
Best for: People who prefer a weekly overview to a daily page, those who want a very portable planner, commuters, people who find the full daily Techo too much of a commitment. Also excellent as a companion to an A6 or A5 Techo — using a Weeks for scheduling and an Original for daily writing is a popular combination.
Hobonichi HON — with its own cover
HON (from hon, the Japanese word for book) is the same daily planner as the A6 Original or A5 Cousin, but with a built-in cover rather than a separate cover system. HON planners have firm, flexible covers — similar to a quality hardcover notebook — and come with a clear pencil board and pen holder included.
The HON is the choice for anyone who wants the Hobonichi daily format without the additional cost or decision of an external cover. It's also the most straightforward gift option — a complete, ready-to-use planner with no separate purchases required.
Best for: Those who want a simpler, one-piece planner; anyone who finds the cover system overwhelming; an excellent introduction to Hobonichi for a gift.
Day-Free — the undated alternative
The Day-Free replaces the daily pages with undated graph paper pages (with a faint number and quote on each, but no date printed). It includes monthly calendar spreads, so you have structural reference, but the daily pages can be used whenever and however you choose. The Day-Free is roughly half the thickness of a full-year daily planner, because the undated pages don't carry the monthly colour and timeline printing of dated pages.
Best for: People who travel frequently, those who skip days and hate blank dated pages, anyone who wants the Hobonichi paper and cover system in a notebook format rather than a strict planner.
5-Year Techo
The 5-Year Techo gives each day of the year a single two-page spread, with columns for five consecutive years on the left and blank grid on the right. It's a longitudinal journal — a record of the same day across five years of your life, with the growing weight of comparison and perspective that implies. The design is deliberately understated: a soft cover inspired by old dictionaries and bibles, a quiet object that accumulates meaning slowly.
Best for: Anyone drawn to long-term journaling, those who want to observe the passage of time in a concrete way, couples or families who want a shared record.
The cover system
Hobonichi's external covers are sold separately from the planner books. Each cover includes the book for that year when purchased — you're buying the cover and the book together — and the covers are designed to be reused with subsequent years' books. Over several years of use, a leather or quality textile Hobonichi cover develops a patina and history that becomes part of the object.
Cover options run from simple, affordable fabric covers in seasonal colours through to artist collaborations, Liberty of London textiles, leather covers in vegetable-tanned cow leather, and highly limited collaborative editions with artists, brands, and cultural properties. Hobonichi releases a new cover range every year, typically in September for the following January, and many popular covers sell out within hours of launch.
The covers fit precisely to their planner size — an A6 cover fits only A6 books, an A5 cover fits only A5. The internal pockets vary by design but most include card slots, a long pocket for papers and flat accessories, and pen holders.
The paper: Tomoe River explained
Tomoe River is the paper that built the Hobonichi's reputation and it deserves its own explanation.
It's thin — very thin, at 52gsm (grams per square metre). For comparison, standard A4 printer paper is typically 80gsm. Despite this, Tomoe River resists fountain pen ink with remarkable effectiveness: ink sits on the surface longer than it would on most papers, drying slowly but rarely feathering or bleeding through to the back of the page.
This surface behaviour is also what makes Tomoe River paper show off fountain pen inks so beautifully. Because the ink dries slowly, shading (the variation in tone across a stroke as the ink is absorbed unevenly) and sheen (a second colour visible where the ink pools) are more prominent on Tomoe River than on almost any other paper. Inks that look flat on ordinary paper develop extraordinary character on this surface.
The original Tomoe River paper was discontinued by its manufacturer in 2021. Hobonichi now uses Tomoe River S, produced by a different manufacturer (Sanzen), which performs similarly — slightly faster drying in our experience — but maintains the core qualities that make it special. White Tomoe River S is used in the daily planners (Original, Cousin, HON); cream-toned paper is used in the Weeks and Weeks MEGA.
A few practical notes for fountain pen users:
- Dry time is longer than on most papers. Budget a minute or two before turning pages, especially with wet nibs or broad nibs. A pencil board (a stiff insert placed between pages as you write) prevents wet ink from transferring to the previous page.
- Shimmer inks — those containing metallic particles — tend to perform beautifully on Tomoe River, as the slow-drying surface allows the particles to settle and catch the light.
- Very wet inks in very broad nibs can occasionally bleed through on the daily planner pages. Test a new ink on a back page first if you're concerned.
- The paper is thin enough that show-through (seeing the previous page's writing as a ghost behind the current page) is normal. Most users stop noticing it quickly; others find it useful as a visual sense of progress through the year.
How to choose: the decision tree
Here is the simplest way to narrow down the options.
Do you want a daily planner (one page per day)?
Yes → Choose between A6 Original or A5 Cousin based on how much you write. If you're a moderate writer or new to Hobonichi, start with A6. If you write extensively or have large handwriting, go A5.
No, I prefer a weekly overview → Hobonichi Weeks.
I want both → Many people use a Weeks for scheduling and an A6 Original for daily notes. A common and effective combination.
Do you want a built-in cover?
Yes → HON (either A6 or A5 size).
No, I want the full cover system → Original, Cousin, or Weeks, plus a separate cover purchase.
Are you new to Hobonichi?
If you're genuinely not sure where to begin, start with the A6 Original in the English edition. It's the most forgiving size — compact enough not to feel overwhelming, spacious enough to be genuinely useful. If you love it, you can always add an A5 Cousin or a Weeks the following year.
Do you want an undated planner?
Day-Free Original (A6) or Day-Free Cousin (A5).
When to buy a Hobonichi
This matters more than most planners. Hobonichi releases its annual cover range in September each year, for the following January. Popular covers — particularly artist collaborations and limited editions — sell out within days, sometimes hours, of release. If you have a specific cover in mind, mark the release date and be ready.
The planners themselves (without covers) are available somewhat longer, but the English-language editions in particular can become difficult to find by November or December.
April Start editions — which begin on 1 April, suited to the Japanese academic calendar — are released in February and are available in Japanese only. If the January start date doesn't suit your year, the April Start offers an alternative.
At The Journal Shop, we stock the Hobonichi range as completely as we can each year, with UK-held stock available for immediate delivery. Sign up to our mailing list to be notified when new covers arrive — it's the most reliable way not to miss the one you want.
What to write in your Hobonichi
The most common anxiety of new Hobonichi users is the blank daily page. Here is the honest answer: write anything, consistently. The Techo was designed by someone who wanted to record thoughts and ideas before forgetting them — it isn't a productivity system, it's a notebook with dates.
Hobonichi team members, when interviewed, use their Techos for everything from work schedules and meeting notes to travel journals, daily observations from commutes, observations about strangers on the subway, lists of books and exhibitions, and ephemera. The 24-hour timeline is there if you want to log your day hour by hour; it's equally easy to ignore it entirely and just write.
Some approaches that work particularly well for beginners: write one thing that happened today, however small. Note one observation. Record what you had for lunch. The accumulated weight of small, consistent entries is the point — looking back at a filled Hobonichi is unlike looking back at any other planner.
The best pens for the Hobonichi Techo
Tomoe River paper is beautifully compatible with fountain pens, but it requires patience with dry time. For everyday writing in the Techo, the practical recommendations are:
Fountain pens: any fountain pen works, but Fine or Medium nibs suit most Hobonichi users. A nib that runs on the drier side — Platinum's nibs are known for this — will dry faster. Japanese fountain pens (Pilot, Platinum, Sailor) are natural companions to Japanese paper, and the writing experience is excellent.
Gel pens: the Uni-ball One, Zebra Sarasa, and Pilot Juice range all write beautifully on Tomoe River. Dry time is more manageable than with fountain pens for most gel inks.
Avoid: very wet fountain pen inks in very broad nibs, and any ink likely to bleed. Test on a back page first. Highlighters can be used but need to go over ink that's fully dry — allow an hour for fountain pen ink before highlighting. Fast-drying gel pens can be highlighted much more quickly.
We have a separate guide to the best pens and accessories for the Hobonichi Techo if you'd like more detail on this.
A note on TJS and Hobonichi
We were the first retailer in Europe to stock the Hobonichi Techo. We've stocked every edition since before most UK customers knew the name, and we still sell more Hobonichi planners than almost any other UK retailer. This isn't something we say to sound impressive — it means that when covers sell out elsewhere, ours often don't yet; when new formats launch, we carry them; and when you have a question about which Hobonichi to choose, we've almost certainly heard it before and know the answer.
Browse the full Hobonichi range at The Journal Shop, including all current covers, accessories, and companion items for the Techo.
