Japanese symbol for “stave”

五線

ごせん

Romaji: gosen

staff; stave

In Japanese, stave is 五線, read ごせん (gosen).

Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.

Meanings

n staff; stave (music)

Kanji and stroke order

五

five

on: ゴ
kun: いつ、いつ.つ

4 strokes · JLPT 4

線

line, track

on: セン
kun: すじ

15 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “stave”

Word	Reading	Meaning
譜表	ふひょう fuhyou	staff; stave; score

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
五輪	ごりん gorin	Olympic Games; Olympics
五つ	いつつ itsutsu	five
五感	ごかん gokan	the five senses
五十音	ごじゅうおん gojuuon	the Japanese syllabary
五体	ごたい gotai	the whole body
四捨五入	ししゃごにゅう shishagonyuu	rounding (off; a number); rounding half away from zero
新幹線	しんかんせん shinkansen	Shinkansen; bullet train
無線	むせん musen	radio (communication)

See also: Chinese symbol for “stave”.

Data: JMdict (CC BY-SA 4.0); KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.