Hobonichi-style planners: what makes them special, and the alternatives

The Hobonichi Techo is a Japanese planner made by Hobonichi Co., Ltd., a Tokyo company. "Techo" simply means a planner or pocket notebook in Japanese. It first appeared in the early 2000s and has since grown a devoted following around the world, far beyond Japan.

Its big idea is simple: a whole page for every day of the year. Not a narrow box in a weekly spread, but a full page you can fill with plans, lists, a diary entry, a ticket stub or a quick sketch. That freedom is why so many people use it as a planner, journal and scrapbook all at once.

It comes in several sizes, most famously the small A6 "Original" and the larger A5 "Cousin", and in a range of covers and editions that change every year.

Many details add up to the Hobonichi feel. The ones people mention most:

• A page a day. Every date has its own page, with the date and weekday at the top, so the book becomes a record of your year as much as a plan for it.
• A fine grid. Instead of lines, the pages carry a fine square grid of just a few millimetres. It keeps handwriting neat but doesn't dictate a layout – lists, tables, drawings and tiny lettering all work.
• Thin, smooth paper. The Techo has long been known for Tomoe River paper: very thin and light, so several hundred pages still make a compact book, and smooth enough that fountain-pen users love it. The thinness also means writing on the other side can show through, which some people like and others don't.
• A time scale and small touches. Depending on the edition, the daily pages add a time scale for appointments, and each page has a short quote or saying at the foot. Month calendars and yearly overviews sit at the front.
• A book that opens flat. The binding is designed to lie open on the desk, which matters when you write on a full page every day.

Add a wide choice of covers, a big community of people sharing their pages, and a design that has been refined year after year, and it is easy to see why it has so many fans.

Whether you choose a Hobonichi or something else, these are the questions worth asking:

• Size. A6 fits in a small bag and suits short daily notes; A5 gives you roughly twice the writing space and suits fuller plans, journaling and memory keeping. If you're not sure, think about where the planner will live – in your bag or on your desk.
• Paper and pens. Thin paper keeps the book slim but can let ink show through; thicker paper is more forgiving but makes a chunkier book. Think about the pens you actually use.
• Page layout. Grid, dots or lines? A time scale, or an open page? A quote or not? The layout decides whether the page feels inviting or restrictive.
• Binding. A book that lies flat is easier to write in. With a very thick book, also think about weight.
• Start date. Some planners start only in January (or in spring). If you are starting mid-year, a planner you can start in any month saves you empty pages.
• Cover. Some people love a cover they can swap; others want something personal from the start.

A page a day isn't the only way to get the Hobonichi feel. A few options:

• A dot-grid notebook. If you like the freedom but not the dates, an undated notebook lets you write as much or as little as you like each day. Our Dot-grid notebook has a 5 mm dot grid and your own cover.
• A structured daily planner. If you'd rather have a schedule, priorities and a to-do list printed on every page, a Daily planner gives you the page a day with more structure.
• A digital page-a-day planner. On an iPad or e-ink tablet, you get the daily page without the weight – see the Novonichi digital planner.
• A Hobonichi-style planner made for you – which is where our Novonichi comes in.

The Novonichi is our take on the one-page-a-day planner, and our best seller on Etsy. It is clearly inspired by the Japanese techo – and we want to be honest about where it is similar and where it is not.

What's similar: a full page for every day, on a fine 4.4 mm square grid that runs through the whole book. Each day has a time scale, a mini calendar of the month and a short quote at the foot of the page. The weekdays and the traditional month names are printed in Japanese beside the English, and a month tab on the outer edge steps down the pages so you can find March without looking. Every month opens with a calendar spread, a habit tracker and a few grid pages, and weekly spreads are included if you want them.

What's different:

• The paper. The Novonichi is printed on demand on regular planner paper, in white or cream – not Tomoe River paper. It won't have that thin, almost silky feel, and a full year makes a noticeably thicker and heavier book. If you use very wet fountain pens, try them on a back page first.
• The size. It is A5 only – about the size of the Cousin – because its grid is drawn for that page. There is no A6 version.
• The binding. A full year comes as a paperback or a hardcover. A glued paperback of this size needs a little encouragement to stay open at first. Prefer a coil that lies completely flat? Leave out the weekly spreads and the year fits a coil binding.
• Any start month. It is always dated, but it starts in whichever month you choose – so you can begin in September or May without wasting pages – and you can choose a shorter run of months.
• Your cover. Your name or initials go in script on the front, over one of our artworks or a plain design in any colour. It's personal from day one, rather than a cover you buy separately.
• Made near you. Each Novonichi is printed to order at our print partner closest to you and shipped from there – or you can download it as a PDF to print at home.

In short: if Tomoe River paper and a slim A6 book are what you love most, the original is hard to beat. If you want the page-a-day grid in A5, starting when you like, with your name on the cover, the Novonichi may suit you better.

The Novonichi digital planner brings the same calm, fine-grid pages to your iPad or e-ink tablet: Japanese month tabs, a half-hourly schedule and a short saying on every day, all hyperlinked so any day is one tap away. See how to use a digital planner in GoodNotes for the practical side.

Hobonichi and Hobonichi Techo are trademarks of Hobonichi Co., Ltd. Planner Studio is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Hobonichi. We use the name only to describe the style of planner people know and search for.