Select the paragraph text you want to format with the Type tool.
Last updated on
Oct 25, 2026
Select predefined spacing sets or create custom rules to control Japanese character composition.
Mojikumi provides precise control over character spacing in Japanese text composition, ensuring professional typographic results that follow industry standards.
Mojikumi controls spacing between Japanese characters, Roman characters, punctuation, special characters, line starts, line ends, and numbers in paragraph text. Adobe Illustrator includes predefined Mojikumi sets based on the Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) specification JISx4051‑1995, or you can create custom sets with specific spacing values. This feature requires East Asian type options to be enabled in Illustrator preferences.
Before applying Mojikumi settings, ensure your text uses an Asian OpenType font and that character kerning is set to zero for proper spacing calculations.
- East Asian type options enabled in Edit > Preferences > Type (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > Type (macOS)
- Text formatted with an Asian OpenType font
- Character kerning set to zero in the Character panel
Select a predefined Mojikumi set
Navigate to Window > Type > Character and verify that Set the kerning between characters is set to 0.
Navigate to Window > Type > Paragraph to open the Paragraph panel.
Choose an option from the Mojikumi Set dropdown menu.
The predefined Mojikumi sets control spacing as follows:
- None: Disables Mojikumi spacing rules
- YakumonoHankaku: Applies halfwidth spacing for punctuation marks
- GyomatsuYakumonoHankaku: Applies fullwidth spacing for most characters, with halfwidth spacing for the last character in each line
- GyomatsuYakumonoZenkaku: Applies fullwidth spacing for all characters including the last character in each line
- YakumonoZenkaku: Applies fullwidth spacing for all punctuation marks
Your selected Mojikumi set applies immediately to the paragraph. Text reflows according to the new spacing rules.
Create a custom Mojikumi set
Select Type > Mojikumi Settings or choose Mojikumi Settings from the Mojikumi Set dropdown in the Paragraph panel.
Select New in the Mojikumi Settings dialog.
Enter a descriptive name for your custom set in the text field.
Choose an existing Mojikumi set from the dropdown to use as the starting point for your custom settings.
Select either % or bu from the Units dropdown to specify your measurement system.
Specify Minimum, Desired, and Maximum spacing values for each character type in the list.
Select OK to save your custom Mojikumi set.
The Minimum value compresses lines when Kinsoku line breaking rules require it. The Maximum value expands lines for fully justified text. The Desired value represents optimal spacing. You can set all three values identically for character types where you want fixed spacing.
Note
When composing Japanese text with halfwidth spaces or Roman parentheses, text composition problems increase. Use fullwidth parentheses for Japanese composition. Reserve Roman parentheses for relatively long English sentences within Japanese text or when avoiding them would create more serious layout issues.
Manage Mojikumi sets
Select Type > Mojikumi Settings to open the Mojikumi Settings dialog.
Choose the Mojikumi set you want to manage from the Name dropdown.
Select the appropriate action: Export to save the set as an MJK file, Import to load an MJK file, or Delete to remove the custom set.
For import operations, navigate to and select the MJK file in the file browser.
Select OK to close the dialog after completing your management tasks.
Exported Mojikumi sets save with the .mjk file extension and can be shared with other Illustrator users or used across multiple computers. Deleting a custom set returns all text using that set to the default Mojikumi settings. Predefined Mojikumi sets cannot be deleted.
For line breaking rules that work in conjunction with Mojikumi, see Format East Asian characters. For character-level spacing adjustments like Aki and Tsume, see Format East Asian characters.
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