Hobonichi Techo vs Weeks for 2027, daily pages or a slim weekly planner
Hobonichi’s 2027 techo lineup page on 1101.com sets the choice out a line at a time: the Original, Avec and Planner are one page per day at A6, the Cousin is one page per day at A5, and the Weeks is a weekly horizontal book in wallet size.
The A6 page-per-day book is the format the range was built around. The lineup page says the standard A6 size arrived with the 2002 edition of the Hobonichi Techo and that many people have used it since. Readers new to the system can start with My Inner Creative’s earlier explainer, The Hobonichi Hype: what is a Hobonichi planner.
The same page groups the 2027 range into seven types: Original, Planner, Cousin, HON, Weeks, Day-Free and the 5-Year Techo. Four of those are page-per-day books. The Weeks is the only weekly one.
The daily books: Original, Avec, Planner and Cousin
Three page-per-day books share the A6 size. The Original has been in the range from the start, the Avec splits the year into two six-month books, and the Planner is a separate English-first book rather than a translation of the Original. The A6 covers work with all three and with the A6 Day-Free; the A5 covers fit the Cousin, the A5 Avec and the A5 Day-Free. Minimaru, an Australian stockist, lists the A6 Original at 105 by 148 by 15 mm and 195 g, and the Planner at the same size and 190 g.
The Cousin moves the one-page-a-day structure up to A5. Hobonichi’s product page for the 2027 Japanese Cousin book lists it at 210 by 148 by 18 mm, about 445 g and 544 pages: 377 daily pages covering 1 January to 31 December 2027, 106 weekly pages running from 28 December 2026 to 2 January 2028, 32 monthly calendar pages from December 2026 to March 2028, and six memo pages.
The pages use a 3.7 mm grid. The thread-stitched binding lets the book open flat at 180 degrees and stay there, and the paper is Tomoe River, described as thin and light yet durable and smooth to write on. A wider paper comparison sits in the site’s earlier review of how seven journals take watercolor. Each daily page carries one quote taken from the Hobonichi website; in the Japanese Cousin those quotes are in Japanese.
The weekly spread inside the Cousin is vertical, laid out along a timeline, a different shape from the horizontal week in the Weeks. Hobonichi says many owners keep the Cousin as a “desk techo” at home or the office rather than carry it, and points to work notes, parenting diaries and shared journals as common uses. Bonus pages at the back of the 2027 Cousin include Favorites, My 100, Solar Terms, a sign language page and a map of Hobonichi’s Kanda/Jinbo-cho neighborhood.
The slim option: what the Weeks does
The lineup page describes the Weeks in four words: weekly horizontal, wallet size. It gives no millimeters. Minimaru lists the Weeks at 95 by 186 mm, 11 mm thick and 130 g, with the larger Weeks Mega at 13 mm and 178 g.
The layout puts the week on the left-hand page and blank notes on the right, according to Minimaru, which also says the writing area is close to that of an A6 book despite the narrower page. The Mega carries a larger note section, which the stockist recommends for heavier scrapbooking. Its guidance pairs the Weeks with work scheduling and light carrying, and the Cousin with people who want a daily page and a weekly plan in one book. For turning either format into a year of aims, see the site’s guide to goal setting in a bullet journal.
Buying differs as well. Most books in the range are sold as a book plus a cover chosen separately, but the Weeks comes with its own cover and the HON has its cover built in, Minimaru says. That removes a step for anyone who does not want to pair a book with one of the colored, fabric, leather and illustrated covers listed on 1101.com.
Prices, start dates and the details to check
1101.com lists the 2027 Japanese Original Book and the English Original Book at ¥2,860 each, the Japanese Original Avec set at ¥3,080 and the English Planner Book at ¥3,410. The Japanese Cousin Book and the English Cousin Book are both listed at ¥4,620 including tax. Covers are priced separately.
Minimaru, which shows prices in Australian dollars, says the 2027 January-start lineup is available now and went on sale from Tuesday 1 September. It lists prices from $49.95 for the Weeks, $58 for the Original A6, $70 for the Planner A6 and $90 for the Cousin A5. Those are the stockist’s figures, and the September date appears in its listing rather than in the lineup page captured on 1101.com.
Language and start month are worth checking on each book page. The 2027 Cousin page covers the Japanese, January-start, Monday-start edition. English editions are listed for the Original, the Planner and the Cousin Book. Covers are listed as January-start and JPN/ENG, with compatibility stated by size.
Three further books sit alongside the daily pair and the Weeks. The HON is one page per day in A6 and A5 with its cover built in; Minimaru lists the A6 at 110 by 156 by 16 mm and the A5 at 152 by 214 by 20 mm. The Day-Free pairs a monthly calendar with an undated notebook in A6 and A5, and Minimaru counts 171 blank pages in it. The 5-Year Techo puts the same date across five consecutive years on one page, in A6 and A5. The lineup page carries an in-stock filter for checking what is still available in each.
