取扱説明書・注意書き: Instructions and Warning Labels | Japanese Grammar

Every appliance you buy in Japan comes wrapped in a distinctive register of Japanese: the 取扱説明書（とりあつかいせつめいしょ, "instruction manual") and the 注意書き（ちゅういがき, "warning notes") printed on the label. It is deliberately impersonal, terse, and stripped of politeness — because a safety warning has to be unambiguous, not warm. This page reads a warning label line by line so you can decode the three prohibition styles, the severity ladder 危険・警告・注意 that ranks how bad each hazard is, and the おそれがあります formula that trips up almost every learner.

The full text

Here is a warning label from a small electric appliance, printed with its severity headers:

【警告】本製品を分解・改造しないでください。感電や火災のおそれがあります。濡れた手で電源プラグに触れないこと。
【注意】使用後は必ず電源を切ってください。火のそばや高温になる場所に置かないこと。小さなお子様の手の届く所で使用すると、やけどをする場合があります。
詳しくは取扱説明書をお読みください。

"*WARNING. Do not disassemble or modify this product. There is a risk of electric shock or fire. Do not touch the power plug with wet hands. CAUTION. Always switch off the power after use. Do not place near flames or in places that get hot. If used within reach of small children, burns may result. For details, please read the instruction manual."*

The severity ladder: 危険 › 警告 › 注意

Before any single sentence, read the header. Japanese product safety follows the JIS standard's three-rung ladder, and the header tells you how seriously to take everything under it. Learners routinely flatten all three into "warning" and miss that they are ranked.

Header	Reading	Severity
危険	きけん (kiken)	Imminent death or serious injury if ignored — the top rung.
警告	けいこく (keikoku)	Possible death or serious injury — one rung down.
注意	ちゅうい (chūi)	Injury or property damage — the mildest rung.

危険：この装置に手を入れないでください。

kiken: kono sōchi ni te o irenaide kudasai

DANGER: Do not put your hands inside this device. (top-rung hazard — ignoring it can kill)

💡

危険・警告・注意 are not synonyms, they are a scale. Read 危険 as "this can kill you now," 警告 as "this can seriously hurt you," 注意 as "you might get hurt or break something." The same sentence under 危険 is graver than under 注意.

Line by line

1. The polite-request prohibition — 〜ないでください. 分解する（ぶんかい, "to disassemble") and 改造する（かいぞう, "to modify") are joined by the middle dot ・ ("or / and"), then negated with 〜ないでください — the softest, most reader-facing prohibition, literally "please don't do…." Even a stark safety line can wear this polite form. See 〜ないでください requests.

本製品を分解・改造しないでください。

honseihin o bunkai kaizō shinaide kudasai

Do not disassemble or modify this product.

2. The risk formula — おそれがあります. Here is the line every learner mistranslates. おそれ looks like 恐れ ("fear"), but in safety text it means "the risk / danger of." 感電（かんでん, "electric shock") や火災（かさい, "fire") のおそれがあります = "there is a risk of electric shock or fire" — nobody is afraid; a hazard is being stated.

感電や火災のおそれがあります。

kanden ya kasai no osore ga arimasu

There is a risk of electric shock or fire.

💡

Public-document Japanese deliberately writes this word in hiragana — おそれ, not 恐れ — precisely to split "risk" off from the emotion "fear." When you see おそれがあります on a label, read "there is a danger that…," never "there is a fear of…."

3. The terse directive — 〜こと. 触れる（ふれる, "to touch") is negated and closed not with ください but with the bare nominalizer こと. 触れないこと = "not to touch / touching is prohibited." This is the clipped, impersonal command style used in rule-lists — and it is exactly as binding as 〜ないでください, just colder and more official. 濡れた手（ぬれたて, "wet hands") is a relative clause modifying 手.

濡れた手で電源プラグに触れないこと。

nureta te de dengen puragu ni furenai koto

Do not touch the power plug with wet hands.

4. Obligation — 必ず〜てください. 必ず（かならず, "without fail, always") is the intensifier that turns a request into a hard obligation. 電源を切って（きって, "cut/switch off the power") + ください = "make sure to turn it off." 使用後（しようご）= "after use."

使用後は必ず電源を切ってください。

shiyō go wa kanarazu dengen o kitte kudasai

Always switch off the power after use.

5. Another こと-directive. 置く（おく, "to place") negated as 置かないこと. 火のそば（ひのそば, "near a flame") and 高温になる場所（こうおんになるばしょ, "places that become hot") name the forbidden locations. Note how the label freely mixes 〜ないでください (line 1) and 〜こと (lines 3, 5) — the same list uses both, and they carry equal force.

火のそばや高温になる場所に置かないこと。

hi no soba ya kōon ni naru basho ni okanai koto

Do not place it near flames or in places that get hot.

6. The conditional-hazard frame — 〜と、〜場合があります. This is the standard "if X, then Y can happen" warning shape. The conditional と ("whenever / if") sets the trigger; 〜場合があります（ばあい, "there are cases where…") states the possible consequence without claiming it always happens. 手の届く所（てのとどくところ）= "within reach"; お子様（おこさま）= "children," politely; やけど = "a burn."

小さなお子様の手の届く所で使用すると、やけどをする場合があります。

chiisana o-ko-sama no te no todoku tokoro de shiyō suru to, yakedo o suru baai ga arimasu

If used within reach of small children, burns may result.

7. The standard closing pointer. Nearly every label ends by sending you to the full manual. お読みください is the honorific 〜お〜ください request ("please read") — note it politely elevates the reader's action of reading. 詳しくは（くわしくは）= "for details."

詳しくは取扱説明書をお読みください。

kuwashiku wa toriatsukai setsumeisho o o-yomi kudasai

For details, please read the instruction manual.

The other prohibition styles you'll meet

The label above uses 〜ないでください and 〜こと, but the same warning can appear in two more shapes, and you should recognize all of them as equally binding.

The blunt 〜てはいけません ("must not") is more explicitly forbidding — common in manuals and rules aimed at a reader. See 〜てはいけません prohibition.

本製品を水の中に入れてはいけません。

honseihin o mizu no naka ni irete wa ikemasen

You must not put this product in water.

The noun-style 〜禁止（きんし, 'prohibited') turns a whole action into a stamped label — the shortest, most sign-like form. 故障中（こしょうちゅう, "out of order") uses the 〜中 suffix covered on 〜中・〜済み・〜たて.

故障中につき使用禁止。

koshōchū ni tsuki shiyō kinshi

Out of order — use prohibited.

And obligation can be spelled out with 〜必要があります ("it is necessary to…"). 定期的（ていきてき, "periodic") + に makes the adverb; 点検（てんけん）= "inspection."

安全のため、定期的に点検する必要があります。

anzen no tame, teikiteki ni tenken suru hitsuyō ga arimasu

For safety, it must be inspected periodically.

Compared to English warning labels

English warnings lean on the bare imperative and modal verbs — "Do not disassemble," "Keep away from children," "Risk of electric shock." Japanese has a wider, register-graded toolkit for the same function, and the choice of form signals tone, not strength: 〜ないでください faces the reader politely, 〜こと is impersonal officialese, 〜てはいけません is flatly forbidding, and 〜禁止 is a stamped label. Crucially, an English reader assumes the politest-sounding one (〜ないでください) is the softest rule — it is not. All four are absolute. The politeness is social packaging around an identical prohibition.

Common mistakes

1. Reaching for 怖い ("scary") to warn of a risk. Because おそれ looks like "fear," learners assume danger is expressed with the emotion word 怖い. A hazard is stated with おそれがあります, not fear.

❌ 濡れた手で触ると、感電が怖いです。

Wrong word — 怖い is the emotion 'scary/afraid.' A hazard warning needs おそれがあります, 'there is a risk of.'

✅ 濡れた手で触ると、感電のおそれがあります。

nureta te de sawaru to, kanden no osore ga arimasu

If you touch it with wet hands, there is a risk of electric shock.

2. Softening a rule into friendly advice. Learners water a binding directive down into 〜ほうがいい ("it'd be better to…"), not realizing the terse こと-command is a hard prohibition, exactly as strong as 〜ないでください.

❌ 分解しないほうがいいと思います。

Too soft for a manual — 〜ほうがいい is gentle advice. A binding rule uses 分解しないこと or 分解しないでください.

✅ 分解しないこと。

bunkai shinai koto

Do not disassemble. — a binding directive, terse, not weak.

3. Under-grading the severity header. Slapping 注意 on a lethal hazard throws away the 危険 › 警告 › 注意 ranking. A can-kill hazard must be 危険.

❌ 注意：高圧電流。触れると死亡することがあります。

Header too mild — 注意 signals minor injury. A hazard that can kill must be headed 危険.

✅ 危険：高圧電流。触れると死亡することがあります。

kiken: kōatsu denryū. fureru to shibō suru koto ga arimasu

DANGER: High-voltage current. Contact can be fatal.

4. Using a personal 〜てください on a fixed sign. The reader-facing "please don't" sounds oddly chatty on a posted notice, which wants the impersonal label form.

❌ ここでタバコを吸わないでください。

✅ 禁煙。

kin'en

No smoking. — the sign register.

5. Saying 電源を消す instead of 電源を切る. You cut (切る) power; you extinguish (消す) a light or a flame. Getting the collocation wrong is a very common transfer slip.

❌ 使用後は必ず電源を消してください。

Wrong verb — 消す is for lights and fire. Power is 電源を切る, 'cut the power.'

✅ 使用後は必ず電源を切ってください。

shiyō go wa kanarazu dengen o kitte kudasai

Always switch off the power after use.

Key takeaways

Read the header first: 危険 › 警告 › 注意 is a severity ladder, not three words for "warning."
おそれがあります = "there is a risk of," never "a fear of" — and it is deliberately written in hiragana to say so.
〜ないでください, 〜こと, 〜てはいけません, and 〜禁止 are all equally binding prohibitions; they differ in tone (polite / impersonal / blunt / label), not in force.
必ず〜てください and 〜必要があります carry obligation; 〜と、〜場合があります is the standard "if X, Y can happen" hazard frame.
Labels close by pointing you onward: 詳しくは…をお読みください, an honorific request that elevates the reader.

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