Vertical Em Dash

Use the ordinary em dash for new vertical text. A vertical writing mode lets the text layout choose its upright em-dash glyph. In source code, \uFE31 enters ︱ where Unicode escapes are supported.

This explicit form supports round-trip mapping with older East Asian character sets, including CNS 11643; it does not add a new punctuation meaning. Unicode's NFKC and NFKD compatibility forms map it to —, so the exact code point can change while the dash remains.

What does a Japanese vertical dash mean?

It marks a break, an aside, or an interruption.

In Japanese publishing, European punctuation, including dashes, found a place in modern fiction during the mid-1880s, alongside colloquial prose. This is the history of the em-dash convention; ︱ is its vertical compatibility form.

Japanese vertical writing runs from top to bottom, with columns moving from right to left. A double em dash forms one unbreakable typographic unit.

Why does ︱ sometimes look wrong?

The font and writing mode shape its final appearance. Unicode's reference glyphs are examples, not fixed prescriptions. Fonts can draw the line with different lengths, weights, or spacing, and some do not provide the expected vertical substitution. Check it in the actual font and vertical writing mode.