How do I go about typesetting a Genkou Youshi page?

Question

I wanted to create a simple sort of template, for printing and then using by hand.

The one I want to create is called Genkō yōshi (原稿用紙, "manuscript paper"), which is nothing more than those squares in vertical position for both writing and practicing Japanese.

This is what I want to do (A4 page):

Note: they must be exact squares.

The irregular border on the top-right corner should not be there I think.

I've thought about using Tikz, but I have no idea of how to approach this... I've searched this site for hints on how to create notebook templates and from there I would've tweaked but found nothing. I've searched some sort of starting point on Texample.net too, but nothing that I could make use of.

I wish I could provide a MWE but here the point is not that I can't make something work, but rather that I have no idea what that something could be.

Answer 1

A solution with \leaders.

• The boxes are exact squares.
• Equal margins.

Configuration:

• \cellunit: width/height of a cell
• \fboxrule: line width of the frame lines
• \hnum: number of cells in horizontal direction
• \vnum: number of cells in vertical direction
• color setting
• paper size

The example uses a grid of 10 x 20 cells (= 200 cells).

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}

\usepackage{xcolor} % fixes \fbox

\pagestyle{empty} % no page number

\setlength{\topskip}{0pt} % we do not have text lines
\setlength{\maxdepth}{0pt}

\setlength{\fboxsep}{0pt}

\newlength{\cellunit}
\newlength{\cellsep}

%%% configuration begin %%%
\setlength{\fboxrule}{.8pt} % line width of the frame lines
\setlength{\cellunit}{13mm} % width and height of the cell excluding frame
\newcommand*{\hnum}{10} % number of cells, horizontal direction
\newcommand*{\vnum}{20} % number of cells, vertical direction
\color[RGB]{50,100,200}
%%% configuration end %%%

\newcommand*{\cell}{%
  \fbox{%
    \rule{0pt}{\cellunit}%
    \rule{\cellunit}{0pt}%
  }%
}

% calculate the vertical margin
\fboxrule=2\dimexpr.5\fboxrule\relax % even sp number
\newlength{\margin}
\margin=.5\dimexpr\paperheight-\vnum\cellunit-\vnum\fboxrule-\fboxrule\relax

\ifdim\margin<0pt
  \errmessage{Cell dimensions or cell numbers are too large for the page}%
\fi

% set equal margins everywhere
\usepackage[margin=\margin]{geometry}

\begin{document}
\vbox to \textheight{%
  \kern.5\fboxrule
  \cleaders\vbox{%
    \kern-.5\fboxrule
    \hbox to \textwidth{%
      \cellsep=\dimexpr(
        \textwidth-\hnum\dimexpr\cellunit+2\fboxrule\relax   
      )/\numexpr\hnum-1\relax\relax
      \kern-.5\cellsep   
      \xleaders\hbox{%
        \kern.5\cellsep
        \cell
        \kern.5\cellsep   
      }\hskip\dimexpr\textwidth+\cellsep\relax
      \kern-.5\cellsep
    }%
    \kern-.5\fboxrule
  }\vskip\dimexpr\textheight-\fboxrule\relax
  \kern.5\fboxrule 
}%
\end{document}

Answer 2

\documentclass[pstricks]{standalone}
\usepackage{fp}

% user defined macros
\FPeval\Width{21.0}     % paper width
\FPeval\Height{29.7}    % paper height
\FPeval\HM{1}           % horizontal margin
\FPeval\Gap{0.7}        % column gap
\FPeval\M{10}           % number of columns

% auxiliary macros
\FPeval\Side{round((Width-Gap*(M-1)-2*HM)/M:2)}
\FPeval\N{round((Height-2*HM)/Side:0)}
\FPeval\VM{round((Height-N*Side)/2:2)}

\SpecialCoor
\begin{document}
\begin{pspicture}[showgrid=false](\Width,-\Height)
    \multips(0,0)(0,-\Side){\N}{\multips(\HM,-\VM)(!\Side\space \Gap\space add 0){\M}{\psframe[dimen=middle](0,0)(\Side,-\Side)}}
\end{pspicture}
\end{document}

Animated version:

The scientific law: the smaller the column gap, the fewer the number of rows.

\documentclass[pstricks]{standalone}
\usepackage{fp}
\SpecialCoor
\usepackage{multido}
\begin{document}
\multido{\n=0.0+0.2}{10}{%
\FPeval\Width{21.0}
\FPeval\Height{29.7}
\FPeval\HM{1}
\FPeval\Gap{\n}
\FPeval\M{10}
\FPeval\Side{round((Width-Gap*(M-1)-2*HM)/M:2)}
\FPeval\N{round((Height-2*HM)/Side:0)}
\FPeval\VM{round((Height-N*Side)/2:2)}
\begin{pspicture}[showgrid=false](\Width,-\Height)
    \multips(0,0)(0,-\Side){\N}{\multips(\HM,-\VM)(!\Side\space \Gap\space add 0){\M}{\psframe[dimen=middle](0,0)(\Side,-\Side)}}
\end{pspicture}}
\end{document}

Edit based on Doctor Kumar's comment

For those who use pdflatex or xelatex on Windows, compile the following with -shell-escape switch. I don't like auto-pst-pdf because of my personal preference.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{GenkoYoshi.tex}
\documentclass[pstricks]{standalone}
\usepackage{fp}

% user defined macros
\FPeval\Width{21.0}     % paper width
\FPeval\Height{29.7}    % paper height
\FPeval\HM{1}           % horizontal margin
\FPeval\Gap{0.7}        % column gap
\FPeval\M{10}           % number of columns

% auxiliary macros
\FPeval\Side{round((Width-Gap*(M-1)-2*HM)/M:2)}
\FPeval\N{round((Height-2*HM)/Side:0)}
\FPeval\VM{round((Height-N*Side)/2:2)}

\SpecialCoor
\begin{document}
\begin{pspicture}[showgrid=false](\Width,-\Height)
    \multips(0,0)(0,-\Side){\N}{\multips(\HM,-\VM)(!\Side\space \Gap\space add 0){\M}{\psframe[dimen=middle](0,0)(\Side,-\Side)}}
\end{pspicture}
\end{document}
\end{filecontents*}

\begin{document}
\immediate\write18{latex GenkoYoshi}
\immediate\write18{dvips GenkoYoshi}
\immediate\write18{ps2pdf GenkoYoshi.ps}
% begin cleaning
% The following codes are written with Windows' shell commands only for Windows user.
% If you use Linux, then ask other people to translate the codes to Linux's equivalent. 
% If you have no friend who can help you, just comment the code and manually remove the associated files.
\makeatletter
\@for\x:={tex,dvi,ps,log,aux}\do{\immediate\write18{cmd /c del GenkoYoshi.\x}}
\makeatother
% end cleaning
Done\ldots\ please open the generated GenkoYoshi.pdf!
\end{document}

Answer 3

Try this using tabular. You can adjust the spacing to match your needs.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
\pagestyle{empty}
\newcommand{\sss}{.2in}
\newcommand{\vvv}{.14in} % Note: This needs to be 70% of the \sss value
\newcommand{\hgt}{\rule{0pt}{\vvv}}
\newcommand{\ccc}{%
\begin{tabular}{|p{\sss}|}\hline 
\\\hgt \\\hline  \\\hgt \\\hline  \\\hgt \\\hline \\\hgt \\\hline   \\\hgt \\\hline 
\\\hgt \\\hline  \\\hgt \\\hline  \\\hgt \\\hline \\\hgt \\\hline   \\\hgt \\\hline 
\\\hgt \\\hline  \\\hgt \\\hline  \\\hgt \\\hline \\\hgt \\\hline   \\\hgt \\\hline 
\\\hgt \\\hline  \\\hgt \\\hline  \\\hgt \\\hline \\\hgt \\\hline   \\\hgt \\\hline 
\\\hgt \\\hline  \\\hgt \\\hline  \\\hgt \\\hline \\\hgt \\\hline   \\\hgt \\\hline 
\end{tabular}}
\begin{document}
\ccc\quad \ccc\quad \ccc\quad \ccc\quad \ccc\quad 
\ccc\quad \ccc\quad \ccc\quad \ccc\quad \ccc\quad 
\end{document}

Answer 4

Here is a TikZ solution. The \genkoyoshi command uses four parameters: maxrow, maxcol, size (of exact square), sep (distance between two columns).

You can use the geometry package to change the margins.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\pagestyle{empty}
\newcommand\genkoyoshi[4]{% maxrow, maxcol, size, sep
  \def\maxrow{#1}%
  \def\maxcol{#2}%
  \def\size{#3}%
  \def\sep{#4}%
  \begin{tikzpicture}
    \pgfmathsetmacro{\inc}{\size+\sep}
    \foreach \col in {1,...,\maxcol}{
      \foreach \row in {1,...,\maxrow}{
        \draw ({(\col-1)*\inc pt},{\row*\size})
        rectangle ++ (\size,\size);
      }
    }
  \end{tikzpicture}%
}
\begin{document}
\genkoyoshi{24}{11}{8mm}{2mm}
\end{document}

Answer 5

Here's another tikz solution using matrix of nodes

The clever part of the code has shamelessly been stolen from

Tikz foreach inside matrix

You can change the number of rows, columns, and column separation easily to suit your needs.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[paper=a4paper, showframe=true]{geometry}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}

\begin{document}
\let\mymatrixcontent\empty
\newcommand{\row}{%
  \foreach \j in {1,...,25}{
    \foreach \i in {1,...,10} {%
      \begingroup\edef\x{\endgroup
      \noexpand\gappto\noexpand\mymatrixcontent{ {}\&}}\x
      }%
    \gappto\mymatrixcontent{\\}%
  }
}
\row

\begin{tikzpicture}
\tikzset{every node/.style={minimum size=8mm},
  pre/.style={draw}}
  \matrix (a) [ampersand replacement=\&,matrix of math nodes, nodes={pre},column sep=6mm]{
    \mymatrixcontent
  };
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}