In Japanese, onomatopoeia is used to express certain sensational and affective qualities. This study aimed to examine the relationship between onomatopoeia and primary emotions. We used figures to represent six facial expressions: anger, disgust, fear, sadness, happiness, and surprise. Forty-five students were asked to verbalize the emotions related to these facial expressions using onomatopoeic expressions. The subjects used 89 onomatopoeic expressions; 39 of them were used by two or more participants. The results were as follows. (1) Happiness and sadness tended to be expressed using particular onomatopoeic expressions such as niko-niko and shiku-shiku, respectively, compared with other emotional states, which were articulated using several different onomatopoeic expressions. (2) Anger and disgust shared the same onomatopoeic expression-pun-pun. (3) Correspondence analysis revealed three groups of emotions, and each group was expressed using a particular onomatopoeic group.