The Reuters Tankan survey separately showed that business confidence at big manufacturers fell to a five-month low, as a double whammy of inflation and slowing global growth hurt the trade-reliant economy.
Core orders, a highly volatile data series regarded as barometer of capital expenditure in the coming six to nine months, fell 5.8% in August from the previous month, Cabinet Office data showed.
Compared with a year earlier, core orders, which exclude volatile numbers from shipping and electric utilities, rose 9.7% in August, the data found.
By sector, orders from manufacturers advanced 10.2% from the previous month, lifted by a large-size order for a nuclear motor in the non-ferrous metals sub-sector, while orders from the non-manufacturers shrank 21.4%.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Daniel Leussink and Tetsushi Kajimoto Editing by Shri NavaratnamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.