diff --git a/decode_test.go b/decode_test.go
index 9269f12b..b05c466e 100644
--- a/decode_test.go
+++ b/decode_test.go
@@ -714,6 +714,14 @@ var unmarshalTests = []struct {
 		"---\nhello\n...\n}not yaml",
 		"hello",
 	},
+	{
+		"a: 5\n",
+		&struct{ A jsonNumberT }{"5"},
+	},
+	{
+		"a: 5.5\n",
+		&struct{ A jsonNumberT }{"5.5"},
+	},
 }
 
 type M map[interface{}]interface{}
diff --git a/encode.go b/encode.go
index a14435e8..0ee738e1 100644
--- a/encode.go
+++ b/encode.go
@@ -13,6 +13,19 @@ import (
 	"unicode/utf8"
 )
 
+// jsonNumber is the interface of the encoding/json.Number datatype.
+// Repeating the interface here avoids a dependency on encoding/json, and also
+// supports other libraries like jsoniter, which use a similar datatype with
+// the same interface. Detecting this interface is useful when dealing with
+// structures containing json.Number, which is a string under the hood. The
+// encoder should prefer the use of Int64(), Float64() and string(), in that
+// order, when encoding this type.
+type jsonNumber interface {
+	Float64() (float64, error)
+	Int64() (int64, error)
+	String() string
+}
+
 type encoder struct {
 	emitter yaml_emitter_t
 	event   yaml_event_t
@@ -89,6 +102,21 @@ func (e *encoder) marshal(tag string, in reflect.Value) {
 	}
 	iface := in.Interface()
 	switch m := iface.(type) {
+	case jsonNumber:
+		integer, err := m.Int64()
+		if err == nil {
+			// In this case the json.Number is a valid int64
+			in = reflect.ValueOf(integer)
+			break
+		}
+		float, err := m.Float64()
+		if err == nil {
+			// In this case the json.Number is a valid float64
+			in = reflect.ValueOf(float)
+			break
+		}
+		// fallback case - no number could be obtained
+		in = reflect.ValueOf(m.String())
 	case time.Time, *time.Time:
 		// Although time.Time implements TextMarshaler,
 		// we don't want to treat it as a string for YAML
diff --git a/encode_test.go b/encode_test.go
index f0911a76..4a266008 100644
--- a/encode_test.go
+++ b/encode_test.go
@@ -15,6 +15,24 @@ import (
 	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
 )
 
+type jsonNumberT string
+
+func (j jsonNumberT) Int64() (int64, error) {
+	val, err := strconv.Atoi(string(j))
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return int64(val), nil
+}
+
+func (j jsonNumberT) Float64() (float64, error) {
+	return strconv.ParseFloat(string(j), 64)
+}
+
+func (j jsonNumberT) String() string {
+	return string(j)
+}
+
 var marshalIntTest = 123
 
 var marshalTests = []struct {
@@ -367,6 +385,18 @@ var marshalTests = []struct {
 		map[string]string{"a": "你好 #comment"},
 		"a: '你好 #comment'\n",
 	},
+	{
+		map[string]interface{}{"a": jsonNumberT("5")},
+		"a: 5\n",
+	},
+	{
+		map[string]interface{}{"a": jsonNumberT("100.5")},
+		"a: 100.5\n",
+	},
+	{
+		map[string]interface{}{"a": jsonNumberT("bogus")},
+		"a: bogus\n",
+	},
 }
 
 func (s *S) TestMarshal(c *C) {