Hiragana, katakana, and kanji make up the Japanese writing system. When you start learning Japanese, figuring out how to read and write can feel overwhelming; after all, Japanese is completely different from the Roman alphabet! You then learn that there are three different writing systems used all at once. How is that even possible? Not to worry. These systems are simpler than you might expect! Each one has unique, defining characteristics and uses; once you learn more about these, reading and writing Japanese will be a breeze!

We’ve covered smaller articles for each Japanese writing system. In this guide, we will explain to you the basics of the Japanese writing system, what they are, and some important pointers to keep in mind. Don’t forget to check out our downloadable hiragana chart and quiz for a more detailed guide and resource recommendation.

Basics of Japanese Writing Systems

Japanese writing is often considered one of the most complex systems in the world, but it’s also incredibly logical once you see how the pieces fit together. It uses three distinct scripts: hiragana, katakana, and kanji.

In a standard Japanese sentence, you will often see all three scripts working together:

私の名前はコトです。
Watashi no namae wa Koto desu.
My name is Coto.

Why do we still use three different scripts? It might seem easier to just use one alphabet, but the combination serves a very specific purpose: visual clarity. Japanese does not use spaces between words. Without different scripts, a sentence would be a confusing string of identical-looking characters.

Using the same example above, we can easily break down parts of the sentence based on its writing system.

Script	Japanese	Function
Kanji	私, 名前	Represents the core meaning (I, Name).
Hiragana	の, は, です	Represents grammar and sentence structure.
Katakana	コト	Represents foreign names or loanwords.

By the way, if you want to start learning Japanese, Coto Academy offers beginner-friendly Japanese lessons in Tokyo and Yokohama. Get in touch with our friendly team to get started!

Origins of the Japanese Alphabet

Do you know about the history and the origin of hiragana and katakana? Originally, the Japanese ancestors did not have a writing system. Around the fifth century, they started using kanji, ideograms that were adopted from China and Korea. They only used the phonetic reading of the kanji, regardless of their meaning. At that time, the ideograms were called manyogana (万葉仮名).

However, kanji’s characters are composed of many strokes. They take longer to write, as you have noticed by now! Due to their difficulty, those ideograms were slowly simplified into kana alphabets, namely hiragana and katakana. They are called syllabograms, as each character corresponds to one sound in the Japanese language. According to historians, the change was initiated by Buddhist priests who thought kanji could not accurately represent the Japanese language and that a phonetic alphabet would be better.

On the left is the manyogana, and on the right are simplified hiragana and katakana forms.

• 安 →あ 阿 → ア (a)
• 以 →い 伊 → イ(i)
• 宇 →う、ウ(u)
• 衣 →え 江 → エ(e)
• 於 →お、オ(o)

This change is thought to have occurred between the eighth and ninth centuries.  Hiragana can be considered a simplified calligraphy form of the kanji’s strokes. On the other hand, katakana is taken from a single element of a kanji. In some cases, the hiragana and katakana are created from different ideograms.

Some hiragana and katakana express the same sound and have similar shapes, such as り and リ. However, some can be dissimilar, such as あ and ア. Hiragana is said to be cursive, while katakana is more angular. Do take note that one sound can have more than one hiragana. In 1900, the two kana scripts, hiragana and katakana, were codified. This led to the clear establishment of rules for the Japanese system in 1946.

Japanese Writing System #1: Hiragana

Whenever you just start out learning Japanese, hiragana is usually the first writing system you learn. Hiragana is technically a syllabary or a way of writing where symbols represent whole syllables (such as “ba” and “to”) instead of individual sounds (such as “b” or “t”)⁵. This is because all Japanese words are made up of these small syllables, so there’s no need to write out individual sounds!

In Japanese, there are 46 basic syllables:

• The basic vowels: a, i, u, e, o.
• The k-line: ka, ki, ku, ke, ko.
• The s-line: sa, shi, su, se, so. (Notice that the “si” sound is instead replaced by “shi.”)
• The t-line: ta, chi, tsu, te, to. (Notice that the “ti” and “tu” sounds are instead pronounced closer to “chi” and “tsu.”)
• The n-line: na, ni, nu, ne, no.
• The h-line: ha, hi, fu, he, ho. (Notice that the “hu” sound is actually said as “fu.”)
• The m-line: ma, mi, mu, me, mo.
• The y-line: ya, yu, yo.
• The r-line: ra, ri, ru, re, ro.
• Wa, o/wo, and n. (These sounds are unique, so they are generally placed together. The “o/wo” symbol can be pronounced either way and “n” is considered a whole syllable in Japanese.)

There are also 23 additional syllables in Japanese; these are formed with additional marks that we’ll cover in a minute.

• The g-line: ga, gi, gu, ge, go.
• the z-line: za, ji, zu, ze, zo. (Notice that “ji” is used instead of “zi.”)
• The d-line: da, ji, zu, de, do. (“ji” and “zu” are pronounced the same way as in the z-line but have different uses.)
• The b-line: ba, be, bu, be, bo.
• the p-line: pa, pi, pu, pe, po.

How to Write in Hiragana

So, now that we’ve covered the basic sounds, let’s see how these syllables are written down in hiragana:

Hiragana is generally round in shape, with lots of curves and bends. This characteristic is a key way to tell what symbols are hiragana! You can also combine a consonant with a / ya / yu / yo / sound by attaching a small 「や」、「ゆ」、or 「よ」 to the / i / vowel character of each consonant.

Now, let’s take a look at those 23 additional sounds:

• the g-line: が(ga), ぎ(gi), ぐ(gu), げ(ge), ご(go).
• the z-line: ざ(za), じ(ji), ず(zu), ぜ(ze), ぞ(zo).
• the d-line: だ(da), ぢ(ji), づ(zu), で(de), ど(do). 
• the b-line: ば(ba), べ(be), ぶ(bu), べ(be), ぼ(bo).
• the p-line: ぱ(pa), ぴ(pi), ぷ(pu), ぺ(pe), ぽ(po).

Did you notice something about the above sounds? The hiragana for the g-line is identical to the k-line, and the same goes for the z-line and s-line, the t-line and the d-line, the h-line and the b- and p-lines! The only difference is the addition of diacritical marks; these marks go to the upper right of the hiragana and can be either two short diagonal marks (called a dakuten) or a small circle (called the handakuten). This is pretty nice, as you don’t have to memorize even more symbols!

There are also contracted sounds in Japanese. These sounds are basically combinations of sounds ending in “-i” and the y-line and are considered one syllable as well^. All you have to do for these is add a small y-line hiragana after the main hiragana! (Notice that not all of these syllables keep the “y” sound.)

• the k-line: きゃ(kya), きゅ(kyu), きょ(kyo)
• the s-line: しゃ(sha), しゅ(shu), しょ (sho)
• the t-line: ちゃ(cha), ちゅ(chu), ちょ(cho)
• the n-line: にゃ(nya), にゅ(nyu), にょ(nyo)
• the h-line: ひゃ(hya), ひゅ(hyu), ひょ(hyo)
• the m-line: みゃ(mya), みゅ(my) みょ(myo)
• the r-line: りゃ(rya), りゅ(ryu), りょ(ryo)
• the g-line: ぎゃ(gya), ぎゅ(gyu), ぎょ(gyo)
• the z-line: じゃ(ja), じゅ(ju), じょ(jo)
• the b-line: びゃ(bya), びゅ(byu), びょ(byo)
• the p-line: ぴゃ(pya), ぴゅ(pyu), ぴょ(pyo)

So, that is the basics of how hiragana is written. However, there are also double consonants and long vowels, which are written with variations in hiragana (and katakana). We recommend checking out our full-length article about double consonants and long vowels to learn more about those!

When Do We Use Hiragana?

Hiragana can be used for many things; it’s like the all-rounder of writing Japanese, and it represents all the syllables of the Japanese language! Hiragana is used when writing verb endings, particles, grammar words (such as conjunctions), and many native Japanese words, as well as for words that do not have a corresponding kanji character. Hiragana is also used in furigana; this is when hiragana is written in a small font above kanji for those who don’t know the kanji’s reading.

Long Vowels and Double Consonants in Hiragana

In Japanese hiragana, double consonants are represented by adding a small “tsu” character (っ) before the consonant that is doubled. For example, the word “katta” (勝った), meaning “won”, would be written as かった, with a small “tsu” between the two “t” characters.

Long vowels in hiragana are done by extending a consonant or vowel with another vowel, depending on the vowel, in accordance with the following chart.

For example, the word “ookii” (大きい), meaning “big”, would be written as おおきい.

Vowel Sound	Extended by	Example
a	あ	おばあさん
i, e	い	おおきい、きれい
u, o	う	こうこう、くうき

Let’s start off with a simple sentence – “My pet’s name is Bob.” (What a funny name for a pet!) In Hiragana, this looks like this:

わたしの ぺっと の なまえ は  ぼぶ です。
Watashi no petto no namae wa bobu desu.

So, we can write a whole Japanese sentence just using hiragana! This is how most people (including native speakers) start off reading and writing Japanese. Of course, as you learn about katakana and kanji, some of these words will be replaced.  However, you will see that the particles (の [no] and は [wa]) and the native verb です(desu) will remain the same, as these are some of the things that specifically use hiragana!  

Now that you’ve learned the basics, it’s time for practice! Head on over to our list of practice sheets, apps, and quizzes to make sure you’ve got a solid understanding of hiragana!

Japanese Writing System #2: Katakana

After hiragana, it’s a good idea to learn katakana next; katakana works the exact same way that hiragana does, just using different characters; some katakana symbols even look similar to their hiragana counterparts!  In fact, hiragana and katakana are often collectively referred to as kana, since they are so similar!

How to Write Katakana  

the basic vowels	ア(a), イ(i), ウ(u), エ(e), オ(o)
the k-line	カ (ka), キ(ki), ク(ku), ケ(ke), コ(ko)
the s-line	サ(sa), シ(shi), ス(su), セ(se), ソ(so)
the t-line	タ(ta), チ(chi),ツ(tsu), テ(te), ト(to)
the h-line	ハ(ha), ヒ(hi), フ(fu), へ(he), ホ(ho)
the n-line	ナ(na), ニ(ni), ヌ(nu), ネ(ne), ノ(no)
the m-line	マ(ma), ミ(mi), ム(mu), メ(me), モ(mo)
the y-line	ヤ(ya), ユ(yu), ヨ(yo)
the r-line	ラ(ra), リ(ri), ル(ru), レ(re), ロ(ro).
	ワ(wa), ヲ(o/wo), and ン(n).

Now, let’s take a look at those 23 additional sounds:

• the g-line: ガ(ga), ギ(gi), グ(gu), ゲ(ge), ゴ(go).
• the z-line: ザ(za), ジ(ji), ズ(zu), ゼ(ze), ゾ(zo).
• the d-line: ダ(da), ヂ(ji), ヅ(zu), デ(de), ド(do). 
• the b-line: バ(ba), ビ(bi), ブ(bu), べ(be), ボ(bo).
• the p-line: パ(pa), ピ(pi), プ(pu), ぺ(pe), ポ(po).

The contracted sounds are also formed in the same way as in hiragana. However, katakana has additional combinations with small vowel letters to transcribe foreign sounds that did not originally exist in Japanese. These are generally easy to pronounce, as you simply combine the consonant of the main katakana symbol with the vowel of the smaller one.

Examples of this include the フェ (fe) in カフェ (kafe), the ティ (ti) in パーティー (paatii), and the ウィ (wi) in ハロウィーン (harowiin)!

You can see that katakana is simpler and has more straight lines than hiragana; this is one major way to tell them apart!

If you want to learn more about katakana, check out our article below and get a free, downloadable PDF of our chart!

Read More: What is Katakana? Free Katakana Chart and Learning Guide

How and When to Use Katakana

Another way to tell them apart is by their usage. Katakana is used for foreign loanwords or words from different languages. ハンバーガー (hanbaagaa, hamburger) and アルバイト (arubaito, part-time job) are examples of Japanese words taken from English and German, respectively. Many non-Japanese names are spelled using katakana as well!

Katakana is also often used for onomatopoeic words, which are words that imitate sounds, such as “pikapika” (sparkling), “gacha” (clacking sound), or “wanwan” (dog’s bark).

Katakana can also be used to emphasize words, similar to how words might be italicized or bolded in English. You can usually see this more in signs or advertisements, like メガネ, megane (glasses) or ラーメン (raamen, glasses).

Long Vowels and Double Consonants in Katakana

Long vowels in katakana are so much simpler than hiragana. All long vowel sounds are denoted by a simple dash: ー.

For example, the word “アート” (aato), meaning “art”, has a long “a” sound represented by the horizontal line over the “a” character.

Double consonants in Katakana are represented using a small “tsu” character (ッ) just like in Hiragana. For example, the word “バッグ” (baggu), meaning “bag”, has a double “g” sound represented by the small “tsu” character.

Remember the pet with the funny name? Let’s take another look at that sentence, this time adding in katakana – try to guess where the katakana will be!

わたしのペットのなまえは ボブ です。
Watashi no petto no namae wa bobu desu.

Did you guess petto and bobu? Both of these words are English loanwords and names, so they would be written in katakana. Including katakana when writing Japanese is also a great way to make the words easier to distinguish from each other; writing in all hiragana could make it hard to tell words apart, since Japanese doesn’t normally use spaces!

Difference Between Hiragana and Katakana

Why are there 2 syllabic Japanese scripts? In the event that the difference is stylistic, you will learn that hiragana is used to write native Japanese words. Those words will have no kanji representation, and the ideogram will be too ancient or too difficult to write. This kana script is also the one used to write grammatical elements such as particles: を (wo)、に (ni)、へ (he;e)、が (ga)、は (ha).

On the contrary, the Japanese use katakana to write words of foreign origin and foreign names. If you like to read manga in Japanese, you will certainly notice that katakana is also used to represent onomatopoeia and emphasis.

Have you heard of the word “furigana”? Furigana are hiragana and katakana characters written in small forms above kanji in order to show the pronunciation. Furigana is used in kids’ books and Japanese language textbooks for learners, in order to teach the reading of unknown kanji.

Japanese Writing System #3: Kanji

Kanji is usually the last system to be learned, even for native Japanese speakers! Kanji are Chinese characters and were Japan’s first writing system. They were first introduced to Japan over 1,500 years ago; hiragana and katakana actually evolved from these symbols!

Kanji are complex characters that represent words or ideas, and they form the backbone of the Japanese writing system. In fact, it is estimated that there are over 50,000 kanji characters, although only a fraction of those are commonly used.

Reading Kanji

Kanji is different from hiragana and katakana in that there are multiple ways to pronounce a single character. This is because there is a Chinese way to read a character (called the on-yomi) and a Japanese way (the kun-yomi). The on-yomi was the original way, but when kanji started to be used to write native Japanese words, new pronunciations were added¹. So, if you see a character pronounced one way in one word, but differently in another, this is why!

1. Kunyomi (訓読み): This is the Native Japanese reading. It is usually used when a janji stands alone as its own word.
2. Onyomi (音読み): This is the Sino-Japanese reading (derived from Chinese). It is almost always used when two or more kanji are joined together to form a compound word. You might also notice that onyomi readings tend to sound similar to their Chinese counterpart. For example, the word library in Japanese and simplified Chinese are toshokan (図書館) and tú shū guǎn (图书馆). This is one of the reasons why Chinese native speakers tend to learn Japanese faster than most of us.

To better understand see the difference, let’s take a look at the table below that breaks down a few basic kanji and their reading in kunyomi and onyomi.

Kanji	Meaning	Kunyomi	Onyomi
水	Water	Mizu	Sui
人	People	Hito	Jin/nin
下	Below	Shita	Ka/ge
上	Above	Ue	Jou

How to Write Kanji

All kanji are made up of one or more radicals. A radical is simply a small symbol that, either by itself or when combined with other symbols, makes up a complete kanji character. Take, for instance, the radical 一. By itself, this is the complete kanji for ichi (one). But, it can be added with the radical亅to form the kanji 丁! There are 214 total radicals used in 13 different positions when forming kanji, though some radicals and positions are used more frequently than others. If you think of all kanji as being made up of these smaller radicals, then they will be easier to learn!

There are roughly four main types of kanji, based on how and why the radicals are arranged¹:

1. Pictograms

These kanji originally came from pictures, simply drawing the object itself to represent it in writing¹. It’s like writing “😊” to represent “smiley face” – just like emojis today! Take a look at 山 (yama, mountain) for example; doesn’t the character 山 remind you of how a mountain looks, with a pointy peak at the top?

2. Simple Ideograms

These kanji originally used lines and dots to “represent numbers or abstract concepts.¹” So, instead of drawing an object, you would try to visually represent the idea you wanted to convey. Take “up” and “down” for instance; drawing a dot above a line could represent “up” while a dot below a line would signify “down.” This is where 上 (ue, up) and 下 (shita, down) came from!

3. Compound Ideograms

Basically, these are kanji formed by combining two or more simpler kanji¹. The kanji used in 休む (yasumu, to rest), for example, is a combination of 人 (hito, person [often written as ⺅ when used as a radical]) and 木 (ki, tree)¹. A lot of the time, the two simpler kanji are chosen because of their connection to the resulting character. For 休, a person leaning against a tree would be resting – which is why 人 and 木 were chosen to form this character!  

4. Phonetic-ideographic Characters

These kanji are usually found when a character’s original on-yomi sounded like a native Japanese word, but the kanji associated with the sound didn’t represent the word’s meaning. So, to remedy this, those in the past added an additional kanji to clarify the meaning. In other words, these kanji are formed by combining one kanji that has the word’s pronunciation and another kanji that represents the word’s meaning. One example of this is the character for sei (clean). Water is generally associated with cleaning, so the kanji for water 水 (mizu, often written as ⺡) is added to the kanji 青 (sei, blue) to get 清 sei (clean).

As you can see, kanji are definitely more complex than hiragana or katakana, but don’t worry – there are plenty of simple kanji too! Plus, knowing the radicals and kanji types will help to make learning and remembering kanji easier. Knowing the stroke order, or the steps in which each character is written, can help make memorization easier too; check out this site to look up any kanji and see its stroke order (and other helpful information)!

What is the Use of Kanji?

Kanji is used for nouns, verb stems, and adjectives. So, kanji are used for most major words that you will encounter in everyday Japanese! While hiragana and katakana are crucial, you also can’t rely on just those when reading and writing; you have to learn kanji as well!

Kanji Example

Let’s take one last look at Bob, this time reading the sentence as it would be written in everyday Japanese:

私のペットの名前はボブです。
Watashi no petto no namae wa bobu desu.

Well, using kanji certainly makes the Japanese sentence shorter! In this case, the pronoun watashi (I) and the noun namae (name) use kanji. If there were a different verb in this sentence (like “look” or “ate”), then there would most likely be kanji there as well. Finally, using these new symbols makes the sentence even easier to read, as they are visually quite different than hiragana or katakana!

While all of this might seem overwhelming at first, it’s nothing you can’t handle with a little practice! Simply writing the kanji out is a great way to see how the radicals work together and to memorize their combinations, but if you’re looking for something a little bit more high-tech, there are also some kanji apps we recommend you can use to practice as well!

Tips for Writing in Japanese

Switching from a Latin alphabet to Japanese is like moving from a “linear” way of thinking to a “grid-based” one. Since you’re already familiar with the sounds, here are the most important practical tips to keep in mind when you start putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys).

1. There are no spaces in the Japanese writing system

Japanese is written with no spaces, so a combination of hiragana, kanji, and katakana helps distinguish words within a sentence. As you improve your Japanese writing and reading skills, you’ll start to feel that reading kanji is often easier than reading a sentence that consists solely of hiragana.

2. Be careful of hiragana characters that sound and look similar

Pay more attention when pronouncing “tsu” and “su”. Beginner-level students also have a hard time discerning ro (ろ), re (れ), ru (る), and nu (ぬ) and me (め) because they look similar.

3. Correct stroke order and direction are important

Writing hiragana with the correct stroke order and direction will help you intuitively know how to write new characters, and it has a big effect on how readable it ends up looking.

The Fourth Japanese Writing System: Romaji

Have you heard of romaji? If you have never heard of it, chances are you have already used it either way!

Romaji is the representation of Japanese sounds using the Latin (Roman) alphabet. While it is not a traditional Japanese script, it serves as a bridge for learners before they memorize hiragana, katakana, and kanji. For example, writing “Watashi no namae wa Coto desu” uses romaji to make the sentence readable to anyone who has not yet mastered the three primary Japanese scripts.

We only recommend using romaji as a learning aid when you are just starting out, but you should not become dependent on it. Because Japanese has many homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings), relying solely on romaji can be confusing. A lot of Japanese words are homophones. For instance, the romaji word “hashi” could mean bridge (橋), chopsticks (箸), or edge (端).
More importantly, romaji is how most Japanese people interact with technology. To type the word “Ssakura,” a user typically types the Roman letters s-a-k-u-r-a on a standard QWERTY keyboard, which the software then converts into hiragana (さくら) or kanji (桜).

Conclusion

Well, we certainly covered a lot of ground today! Let’s review everything to make sure you remember what we learned.

Japanese has three types of writing systems: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Hiragana is curvy, represents small syllables, and is used for grammatical information, particles, and native Japanese words! Katakana is straight, also represents small syllables, and is used for loanwords from other languages. Kanji are complex characters made up of radicals, represent a concept, a sound, or a mixture of the two, and are used for nouns, verb stems, and adjectives.

And those are the main points! Not so bad, right? You are now ready to start reading and writing Japanese like a pro! If you feel like you need more help, though, feel free to reach out to us or join one of our many Japanese language classes here!

FAQ

What is the Japanese writing system?

The Japanese writing system uses Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji scripts.

What does Hiragana represents?

Hiragana represents native Japanese words, grammatical particles, and verb endings.

What does Katakana represents?

Katakana represents foreign words, loanwords, onomatopoeic words, and emphasis.

How many characters are there in hiragana and katakana?

There are 46 characters in each of the Hiragana and Katakana scripts.

What is the closet thing to English chracters?

There is no such thing as the Japanese alphabet, but the closest things would be called hiragana and katakana.

How many kanji I should learn?

To be considered fluent in Japanese, you must learn from 1500 to 2500 kanji characters.

Want to learn Japanese hiragana? In this blog, we share our own PDF learning hiragana practice sheets and links to some popular apps for learning Japanese. Just started learning Japanese? Head to our main article about the Japanese writing system for a more comprehensive guide!

What is hiragana?

Hiragana (平仮名) is one of three writing systems used in Japanese, and it’s the one everything else builds on. Where English uses an alphabet where each letter represents a sound, hiragana uses a syllabary. Each character represents a whole syllable, like ka, mi, or su. There are 46 base characters in total, and once you know them, you can read and write any native Japanese word phonetically.The characters are soft and rounded in shape, making them visually easy to distinguish from other Japanese scripts. That roundedness isn’t random: hiragana developed as a simplified, cursive form of Chinese characters (kanji), created during the Heian period around the 9th century. Back then, it was associated with women’s writing, since men were expected to write in formal kanji. That social divide didn’t last, and today hiragana is just… Japanese.

Hiragana Learning Chart: Wri

ting Practice PDFs

If you are looking for a more analog way to practice and learn hiragana, you’re in a good place. Coto Academy actually created our very own hiragana chart and practice sheet, which includes example sentences and exercises. Open the image in a new tab by clicking on it, and you can print it!

Hiragana syllabels

There are 46 base characters, and the system is almost perfectly consistent: once you learn the five vowel sounds (a, i, u, e, o), every other character is simply a consonant placed in front of one of those five vowels. So か is “ka”, き is “ki”, く is “ku”, け is “ke”, こ is “ko”. This structure means that, with some practice, you can learn to read and write all of hiragana in a matter of days.

1. あ: A-row (vowels)

These five characters are the foundation of the entire hiragana system. Every syllable in Japanese ends in one of these five vowel sounds, so once you know them, you already know how every other character ends. Japanese vowels are pure and consistent: they never shift sound based on context the way English vowels do. あ is always “ah”, い is always “ee”, and so on.

Hiragana	Romaji	Sound hint
あ	a	like “ah” — open mouth, relaxed
い	i	like “ee” in “feet” — short and crisp
う	u	short “oo” but lips are not rounded — unique to Japanese
え	e	like “e” in “bed”
お	o	like “oh” — round and clear

2. か: Ka-row

The ka-row is the first consonant row and one of the most common in Japanese. The “k” sound here is unaspirated — meaning there’s no puff of air the way English “k” has. It’s a cleaner, crisper stop. This row is also the base for the voiced が-row, where the same shapes gain two small marks.

Hiragana	Romaji	Sound hint
か	ka	like “ka” in “karate”
き	ki	like “key”
く	ku	like “coo” — short u
け	ke	like “keh”
こ	ko	like “co” in “cold”

3. さ: Sa-row

The sa-row has one notable exception: し is pronounced “shi”, not “si”. The rest of the row follows the standard pattern. す also tends to have a nearly silent “u” in natural speech, especially in word-final positions.

Hiragana	Romaji	Sound hint
さ	sa	like “sa” in “safari”
し	shi	like “she” — not “si”
す	su	the “u” is almost silent in casual speech
せ	se	like “seh”
そ	so	like “so”

4. た: Ta-row

The ta-row contains two of the most surprising sounds in hiragana for learners: ち is “chi” and つ is “tsu”. Neither follows the expected “ti” or “tu” pattern. These are not exceptions but natural phonological rules in Japanese. The row’s voiced counterpart is the だ-row.

Hiragana	Romaji	Sound hint
た	ta	like “ta” in “taco”
ち	chi	like “chee” — not “ti”
つ	tsu	one quick sound, like “tsu” in “tsunami”
て	te	like “teh”
と	to	like “toe”

5. な: Na-row

This hiragana row is a straightforward row with no surprises. The “n” sound stays consistent throughout. の (no) is especially worth remembering early: it’s one of the most common particles in Japanese, used to show possession (similar to “of” or “‘s”). に (ni) is another essential particle indicating direction or location.

Hiragana	Romaji	Sound hint
な	na	like “na” in “nature”
に	ni	like “knee”
ぬ	nu	like “new”
ね	ne	like “neh”
の	no	like “no” — also the possessive particle

6. は: Ha-row

The ha-row is mostly regular, with two notable quirks. First, ふ is not “hu”. The sound is a soft bilabial fricative made with both lips gently together, producing something between “f” and “h”. Second, when は and へ function as grammatical particles, their pronunciation changes: は becomes “wa” and へ becomes “e”. This is a historical spelling preserved from older Japanese.

Hiragana	Romaji	Sound hint
は	ha	like “ha” — reads “wa” as topic particle
ひ	hi	like “hee”
ふ	fu	soft bilabial — lips barely touching, not “hoo”
へ	he	like “heh” — reads “e” as direction particle
ほ	ho	like “ho” in “hotel”

7. ま: Ma-row

The “m” sound is consistent and behaves the same as in English. も (mo) is another high-frequency particle meaning “also” or “too”. ます (masu) is the polite verb ending you will encounter in almost every beginner Japanese sentence.

Hiragana	Romaji	Sound hint
ま	ma	like “ma”
み	mi	like “me”
む	mu	like “moo”
め	me	like “meh”
も	mo	like “mo” — also the “too/also” particle

8. や: Ya-row

The ya-row has only three characters because “yi” and “ye” don’t exist as sounds in modern Japanese. These three characters also serve a second role: written small (ゃ ゅ ょ), they combine with other characters to create compound sounds called youon. In that role they aren’t pronounced as full syllables.

Hiragana	Romaji	Sound hint
や	ya	like “ya” in “yard”
ゆ	yu	like “you”
よ	yo	like “yo” in “yoga”

9. ら: Ra-row

The Japanese “r” is one of the hardest sounds for English speakers to reproduce. It is a lateral flap: the tip of the tongue briefly taps the ridge just behind the upper teeth and immediately releases, similar to the quick “d” sound in the American English word “ladder” or “butter”.

Hiragana	Romaji	Sound hint
ら	ra	tongue flap — like the “d” in “ladder”
り	ri	flap + ee
る	ru	flap + u
れ	re	flap + e
ろ	ro	flap + o

10. わ: Wa-row

The wa-row originally had five characters (wa, wi, wu, we, wo) but three fell out of use in modern Japanese. Only わ and を remain in regular writing. を is now almost exclusively used as the direct object particle and is pronounced identically to お in everyday speech. Attempting to distinguish the two sounds in conversation will sound unnatural.

Hiragana	Romaji	Sound hint
わ	wa	like “wa” in “water”
を	wo / o	object particle — pronounced like お in practice

11. ん: N (nasal)

ん is the only hiragana character that stands alone as a pure consonant. It has no vowel attached. Its exact sound shifts depending on what follows: it sounds like “n” before n/t/d sounds, like “m” before p/b/m sounds, and like “ng” (as in “sing”) before k/g sounds or at the end of a word. Japanese speakers do this naturally without thinking about it.

Hiragana	Romaji	Sound hint
ん	n	shifts between n / m / ng depending on context

How long does it take to learn hiragana?

This is the good news: for a motivated adult learner, a few weeks is realistic. The pronunciation is consistent. Unlike English, every hiragana character is always pronounced the same way, with no exceptions. Once you crack the grid (5 vowels × consonant rows), the logic clicks fast. Most Japanese language learners tackle hiragana in their first month, often before starting kanji.

It’s genuinely one of the more approachable parts of the language, and getting through it gives you a real foothold. You can start sounding out menus, station signs, and packaging almost immediately.

How to use the hiragana homework sheets

Below are a few sample homework sheets specifically for hiragana. To answer them, you draw the line to the corresponding hiragana character and connect them.

Apps for Learning Hiragana

If you are just getting started with learning hiragana, you may think that it is easier to learn with an app. Apps are convenient and easy to take with you to practice using while you are out and about. However, we also suggest that you take some time to physically write the characters, as it will cement them in your brain.

That being said, we recommend several apps that are fun and easy to use.

1. Learn Hiragana & Katakana with Dr. Moku

Dr. Moku’s Hiragana and Katakana Mnemonics are 2 separate apps. One for Hiragana and one for Katakana. In each app, they associate all the kana with pictures, making it easy for you to remember them.

It also uses mnemonic hacks (tying each character to a visual story-based meaning) rather than just rote memorization.

2. Mindsnacks – Limited Free Version

Mindsnacks has a visually appealing interface, and the limited free version allows you to practice learning Hiragana and Katakana characters.

It is the closest thing to a learning video game that we have found.

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Hiragana FAQ

What is Hiragana used for?

Hiragana is a fundamental script in Japanese, used for writing sentences, grammatical particles (like は, が, を), and parts of words. It is also used for words that don’t have kanji or for furigana (small hiragana above kanji to show pronunciation).

How many Hiragana characters are there?

There are 46 basic Hiragana characters. Some characters can change their sounds when small marks (゛or ゜) are added, like か (ka) → が (ga) or は (ha) → ぱ (pa).

What’s the easiest way to learn Hiragana?

The best ways to learn Hiragana are:

• Learn mnemonics (e.g., し (shi) looks like a smiling face)
• Practice writing daily
• Use flashcards to memorize characters
• Listen to Hiragana songs or use learning apps

What’s the difference between Hiragana and Katakana?

Hiragana is mainly used for native Japanese words and grammar, while Katakana is used for foreign words (like “coffee” → コーヒー), onomatopoeia, and emphasis.

Can I write everything in Hiragana?

Yes, but it’s not ideal. Japanese writing combines Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji, so writing everything in Hiragana can be hard to read and understand.