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Hiragana chart (gojūon)
| Row | a | i | u | e | o |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vowels | あ a | い i | う u | え e | お o |
| K | か ka | き ki | く ku | け ke | こ ko |
| S | さ sa | し shi | す su | せ se | そ so |
| T | た ta | ち chi | つ tsu | て te | と to |
| N | な na | に ni | ぬ nu | ね ne | の no |
| H | は ha | ひ hi | ふ fu | へ he | ほ ho |
| M | ま ma | み mi | む mu | め me | も mo |
| Y | や ya | — | ゆ yu | — | よ yo |
| R | ら ra | り ri | る ru | れ re | ろ ro |
| W | わ wa | — | — | — | を wo |
| final N | ん n | — | — | — | — |
Tap to copy
Voiced sounds (dakuten and handakuten)
Two small strokes (゛) voice the consonant. A small circle (゜) turns H into P.
Combined sounds (yōon)
A small や, ゆ or よ after an "i" syllable makes sounds like "kya" and "sho":
Learn hiragana in one week
- Days 1 and 2: vowels and the K and S rows.
- Days 3 and 4: T, N and H rows.
- Day 5: M, Y, R, W rows and ん.
- Day 6: voiced and combined sounds.
- Day 7: read simple words like さくら (sakura) and ねこ (neko).
For artists: writing each character by hand, in the right stroke order, is a lovely brush exercise and helps memory.
Next, move on to katakana.
Questions artists ask
How many hiragana are there?
46 basic characters. With voiced and combined sounds, there are more than 100 syllables.
Is hiragana a letter or a syllable?
Each character is a syllable (like ka or mi), except the vowels and ん.
Why is し “shi” and not “si”?
That is how it is pronounced in Japanese. The converter accepts both shi and si.
Awais Ahmad
Founder and editor of Letras Bonitas Art. Builds the tools and writes the guides on this site for artists who letter on screens. How we review our pages.
