Hiragana is one of two syllabaries used in Japanese writing. It contains forty five basic kana, along with several modified characters to represent the full range of Japanese pronunciation. The characters of Hiragana developed from shorthand forms of Chinese logographic characters alongside Katakana. Katakana and Hiragana are both still in use today, and share many similar glyphs, such as Hirigana's か and Katakana's カ, both refering to the sound ka.
Hirigana is composed of:
types 1, 2, and 3 are called "gojuuon," while type 4 is called "youon."
| vowels | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
あ a | い i | う u | え e | お o | basic gojuuon |
か ka | き ki | く ku | け ke | こ ko |
さ sa | し shi | す su | せ se | そ so |
た ta | ち chi | つ tsu | て te | と to |
な na | に ni | ぬ nu | ね ne | の no |
は ha | ひ hi | ふ fu | へ he | ほ ho |
ま ma | み mi | む mu | め me | も mo |
や ya | – | ゆ yu | – | よ yo |
ら ra | り ri | る ru | れ re | ろ ro |
わ wa | – | – | – | を wo | gojuuon with dakuten |
が ga | ぎ gi | ぐ gu | げ ge | ご go |
ざ za | じ ji | ず zu | ぜ ze | ぞ zo |
だ da | ぢ ji | づ zu | で de | ど do |
ば ba | び bi | ぶ bu | べ be | ぼ bo |
ぱ pa | ぴ pi | ぷ pu | ぺ pe | ぽ po | youon |
きゃ kya | – | きゅ kyu | – | きょ kyo |
しゃ sha | – | しゅ shu | – | しょ sho |
ちゃ cha | – | ちゅ chu | – | ちょ cho |
にゃ nya | – | にゅ nyu | – | にょ nyo |
ひゃ hya | – | ひゅ hyu | – | ひょ hyo |
みゃ mya | – | みゅ myu | – | みょ myo | youon with dakuten |
ぎゃ gya | – | ぎゅ gyu | – | ぎょ gyo |
じゃ ja | – | じゅ ju | – | じょ jo |
ぢゃ ja | – | ぢゅ ju | – | ぢょ jo |
びゃ bya | – | びゅ byu | – | びょ byo |
ぴゃ pya | – | ぴゅ pyu | – | ぴょ pyo | other |
ん n | っ sokuon | ゐ wi |
ゑ we |
ゟ yori |
"なむだいひかんせおんぼさつ。なむあみだぶつ。" reads as "Namu Daihi Kanseon Bosatsu. Namu Amida Butsu."
Several faces often doodled with Hiragana by Japanese school children, derived from the Henohenomoheji (へのへのもへじ) can be used to help remember how to write the characters. More faces can be found here.
|
Henohenomoheji |
Hemehemekutsushi |
|
Heneheneshikono |
Kumekumehiroji |