Japanese Writing

There are 3 types of writing systems in Japanese language.

   (1) Hiragana

   (2) Katakana

   (3) Kanji (Chinese characters)

          (1) Hiragana & (2) Katakana are phonetic characters, so once you master each pronunciation of each letter, you can pronounce them correctly. There are 46 basic letters for hiragana & katakana in modern Japanese language.

See the table below. It has basic and combination forms of hiragana & katakana. 

For more about (3) Kanji (Chinese characters)  , please click here.

How to Read Hiragana

◆ Basic Hiragana  – 46 characters

	A	I	U	E	O
	a	i	u	e	o
K	k+a=ka	k+i=ki	k+u=ku	k+e=ke	k+o=ko
S	s+a=sa	sh+i=shi	s+u=su	s+e=se	s+o=so
T	t+a=ta	ch+i=chi	ts+u=tsu	t+e=te	t+o=to
N	n+a=na	n+i=ni	n+u=nu	n+e=ne	n+o=no
H	h+a=ha	h+i=hi	f+u=fu	h+e=he	h+o=ho
M	m+a=ka	m+i=i	m+u=mu	m+e=me	m+o=mo
Y	y+a=ya		y+u=yu		y+o=yo
R	r+a=ra	r+i=ri	r+u=ru	r+e=re	r+o=ro
W	w+a=wa				※o
N	n

◆ Dakuon -20 characters (with two small dots)

	a	i	u	e	o
G	g+a=ka	g+i=i	g+u=gu	g+e=ge	g+o=go
Z	z+a=za	※ z+i=zi	※ z+u=zu	z+e=ke	z+o=zo
D	d+a=da	※ z+i=i	※ z+u=zu	d +e=de	d+o=do
B	b+a=ba	b+i=bi	b+u=bu	b+e=be	b+o=bo

◆ Half-Dakuon -5 characters (with a small circle)

	a	i	u	e	o
P	p+a=pa	p+i=pi	p+u=pu	p+e=pe	p+o=po

◆ Combination 1 (with a small “ya, yu & yo”)

	a	u	o
ky	ky+a=kya	ky+u=kyu	ky+o=kyo
sh	sh+a=sha	sh+u=shu	sh+o=sho
ch	ch+a=cha	ch+u=chu	ch+o=cho
ny	ny+a=nya	ny+u=nyu	ny+o=nyo
hy	hy+a=hya	hy+u=hyu	hy+o=hyo
my	my+a=mya	my+u=myu	my+o=myo
ry	ry+a=rya	ry+u=ryu	ry+o=ryo

◆ Combination 2 (with two small dots and “ya, yu & yo”)

	a	u	o
gy	gy+a=gya	gy+u=gyu	gy+o=gyo
j	j+a=ja	j+u=ju	j+o=jo
by	by+a=bya	by+u=byu	by+o=byo
py	py+a=pya	py+u=pyu	py+o=pyo