Japanese script guide
Hiragana represents the basic sounds of Japanese and appears throughout ordinary sentences. Learn the five vowels first, then work through this 46-character chart in rows.
Hiragana is one of two kana scripts. A basic hiragana character represents a spoken unit such as a, ka, or shi. Unlike an English letter, a kana usually represents a whole vowel or a consonant-plus-vowel sound.
The chart is often called the gojūon, or “fifty-sound” ordering. The modern basic set has 46 characters because some historical positions are no longer used as distinct basic kana.
Hiragana writes grammatical endings, particles, and many words. It can also show how kanji are read. In beginner material, you will see it constantly, which is why it is an effective early focus.
Japanese usually combines hiragana with katakana and kanji. Learning hiragana does not mean every Japanese word is normally written only in hiragana.
46 modern basic characters
Read each row from a to o. The Y and W rows have fewer modern basic characters, so their positions are left open without adding meaningless cells.
Begin with the vowel row. Add one consonant row, then mix the new characters with older ones. Point to a character and recall its sound before revealing the romaji.
Hiragana study chart
Turn the chart into recall practice.
Focus on one row, hide the readings, or ask the chart to choose a character for you.
Current character
aVowels
Say the sound, then reveal the answer.
Matching katakana: ア
Read mode shows each romanized sound. Select any card to compare it with the other kana script.
を (wo): Usually pronounced like “o” when used as a particle.
Beyond the basic chart
Add sound marks first, then learn the most useful combinations with small kana. Switch to Recall when you want to test the readings at your own pace.
Readings are visible. Study one labelled group at a time before mixing them.
Level 2 · 25 variants
Dakuten changes kana such as か → がand creates the G, Z, D, and B rows. Handakuten changesは → ぱ and creates the P row.
Why ji and zu appear twice:じ and ぢ are both commonly romanized ji; ず andづ are both commonly romanized zu. They are distinct spellings, so learn which one belongs in each word.
Level 3 · 36 combinations
These pair an i-row kana with smallゃ, ゅ, orょ. Read each pair as one compact sound unit rather than two full-sized kana.
About the second ja, ju, jo group:ぢゃ・ぢゅ・ぢょ are valid but rare in modern Japanese. They remain in the chart because their spelling differs from the more commonじゃ・じゅ・じょ.
Focused practice
Use several kinds of recall so the chart becomes reading knowledge rather than only a memorized song.
Say the vowel row clearly before adding consonant rows.
Trace or write each new character slowly enough to observe its parts.
Move beyond row order so position is not doing the remembering for you.
Combine known kana, even before every combination forms a useful word.
Keep a short list of characters you confuse and compare them directly.
This guide covers the modern basic kana, voiced and semi-voiced variants, and common small-y combinations. Other small-kana patterns and detailed spelling rules still belong in later lessons.
Next script
Use the same vowel order and sound rows while learning a new set of character shapes.
