Your First Japanese Alphabet
Welcome to the most important chapter of this entire course! Hiragana (ひらがな) is the foundation of written Japanese. Every grammar ending, every particle, and any word can be written in hiragana — which means that once you finish this chapter and the next, you can technically read and write anything in Japanese (even if you don't know what it means yet!).
Hiragana has 46 basic characters. Each one stands for a whole syllable — a vowel like "a", or a consonant + vowel like "ka". That may sound like a lot, but learners regularly master hiragana in one or two weeks with daily practice. The characters are organized in a beautiful, logical grid, and we will conquer it row by row, with a memory trick for every single character.
How to study this chapter: take one or two rows per day. For each character: (1) look at the memory hint, (2) write or trace the character while saying its sound out loud, (3) test yourself on yesterday's rows before starting new ones. JLPT Exam Note: On the official JLPT exam, questions are strictly multiple-choice — you will never be tested on writing characters from memory or manual handwriting. However, practicing writing by hand is highly recommended because your hand will remember what your eyes forget!
1. The Gojūon Table: The Map of All Sounds
The 46 characters are arranged in a grid called the gojūon (五十音, "fifty sounds"). Columns are the five vowels a, i, u, e, o; rows are the consonants. Japanese people know this order by heart — it is how dictionaries are sorted, like ABC order in English.
| a | i | u | e | o | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | 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 o (wo) |
| n | ん n (the only stand-alone consonant) | ||||
Notice the four irregular readings in bold: し is "shi" (not "si"), ち is "chi" (not "ti"), つ is "tsu" (not "tu"), and ふ is "fu" (not "hu"). These are the only surprises in the whole table. Also, the y-row and w-row have gaps — those sounds simply don't exist in modern Japanese.
Did you know? Hiragana was developed over a thousand years ago from simplified, flowing kanji. In the Heian era it was famously used by women of the imperial court — including Murasaki Shikibu, who used it to write The Tale of Genji, often called the world's first novel!
2. Stroke Order: The Three Golden Rules
Japanese characters are written with a fixed stroke order. It matters because it keeps your handwriting balanced and legible, and it becomes essential for kanji later. Luckily, three rules cover almost everything:
- Top to bottom — start strokes at the top.
- Left to right — the leftmost strokes come first.
- Horizontal before vertical — when strokes cross, the horizontal line is usually drawn first.
Write each character large at first — the size of a coin — then shrink as you get confident.
3. Learning the Rows (with Memory Hints)
The Vowels: あ・い・う・え・お
| Kana | Sound | Memory hint |
|---|---|---|
| あ | a | Looks like an antenna on a crossed frame — "ah!" |
| い | i | Two little sticks — like the letters "ii" leaning together. "Easy!" |
| う | u | A sideways u with a hat on top. |
| え | e | An exotic bird running — "eh?" |
| お | o | Like あ but with an extra loop — an "o" hiding inside. |
Practice: あい (ai, love) · いえ (ie, house) · うえ (ue, up/above) · あお (ao, blue)
The K-row: か・き・く・け・こ
| Kana | Sound | Memory hint |
|---|---|---|
| か | ka | A person doing karate kicks. |
| き | ki | Looks like a key. |
| く | ku | A bird's beak going "kuckoo". |
| け | ke | A keg standing next to a wall. |
| こ | ko | Two co-workers lying down — two parallel strokes. |
Practice: かき (kaki, persimmon) · きく (kiku, to listen) · こえ (koe, voice) · えき (eki, station)
The S-row: さ・し・す・せ・そ
| Kana | Sound | Memory hint |
|---|---|---|
| さ | sa | Like き missing a stroke — a sample of a key. |
| し | shi | A fishing hook — "she caught a fish!" (Irregular: shi, not si) |
| す | su | A curly straw in a cup — "sup!" |
| せ | se | Looks a bit like "se" written in one squiggle — or a mouth set with teeth. |
| そ | so | A zig-zag song note — one single stroke. |
Practice: すし (sushi, sushi) · あさ (asa, morning) · せき (seki, seat) · うそ (uso, lie)
The T-row: た・ち・つ・て・と
| Kana | Sound | Memory hint |
|---|---|---|
| た | ta | Looks like "t" + "a" squeezed together — literally "ta"! |
| ち | chi | A cheerleader's ribbon. (Irregular: chi, not ti) |
| つ | tsu | A wave — a tsunami wave. (Irregular: tsu, not tu) |
| て | te | A telephone pole with a bent arm. |
| と | to | A toe with a splinter in it. |
Practice: て (te, hand) · とし (toshi, year/age) · ちかてつ (chikatetsu, subway) · つくえ (tsukue, desk)
The N-row: な・に・ぬ・ね・の
| Kana | Sound | Memory hint |
|---|---|---|
| な | na | A naughty knot under a cross. |
| に | ni | A wall with two bricks — "knee" high. |
| ぬ | nu | Slippery nudles (noodles) with a loop at the end. |
| ね | ne | A cat's curled tail — neko means cat! |
| の | no | A "NO entry" sign — one sweeping loop. |
Practice: なつ (natsu, summer) · にく (niku, meat) · いぬ (inu, dog) · ねこ (neko, cat) · のみもの (nomimono, drink)
The H-row: は・ひ・ふ・へ・ほ
| Kana | Sound | Memory hint |
|---|---|---|
| は | ha | A person laughing "ha!" next to a wall. (As the particle "wa" — next chapter's grammar preview!) |
| ひ | hi | A big smile — "hee hee!" |
| ふ | fu | Mount Fuji with wind swirling around it. (Irregular: fu, not hu) |
| へ | he | A little hill — "hey, a hill!" (This is the flattest character in Japanese.) |
| ほ | ho | Like は with an extra roof — "ho ho ho!" says Santa on the roof. |
Practice: はな (hana, flower/nose) · ひと (hito, person) · ふね (fune, boat) · へた (heta, unskilled) · ほし (hoshi, star)
The M-row: ま・み・む・め・も
| Kana | Sound | Memory hint |
|---|---|---|
| ま | ma | "Mama" tied her hair in a bun (the loop at the bottom). |
| み | mi | Looks like the number 21 — "who is 21? Me!" |
| む | mu | A cow's face saying "moo". |
| め | me | An eye — me is Japanese for "eye"! |
| も | mo | A fishhook catching more worms (two of them). |
Practice: まち (machi, town) · みみ (mimi, ear) · むし (mushi, insect) · あめ (ame, rain/candy) · もも (momo, peach)
The Y-row: や・ゆ・よ
| Kana | Sound | Memory hint |
|---|---|---|
| や | ya | A yak with one horn. |
| ゆ | yu | A fish swimming — "unique fish!" (Also the sign on public baths.) |
| よ | yo | "Yo!" — a hand waving from a pole. |
Practice: やま (yama, mountain) · ゆき (yuki, snow) · よる (yoru, night)
The R-row: ら・り・る・れ・ろ
| Kana | Sound | Memory hint |
|---|---|---|
| ら | ra | A rapper holding a microphone. |
| り | ri | A river flowing between two banks (two strokes). |
| る | ru | Like ろ but with a loop at the end — a crazy rute (route)! |
| れ | re | A person kneeling and stretching one leg out. |
| ろ | ro | る without the loop — a plain road. |
Practice: そら (sora, sky) · とり (tori, bird) · るす (rusu, away from home) · これ (kore, this) · しろ (shiro, white)
Remember from the last chapter: the Japanese "r" is a light tongue-tap, halfway between "r", "l" and "d".
The W-row and ん: わ・を・ん
| Kana | Sound | Memory hint |
|---|---|---|
| わ | wa | Like ね without the curl — a wagging tail that lost its loop. |
| を | o (wo) | Someone doing the splits — "woah!" Used only as the object particle, never inside words. |
| ん | n | Looks just like the letter "n" in cursive. The only kana with no vowel — it takes a full beat by itself. |
Practice: わたし (watashi, I) · にほん (nihon, Japan) · みかん (mikan, mandarin orange) · パンを たべます (pan o tabemasu, "eat bread" — を in action!)
4. Danger Zone: Look-alike Characters
Some hiragana are near-twins. Train your eyes on these pairs now and save yourself weeks of confusion:
| Pair | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| あ vs お | あ (a) has the loop crossing through; お (o) has a separate little dash on the right. |
| ね vs れ vs わ | All start with the same left stroke. ね (ne) curls into a loop; れ (re) flicks outward; わ (wa) curves in with no loop. |
| ぬ vs め | ぬ (nu) has a loop at the end ("noodles have knots"); め (me) does not. |
| る vs ろ | る (ru) has the loop; ろ (ro) is the plain road. |
| き vs さ | き (ki) has two horizontal bars; さ (sa) has one. |
| は vs ほ | ほ (ho) has an extra bar on top of the right side (Santa's roof). |
5. Reading Practice
You can now read real Japanese! Cover the romaji column and try reading each word aloud, then check yourself:
| Japanese | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| あき | aki | autumn |
| すいか | suika | watermelon |
| たかい | takai | tall, expensive |
| ともだち | tomodachi | friend |
| なまえ | namae | name |
| ひこうき | hikōki | airplane |
| やすみ | yasumi | rest, holiday |
| わたしはせんせいです | watashi wa sensei desu | I am a teacher |
Notice something in that last sentence? The particle は is read "wa", not "ha", when it marks the topic. This is the most famous spelling exception in Japanese — you will see it constantly, so make friends with it now. (Similarly, the particle へ is read "e" — details in the Grammar section.)
Summary & Key Takeaways
- Hiragana has 46 basic characters, arranged in the gojūon grid of 5 vowels × consonant rows.
- Only four irregular readings: し shi, ち chi, つ tsu, ふ fu — plus を, which is used only as the particle "o".
- ん is the only stand-alone consonant, and it takes a full beat.
- Stroke order: top to bottom, left to right, horizontal before vertical.
- Watch the look-alikes: あ/お, ね/れ/わ, ぬ/め, る/ろ, き/さ, は/ほ.
- The particle は is pronounced "wa" — the classic exception.
- JLPT format reminder: the exam is multiple choice and tests character recognition and reading, not physical handwriting. Practice reading and tracing each character to build solid recognition. In the next chapter we complete hiragana with voiced sounds, combinations, small っ and long vowels!