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About Hiragana
Introduction and complete lists of all Hiragana letters. Printable Hiragana chart (PDF) is also available.
Gojon | Dakuon | Handakuon | Yon | Sokuon | Additional Letters

Hiragana
Hiragana is one of three character sets used in the Japanese language.
Each Hiragana letter represents particular syllable. Letter itself has no meaning.
Hiragana is used widely to form a sentence.

Origin
Hiragana

Original
Kanji

Hiragana was developed in the 8-10th century by simplifying the form of particular Kanji symbols.
Compared to Katakana, Hiragana letters have more curved lines.

Number of Letters
In modern Japanese, there are 46 basic Hiragana letters.
In addition to these 46 basic letters called gojon, there are modified forms to describe more sounds - 20 dakuon, 5
handakuon, 36 yon, 1 sokuon and 6 additional letters.

Perfume
(Techno Pop Music)
Perfume is a techno-pop
group consisting of three
female singers.
Their futuristic vocal sound
creates addictively charming
harmony.
Backed up by an amazing
sound producer Yasutaka
Nakata, Perfume's music is
skillfully arranged.

FAQ: W hat are the letters w ith a bar on top ( )?

Gojon

FAKE IT

Magic of Love

Spending all my time

edge -mix
Official Site
W ikipedia
YouTube Official Channel
iTunes

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Dream Fighter
by Perfume
Learn Japanese by singing!

Gojon-zu
In Japanese, syllables are organized in the form of a table (5 x 10). This table is called gojon-zu (literally means
table of 50 sounds).

Music video of the song

Lyrics in Rmaji & Hiragana
Word by w ord translation

To describe these sounds, Hiragana and Katakana alphabets are used.

Letters , and appear more than once in the table. These 5 duplicates (gray colored) are usually skipped or
ignored.
Another syllable is included. It doesn't belong to any row or column.
In total, 46 letters (45+1) are counted as gojon (50 sounds).
You can learn gojon letters at Hiragana Master Drill: Part 1-10.

Structure of the Table

The first row - [a], [i], [u], [e] and [o] are five vowels of the Japanese language.
Letters in the same column contain the same vowel.
Letters in the same row are considered to contain the same consonant.
Letters and represent the same sound [o]. is used only as the particle in a sentence.

MISIA
(Singer)

Dakuon

MISIA is one of the most

talented singers in Japan. Her
five-octave-range voice is truly
amazing.
We do believe that her voice
will reach your heart
penetrating the language
bareer.
Please enjoy Japan's VERY
special treasure!

[aitakute ima ]

Dakuon literally means turbid or murky sound. It is the voiced sound of [ka], [sa], [ta] and [ha]-row
syllables.
Dakuon is indicated with two small dots.
Pronunciation of and , and are the same.
You can learn dakuon letters at Hiragana Master Drill: Part 11.

[wasurenai hibi ]
GREAT Live performance!!

Handakuon
MAWARE MAWARE
from 2010 FIFA World Cup
Official Album

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Handakuon literally means half-turbid or half-murky sound.

Handakuon is indicated with a small circle.
You can learn handakuon letters at Hiragana Master Drill: Part 11.

[kokoro hitotsu ]
Official Site
W ikipedia
YouTube Official Channel
iTunes

Yon

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

(Animation)

[ mah shjo madoka magika ]

is an animation series started
from 2011.
The program won numerous
awards and its DVD/Blu-ray
made record-breaking sales.
Excellent story, wonderful art
works and sweet music - top
quality in all aspects.
One of the best Japanese
animations of all time.
If you are an anime fan, this is
something you should not
miss.
Highly recommended!!

Yon is a combination of the consonant of i-column syllables and ya, yu or yo. For example, k + ya = kya.

Fan-Made
Promotional Video

Yon is described by i-column letters plus small , or . For example, + = [kya].

Pronunciation of , , and , , are the same.
You can learn yon letters at Hiragana Master Drill: Part 12-13.

Movie Part 1 & 2

Trailer

Sokuon

pause
Sokuon is a pause (no sound) between two syllables.

Movie Part 3
Trailer

Sokuon is described by small .

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Examples

[sakki]

[hisshi]

[itta]

[yappari]
Movie Part 3 DVD/Blu-ray
Promotional Video

Pronunciation of sokuon is not very easy. Hiragana Master Drill: Part 14 explains it in detail.

DVD/Blu-ray of the movie part

3 was released on 2nd Apr.
2014.

Additional Letters

Official Site
W ikipedia

These additional letters are invented in modern era to describe the sounds of foreign language.
Note: Foreign words are usually written in Katakana. These additional Hiragana letters are rarely used.
Examples

[fa]

[ti]

[du]

[we]

[fo]

Small [a], [i], [u], [e] and [o] are attached after particular letters.
Examples

[va]

[vi]

[vu]

[ve]

[vo]

is used for [v] sound.

TOKYO GIRLS COLLECTION

Official Web Site
[Fashion Show]
Tokyo Girls Collection is a
biannual fashion festival which
showcases Japans most
popular Real Clothes fashion that can be put to daily
use.
The show is broadcasted live
through You Tube.

Printable Hiragana Chart

Item

File Type

Size

Hiragana Chart

PDF

460 KB

Click the link listed above. PDF document will be displayed (1 page).
To save the file, choose [Save As...] from [File] menu.

You can purchase the same

clothes which were worn on
the show at:
fashionw alker.com

Domestic Shipping Only

To print on a paper, choose [Print...] from [File] menu.

To view the PDF file, you need Adobe Reader,
a free application distributed by Adobe Systems.

Free
Japanese
Lessons
japanesepod101.com/free

Learning Hiragana

You Can Learn

Japanese Easily. Over
200,000,000 Lessons
Delivered!

Learning Hiragana is easy. It takes about 3-20 days in general.

Try Hiragana Master Drill - free online study program for learning how to read, write and type Hiragana fast and easy.
Common order of character study is Hiragana first, Katakana next, and then Kanji.
See Learning Tips page for more details.

Related Topics
Hiragana Master Drill
Hiragana Writing Practice
About Katakana
About Kanji

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