Hiragana Chart: The Complete Guide
Full disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. ?
This page gives you a hiragana chart you can actually learn from, with all 46 base characters, the standard voiced and contracted forms, and the extra reading rules that matter most at the start.
Below you'll find the core hiragana system laid out cleanly: the 46 base characters, the dakuten and handakuten rows, and the small yōon combinations, all with rōmaji. After the tables I'll walk you through a sensible learning order, a few mnemonics, the basics of stroke order, and the handful of look-alike characters that trip up many beginners.
A quick reassurance before we start. Hiragana looks like a wall of unfamiliar squiggles, and that wall is exactly what scares people off Japanese in week one. But hiragana is a small, regular, learnable system. It's 46 base characters built on a tidy five-vowel grid, and with focused daily practice you can get familiar with all of them inside a week or two, then build speed from there. This is genuinely one of the fastest early wins in the whole language.
I've sat where you are. I took on Japanese as one of my language missions, and the moment hiragana clicked, the rest of the language stopped feeling like a code and started feeling like a language. You can get there faster than you think. So let's get you reading.
What Is Hiragana? (And How It Fits with Katakana and Kanji)
Japanese is written with three scripts woven together, and hiragana is often the most useful place to start.
If you'd like the bigger picture before you get into the chart, this video shows how hiragana fits alongside katakana, kanji and rōmaji:
- Hiragana (ひらがな) is the curvy, flowing script used for native Japanese words, grammar bits, and word endings. It's the backbone of the writing system and the script that holds sentences together.
- Katakana (カタカナ) is the angular sister script, used mainly for foreign loanwords (think コーヒー, kōhī, “coffee”), names from other languages, and emphasis. It covers the same basic sound grid as hiragana, then adds combinations used for some loanword sounds.
- Kanji (漢字) are the characters borrowed from Chinese that generally carry meaning and can have more than one reading. They're used for the core of many nouns, verbs and adjectives.
A typical sentence mixes all three. Many courses start with hiragana because you can sound out real Japanese with it straight away, and because katakana uses a parallel basic sound grid with different shapes.
When Is Hiragana Used?
In day-to-day Japanese, hiragana does most of the heavy lifting:
- Grammatical words and particles (は, が, を, に and friends) that glue sentences together.
- Verb and adjective endings that change with tense and politeness.
- Native words that either have no kanji or whose kanji is rare or deliberately softened.
- Furigana, the tiny kana (usually hiragana, but sometimes katakana) printed above or beside tricky kanji to tell you how they're read. Furigana alone is a brilliant reason to learn hiragana early: it gives you the pronunciation of words you can't read yet.
The Hiragana Chart: 46 Base Characters (Gojūon)
Here's the heart of it. The basic hiragana characters are arranged in a grid called the gojūon (五十音, “fifty sounds”). Five vowels run across the top, and each row adds a consonant in front of them. Learn to read the grid and you've learned the logic of the whole script.
| 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) | |||
| n (syllabic) | ん (n) |
A few of these catch everyone:
- In the Hepburn-based rōmaji used here, し is shi, ち is chi, つ is tsu, and ふ is fu. Other romanisation systems may write some of them as si, ti, tu and hu, so those spellings aren't pronunciation errors.
- The y-row and w-row have gaps. Modern standard Japanese has no separate kana in the yi, ye, wi, wu or we cells, which is why they're blank. Historical ゐ and ゑ are outside today's basic chart, so you may still meet them in older texts and deliberate old-style spellings.
- を (o) is special. In modern standard Japanese, it's normally used as a particle and pronounced like お (o). Older charts and some romanisation systems label the kana wo, which is why you'll see both forms in learning materials.
- Three particles have special readings. When は marks the topic, it's pronounced wa; when へ marks direction, it's pronounced e; and を is pronounced o. Their spellings don't change.
- ん (n) is the only base-chart kana without a following vowel. It represents one mora, but its actual sound changes with what comes next and can resemble m, n or ng.
Dakuten and Handakuten: Voiced Sounds
Once the base grid is solid, you get a big batch of new sounds almost for free. Adding two little strokes (dakuten, ゛) voices the consonant row: k becomes g, s becomes z, t becomes d, and h becomes b. The small handakuten circle (゜) changes the h-row to p. The table shows the standard rōmaji, including the less tidy i– and u-column spellings.
| Dakuten/Handakuten | a | i | u | e | o |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| g | が (ga) | ぎ (gi) | ぐ (gu) | げ (ge) | ご (go) |
| z | ざ (za) | じ (ji) | ず (zu) | ぜ (ze) | ぞ (zo) |
| d | だ (da) | ぢ (ji) | づ (zu) | で (de) | ど (do) |
| b | ば (ba) | び (bi) | ぶ (bu) | べ (be) | ぼ (bo) |
| p | ぱ (pa) | ぴ (pi) | ぷ (pu) | ぺ (pe) | ぽ (po) |
You don't really learn 25 new characters here. You learn two small marks and where they go, and the shapes underneath are already familiar. A couple of notes:
- In modern standard Japanese, じ and ぢ are usually pronounced alike, as are ず and づ. The じ and ず spellings do nearly all the work, while ぢ and づ appear in a smaller set of words such as ちぢむ and つづく.
- The p-row uses the handakuten circle (゜), not the two strokes. It's the only row that does, which makes it easy to spot.
Yōon: Combination Sounds
Another important part of the chart is yōon (拗音), the contracted sounds you make by adding a small や, ゆ or よ to certain consonant kana in the i-column. So き (ki) plus a small ゃ gives きゃ (kya), one mora. The small kana is written noticeably smaller than a full-size one, which is your visual cue.
| ya | yu | yo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| k | きゃ (kya) | きゅ (kyu) | きょ (kyo) |
| s | しゃ (sha) | しゅ (shu) | しょ (sho) |
| t | ちゃ (cha) | ちゅ (chu) | ちょ (cho) |
| n | にゃ (nya) | にゅ (nyu) | にょ (nyo) |
| h | ひゃ (hya) | ひゅ (hyu) | ひょ (hyo) |
| m | みゃ (mya) | みゅ (myu) | みょ (myo) |
| r | りゃ (rya) | りゅ (ryu) | りょ (ryo) |
| g | ぎゃ (gya) | ぎゅ (gyu) | ぎょ (gyo) |
| j | じゃ (ja) | じゅ (ju) | じょ (jo) |
| d (rare) | ぢゃ (ja) | ぢゅ (ju) | ぢょ (jo) |
| b | びゃ (bya) | びゅ (byu) | びょ (byo) |
| p | ぴゃ (pya) | ぴゅ (pyu) | ぴょ (pyo) |
Notice the s-row and t-row break the tidy pattern: しゃ is sha (not “shya”) and ちゃ is cha, because they're already built on shi and chi. The other rows follow the same basic pattern. The rare ぢゃ, ぢゅ and ぢょ spellings are normally pronounced like じゃ, じゅ and じょ in modern standard Japanese.
That's the core hiragana chart on one page: 46 base characters, the dakuten and handakuten rows, and the yōon. You'll also encounter small っ, which takes one mora and marks a doubled following consonant, as in きって (kitte, “stamp”), and long vowels such as おかあさん (okāsan, “mother”). These aren't extra base characters, but you need to recognise them to read words accurately.
Using the Chart as Your Daily Reference
The tables above are deliberately clean so you can use them as your printable reference. Screenshot the gojūon grid, send it to your phone's lock screen, or print it and pin it above your desk. Seeing the whole grid every day helps you get the layout into your head. Use it alongside audio and short reading practice, so you're learning the sound and the shape together rather than memorising isolated labels.
How to Learn Hiragana (the Fast Way)
Hiragana rewards a short, intense burst of effort. Here's the order and the approach I'd use.
A Sensible Learning Order
- Start with the five vowels: あ い う え お. Nearly every other base row is organised around these five sounds, so over-learn them until they're instant.
- Add one consonant row at a time. Take か き く け こ, then さ し す せ そ, and so on. Five characters a day is a comfortable, sticky pace.
- Learn to read before you learn to write. Recognising characters is the skill that opens up real Japanese fastest. Handwriting can follow once you can read.
- Only then add dakuten, handakuten and yōon. They're small modifications of shapes you already know, so they slot in quickly once the base grid is solid.
- Read real Japanese as soon as you can. Sound out signs, menus, song lyrics, anything. Using hiragana in real words gives the drills somewhere to stick, and it's exactly the speak-and-read-from-day-one approach I use with a new language.
Mnemonics That Stick
One useful way to bolt a character to a sound is to turn its shape into a little picture and a story. A few that have stuck for me and loads of other learners:
- き (ki) looks like a key.
- く (ku) is a bird's beak going “coo“.
- の (no) is a clear “no entry” swirl.
- め (me) has a loop like an eye, and 目, the Japanese word for “eye”, is also read me.
- た (ta) hides a little t and a in its shape.
Build your own where you can. A mnemonic you invent yourself can stick better than one you were handed, because the act of inventing it is itself a rep.
Stroke Order Basics
Japanese characters are written in a set order, and following it makes your writing legible and your hand faster. These two patterns will get you oriented:
- Top to bottom, and left to right.
- Horizontal strokes before vertical ones that cross them.
You don't need to obsess over this on day one, especially if you're learning to read first. But when you do start writing, check the correct stroke order for each kana rather than relying on those two patterns alone. Learning it from the start saves you unlearning a messy habit later.
The Confusing Look-Alike Pairs (and How to Tell Them Apart)
A small set of hiragana look almost identical, and mixing them up is a common beginner stumble. Here are the usual suspects and a concrete way to keep each one straight.
| Pair | The trick |
|---|---|
| し (shi) / つ (tsu) | Think of which way the “cup” tips. し is a tall hook curving up at the bottom (a fishing line, “shi“-ng line). つ sits flat and wide like a cup or a wave on its side. |
| ね (ne) / れ (re) / わ (wa) | All share the same left-hand start, so watch the right side. ね ends in a full loop (think a curly cat's tail). れ has a sharp little kick with no loop. わ is the plainest, a soft curve that just turns back in. |
| は (ha) / ほ (ho) | Nearly twins. ほ has two horizontal bars on its right-hand part; は has only one. Count the rungs: more rungs means ho. |
| る (ru) / ろ (ro) | Very similar curls, with one reliable difference: る finishes with a little loop at the bottom; ろ ends in an open tail with no loop. Loop equals ru. |
The pattern across most of these is the loop: ね, る and friends close into a loop, while their look-alikes leave the stroke open. Train your eye to check for that loop and most of the confusion melts away. A few others worth a glance as you go are あ/お (the お has a separate little stroke at the upper right) and う/つ (the う stands tall, つ lies flat).
Where to Go After Hiragana
Once hiragana clicks, the doors swing open. The natural next steps:
- Katakana, the second script. It uses the same basic sound grid with different shapes, plus extra combinations for some loanwords, so the grid itself is already familiar. Our katakana chart lays out the whole set the same way as this page.
- A starter stock of vocabulary. Build out from a base of core Japanese words and some everyday Japanese phrases you can actually say.
- Your first conversations. Learn a few ways to say hello in Japanese and get a feel for how Japanese sentence structure works, then start putting words in order.
- The bigger picture. When you want to see how it all fits together, our Japanese language masterclass and our guide to how to learn Japanese map out the road ahead.
Hiragana is the first real foothold in Japanese, and it's a generous one: a couple of weeks of focused practice can make the 46 base characters familiar enough to start reading the script that holds the language together.
That last point about using it for real is the heart of how I approach every language. If you want a structured way to go from your first characters to actual conversations with real people, the Fluent in 3 Months Bootcamp gives you a 90-day plan, weekly coaching calls and a private community built around that goal.
For now, though, you've got the core hiragana chart and a plan to learn it. Pin it up, start with those five vowels, and go.
Social