How to Learn the Japanese Alphabet (With Charts!)

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Japanese writing can look intimidating at first because it combines three systems: hiragana, katakana and kanji. The good news is that each one has a clear job, and you do not need to learn everything at once.

Hiragana and katakana are two related kana syllabaries. Kanji are characters that generally represent morphemes, the meaningful building blocks of words. You will often see all three in the same sentence.

You may also see Japanese written in romaji, which uses the Latin alphabet as a transcription system. Romaji can help when you begin to learn Japanese, but it is not one of the Japanese writing systems.

Learning the basics of reading and writing supports the four main language skills. Start with kana, then build kanji gradually through useful words and sentences.

You can learn the difference between hiragana and katakana quickly, although reading them comfortably takes review and practice. Kanji is a longer-term project.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Japanese alphabet to get started.

Editor's note: Before we get started, if you’re looking for an online Japanese course, here’s the course we recommend: Japanese Uncovered – Learn Japanese Through the Power of Story, a course with a fascinating new method by Olly Richards. You can try it for free for 7 days!

What Are the Japanese Writing Systems?

I’ll start by answering questions that language learners often ask about why Japanese is written the way it is.

Japanese does not have one alphabet with a fixed number of letters. It uses two kana syllabaries alongside kanji.

When you write Japanese sounds with Latin letters, the result is called romaji. Different romanisation systems make slightly different choices, so spellings such as shi, si, chi and ti can reflect the same underlying kana in different systems.

That means counting the letters used in one romanisation system does not tell you how many symbols Japanese has.

Kana spelling is fairly regular, but English speakers still need to learn Japanese timing and sound contrasts.

Vowel length, doubled consonants and the moraic ん can change meaning. The Japanese R sound is usually a brief tap rather than an English R or L, so listening and imitation matter.

Use audio from native speakers as your guide rather than relying on an English spelling alone.

How Many Basic Kana Are There?

Modern hiragana has 46 basic signs, and modern katakana has a corresponding set of 46. Marks and small kana create additional sounds and sound combinations.

Kana primarily represent morae, the regular timing units of Japanese. A mora may be a vowel, a consonant plus a vowel, the moraic ん or part of a long or doubled sound.

The connection between kana and sound is more regular than English spelling, but it is not exceptionless. Particles such as は, へ and を have conventional pronunciations, and written long vowels do not all follow one visual pattern.

How Does Japanese Writing Work?

Hiragana and katakana are usually described as moraic syllabaries. They represent Japanese sound units rather than English-style letters.

Many kana represent a vowel or a consonant followed by a vowel. The kana ん represents a moraic nasal, while small っ marks the first part of a doubled consonant and small ゃ, ゅ and ょ form contracted combinations.

The two kana systems are hiragana, whose signs are generally more curved, and katakana, whose signs are generally more angular. Together they are called kana.

The third system, kanji, is logographic. A kanji generally represents a morpheme and may have several readings. One word can contain one kanji, several kanji or a combination of kanji and kana.

The three systems of writing can all be used within the same sentence. Unlike English where you’d write only in cursive or print, you can combine kana and kanji as needed.

Why Does Japanese Use Three Writing Systems?

Kanji entered Japan through written Chinese. Hiragana and katakana later developed in Japan from cursive and abbreviated forms of kanji. Each system now has its own conventional functions, and many words combine a kanji stem with hiragana endings.

An example of this is 好き (suki). The first character, 好, is the kanji and read as su. The second character, き, is a hiragana symbol that’s read as ki. They’re used together to create one word: suki, “like.”

Hiragana is also used for many other reasons. Words can be written entirely in hiragana. It can be used for furigana, small hiragana written above kanji to help with reading. Also, it can be used to write particles that mark the purpose of a noun or verb in a sentence.

A beginner can communicate in hiragana, but longer hiragana-only text is harder to scan because Japanese normally has no spaces and many words sound alike. Adult writing usually mixes hiragana with kanji, while children begin with hiragana and add kanji as they learn.

Kanji are used in reading and writing to make it clear what the word is referring to. For instance, hashi means both “chopsticks” and “bridge.” But when you’re writing, the kanji makes it obvious which you mean: if you write 箸, you mean “chopsticks.” And if you use 橋, you mean “bridge.”

Kanji characters can have many different readings though, unlike the standardized, single reading of kana characters.

Katakana commonly writes loanwords and many foreign names. It also appears in onomatopoeia, emphasis, some technical vocabulary, product names and other stylistic uses.

Writers can choose katakana for visual emphasis, much as a change of typeface can create emphasis in English. It is also common in Japanese onomatopoeia.

Hiragana and katakana have corresponding signs for the same basic morae. Hiragana き and katakana キ are both read ki, but they belong to different systems with different conventional uses rather than being print and cursive versions of one letter.

Japanese Kana and Kanji Charts

Okay! Now, let’s take a look at the characters for each of the Japanese alphabets.

Hiragana Chart

This grid is called the gojūon, or “fifty sounds”. The modern basic set has 46 kana because several historical positions in the grid are now empty.

The basic grid does not include sounds written with dakuten (ﾞ), handakuten (ﾟ), the small っ called sokuon, or contracted combinations called yōon that use small ゃ, ゅ or ょ.

For instance, adding the dakuten to き makes it ぎ (“gi”). Handakuten are only used with H-row characters, to change the sound from H to P. So, は (“ha”) becomes ぱ (“pa”).

The small っ is called sokuon. In a word such as かっこいい (kakkoii, “cool”), it marks the first mora of a doubled consonant. Hold the closure briefly before releasing the following K rather than adding stress.

Yōon combinations pair selected I-row kana with small ゃ, ゅ or ょ to write one contracted mora. For example, き plus small ゃ gives きゃ (kya), while ち plus small ょ gives ちょ (cho).

It’s a lot to take in at first, but I promise it makes sense quickly! The more you read the characters, the easier it is to understand and see the patterns.

Start with the 46 basic hiragana and become comfortable matching each sign to its sound. Then learn the additional marks, combinations and conventional stroke order.

Katakana Chart

The katakana chart follows the same basic order as the hiragana chart. New learners often find katakana harder to memorise because some signs look very similar, such as ツ (tsu) and シ (shi).

How to tell them apart is all about the direction of the strokes when writing it. Tsu is written left-to-right, while shi is written top-to-bottom.

The additional sound marks and combinations work in corresponding ways in katakana, although you will still need practice recognising the different shapes.

Kanji Starter Chart

Now let’s look at kanji.

Kanji differs from hiragana and katakana because it is logographic rather than a kana syllabary. A character generally represents a morpheme and can combine with other kanji or kana to form words.

There are thousands of kanji, and around 2,000 that are considered essential for everyday reading and writing. But these 100 are a great place to start and get a feel for kanji.

For the full JLPT N5 kanji list, with every character’s readings and example words, see our guide to the JLPT N5 kanji.

Many kanji have multiple readings, and the word or compound determines which reading applies. That is one reason it is more useful to learn kanji in vocabulary than as isolated symbols.

When you learn a kanji, study it in common words and sentences. This connects its form, reading and meaning without asking you to memorise every possible reading at once.

Do not try to master all kanji at once. Learn the two kana syllabaries first, then add useful kanji steadily through the vocabulary you meet.

Which Japanese Writing System Is Most Common?

All three writing systems are common, although they are not three alphabets. Learn both kana sets, then build your kanji knowledge through the words you use most.

You can write Japanese words in hiragana when you do not know the kanji, but normal adult text mixes scripts.

Hiragana is the first system Japanese children learn. Hiragana-only writing can be understood, but it is slower to read and looks learner-oriented outside contexts such as children’s materials.

My advice is to become comfortable with hiragana and katakana, then learn high-frequency kanji in useful words. This guide to 100 essential kanji gives you a practical starting set, not a fixed minimum.

Should You Read Japanese Right-to-Left or Left-to-Right?

So… how do you read Japanese?

The honest truth is… it’s both. Traditionally, and especially in literature, you’ll see Japanese written in vertical lines. These lines are read top to bottom, right to left. The characters are stacked single file in these vertical lines and there are no spaces.

It takes a bit of practice to get used to this style. However, I find this way of writing incredibly elegant. It’s worth the practice!

In modern situations, you’ll find Japanese written horizontally and read from left to right. Things like brand names on packages, signs, and more.

Where and when you see which way of writing varies greatly. You’ll see neon signs on buildings written vertically, while some ads may be horizontally written. The usual rule of thumb is if it’s vertically written, you read right to left. And if it’s horizontally written, you read left to right.

There are a few exceptions, but you’ll learn to spot them once you get used to reading Japanese and how it normally looks.

A Beginner Plan for Learning Japanese Writing

A simple plan keeps the three systems manageable. First, learn hiragana with its sounds and basic stroke order. Next, learn katakana and pay extra attention to similar-looking signs. Then add dakuten, handakuten, small っ, yōon combinations and long-vowel patterns. Finally, start learning kanji inside useful words and sentences, with regular reading and review.

Mnemonic devices can help you remember unfamiliar shapes, especially when you combine them with handwriting, audio and recall practice.

Here are some examples of ways I remember the hiragana:

• ぬ (nu) looks like chopsticks grabbing a ramen noodle
• む (mu) kind of looks like a cartoon cow face – moo
• し (shi) looks like a hook for catching fish in the sea/shi
• に (ni) looks like a knee!
• れ (re) looks like a person running. Think like Scooby Doo: “Ret’s get out of here!”
• み (mi) looks like a fancy script for “21.” So I remember the phrase, “As for me, I’m 21.” (Not really, but it still helps!)
• き (ki) looks like an old fashioned key
• め (me) looks like an Olympic gold medal
• つ (tsu) looks like a wave from a tsunami
• ひ (hi) looks like a smile, hee hee hee

Those are just some examples of my own mnemonics I’ve used to learn and remember the hiragana. You can do the same thing for katakana and kanji, too!

Another way to practise and memorise is to write out the gojūon chart and fill it in from memory. I used to do this for both hiragana and katakana.

I write the vertical row with the vowels, and the horizontal row with the first letter of the consonants. Then I work on filling in each row’s symbols.

Any I can’t remember, I leave blank. Then I look over the chart, check for mistakes, and write in any I forgot.

I repeated this until I could recall them all. It also gave me useful handwriting practice.

The gojūon order also helps when you begin learning Japanese verb conjugation, because several patterns move between rows of the chart.

For kanji, you can try Heisig’s method or a spaced-repetition tool such as Anki.

Heisig’s method begins with character forms and English keywords, then leaves Japanese readings for later study in vocabulary. That sequence suits some learners, while others prefer to learn the form, reading and word together.

Keep Building Your Japanese Reading Skills

The two kana sets are a realistic first milestone. You may recognise many signs after a few focused sessions, but comfortable reading comes from returning to them in real words.

Once kana feels familiar, keep adding kanji gradually. That steady progression will take you much further than trying to master the whole writing system in a day.

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