Hiragana Chart
The Japanese syllabary hiragana is one of three language sets that make up the Japanese writing system. Hiragana symbols are the cursive versions of katakana, so they are more flow-y looking than the others. It is a common phonetic system consisting of 46 monograph characters, with five vowel sounds and ten base consonants. This base monograph system is known as gojūon (五十音), meaning “fifty sounds” to represent the 5 x 10 grid, however yi, ye, and wu are unused and on the w row, ゐ (i) and ゑ (e) are rarely used and not counted, and ん (n) is a unique, independent sound.
Hiragana
Base Monographs (gojūon)
| vowels only | 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) | ゐ (i – rare) | ゑ (e – rare) | を (wo) | |
| n (indep.) | ん (n) |
Adding diacritics, small markings called dakuten (゛)and handakuten (゜), changes the consonant sounds of the hiragana characters.
Monographs (gojūon) with Diacritics (dakuten and handakuten)
| a | i | u | e | o | |
| g (like mono k) | が (ga) | ぎ (gi) | ぐ (gu) | げ (ge) | ご (go) |
| z (like mono s) | ざ (za) | じ (ji) | ず (zu) | ぜ (ze) | ぞ (zo) |
| d (like mono t) | だ (da) | ぢ (ji) | づ (zu) | で (de) | ど (do) |
| b (like mono h) | ば (ba) | び (bi) | ぶ (bu) | べ (be) | ぼ (bo) |
| p (like mono h) | ぱ (pa) | ぴ (pi) | ぷ (pu) | ぺ (pe) | ぽ (po) |
Adding a “y” sound between the consonants and vowels is common, and when this is done in writing, the second “y” character is a bit smaller than the first character, and this small “y” is called yōon. As shown below, it is like combining the corresponding monograph ending in “i” with the ゃ (ya), ゅ (yu), orょ (yo) monograph.
Digraphs (yōon)
| a | u | o | |
| 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 |
| z | じゃ ja | じゅ ju | じょ jo |
| b | びゃ bya | びゅ byu | びょ byo |
| p | ぴゃ pya | ぴゅ pyu | ぴょ pyo |
The other syllabaries in the Japanese writing system are katakana, which is more boxy in shape, and kanji, which are characters adapted from Chinese. Hiragana is often used for particles and native words.
