Japanese Character Reference

Basic kana show the accepted character-practice answers in romaji. The combinations below are additional reading examples. A slash separates alternative answers.

Follow each vowel column from top to bottom: a, i, u, e, o. The second table contains kana with dakuten (゛) or handakuten (゜) marks.

Hiragana — Basic kana

Row	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 wo

ん: n

Hiragana — Dakuten and handakuten

Row	a	i	u	e	o
g	が ga	ぎ gi	ぐ gu	げ ge	ご go
z	ざ za	じ zi	ず zu	ぜ ze	ぞ zo
d	だ da	ぢ di	づ du	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

Hiragana — Small-kana combinations (yōon)

Row	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
b	びゃ bya	びゅ byu	びょ byo
p	ぴゃ pya	ぴゅ pyu	ぴょ pyo

How small kana work

きゃ is kya, one combined sound. Compare it with full-size きや, kiya, two sounds.

Small っ marks a brief pause and doubles the following consonant in romaji: きって → kitte. It is not read as a separate “tsu”.

Small vowels ぁ・ぃ・ぅ・ぇ・ぉ also exist, but appear more often in katakana loanwords. Switch to Katakana for examples.

Japanese character reference

Hiragana — Basic kana

Hiragana — Dakuten and handakuten

Hiragana — Small-kana combinations (yōon)

How small kana work