The Japanese Alphabet

This page contains a table including the following: Japanese alphabet, including Kana, Hiragana, and Katakana, letters which help you pronounce the words in a given language, you will also learn about the different consonants and vowels. Make sure to check our Learn Japanese page, which contains several lessons that might help you in your learning process.

Japanese Alphabet

The Japanese alphabet is usually referred to as kana, specifically hiragana and katakana. While the Hiragana consists of 48 syllables, it is a phonetic alphabet where each alphabetic combination represents just a single sound. Thus any Japanese word can be written in a way that can be read without having to remember how the word is pronounced. So the Japanese kana are much simpler, the way something is written is the way it sounds. There is also Kanji, a Japanese system of writing based on borrowed or slightly modified Chinese characters.

Hiragana Syllables (Alphabet)

The table below shows the 48 Hiragana syllables:

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EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP
a	あ	ka	か	sa	さ	ta	た	na	な
i	い	ki	き	shi	し	chi	ち	ni	に
u	う	ku	く	su	す	tsu	つ	nu	ぬ
e	え	ke	け	se	せ	te	て	ne	ね
o	お	ko	こ	so	そ	to	と	no	の
ha	は	ma	ま	ya	や	ra	ら	wa	わ
hi	ひ	mi	み			ri	り	wi	ゐ
fu	ふ	mu	む	yu	ゆ	ru	る	n	ん
he	へ	me	め			re	れ	we	ゑ
ho	ほ	mo	も	yo	よ	ro	ろ	wo	を

Maybe you have noticed that many sounds are missing, that’s why Japanese added some additional sounds using diacritics or combinations of syllables, the table below shows the additional sounds in Hiragana:

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EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP
ga	が	za	ざ	da	だ	ba	ば	pa	ぱ
gi	ぎ	ji	じ	ji	ぢ	bi	び	pi	ぴ
gu	ぐ	zu	ず	zu	づ	bu	ぶ	pu	ぷ
ge	げ	ze	ぜ	de	で	be	べ	pe	ぺ
go	ご	zo	ぞ	do	ど	bo	ぼ	po	ぽ
kya	きゃ	sha	しゃ	cha	ちゃ	hya	ひゃ	pya	ぴゃ
kyu	きゅ	shu	しゅ	chu	ちゅ	hyu	ひゅ	pyu	ぴゅ
kyo	きょ	sho	しょ	cho	ちょ	hyo	ひょ	pyo	ぴょ
gya	ぎゃ	ja	じゃ	nya	にゃ	bya	びゃ	mya	みゃ
gya	ぎゅ	ju	じゅ	nyu	にゅ	byu	びゅ	my	みゅ
gyo	ぎょ	jo	じょ	nyo	にょ	byo	びょ	myo	みょ
rya	りゃ	ryu	りゅ	ryu	りょ	(ja)	ぢゃ	(ju)	ぢゅ

Katakana Syllables (Alphabet)

Katakana are most often used for transcription of words in foreign languages. used to represent sounds, technical and scientific terms.

Katakana's main feature is short straight strokes and angular corners, that’s why Katakana is considered the simplest of the Japanese scripts.

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EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP
a	ア	ka	カ	sa	サ	ta	タ	na	ナ
i	イ	ki	キ	shi	シ	chi	チ	ni	ニ
u	ウ	ku	ク	su	ス	tsu	ツ	nu	ヌ
e	エ	ke	ケ	se	セ	te	テ	ne	ネ
o	オ	ko	コ	so	ソ	to	ト	no	ノ
ha	ハ	ma	マ	ya	ヤ	ra	ラ	wa	ワ
hi	ヒ	mi	ミ			ri	リ	(wi)	ヰ
fu	フ	mu	ム	yu	ユ	ru	ル	n	ン
he	ヘ	me	メ			re	レ	(we)	ヱ
ho	ホ	mo	モ	yo	ヨ	ro	ロ	(w)o	ヲ

For a modern Katakana there was a necessity to add some sounds, below is a list of additions to the katakana, used mainly to represent sounds from other languages:

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EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP
ga	ガ	za	ザ	da	ダ	ba	バ	pa	パ
gi	ギ	ji	ジ	ji	ヂ	bi	ビ	pi	ピ
gu	グ	zu	ズ	zu	ヅ	bu	ブ	pu	プ
ge	ゲ	ze	ゼ	de	デ	be	ベ	pe	ペ
go	ゴ	zo	ゾ	do	ド	bo	ボ	po	ポ
kya	キャ	sha	シャ	cha	チャ	hya	ヒャ	pya	ピャ
kyu	キュ	shu	シュ	chu	チュ	hyu	ヒュ	pyu	ピュ
kyo	キョ	sho	ショ	cho	チョ	hyo	ヒョ	pyo	ピョ
gya	ギャ	ja	ジャ	nya	ニャ	bya	ビャ	mya	ミャ
gya	ギュ	ju	ジュ	nyu	ニュ	byu	ビュ	my	ミュ
gyo	ギョ	jo	ジョ	nyo	ニョ	byo	ビョ	myo	ミョ
rya	リャ	ryu	リュ	ryu	リョ	(ja)	ヂャ	(ju)	ヂュ

Kanji Characters (Alphabet)

Kanji are used together with three other systems to write modern Japanese, Kanji which is a Japanese system of writing based on borrowed or slightly modified Chinese characters is used to write parts of the language such as nouns, adjective stems and verb stems. For Kanji characters refers to the Chinese characters.

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EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP	EN	JP
ye	イェ	va	(ヷ)	va	ヴァ	she	シェ
wi	ウィ	vi	(ヸ)	vi	ヴィ	je	ジェ
we	ウェ	vu	ヴ	ve	ヴェ	che	チェ
wo	ウォ	ve	(ヹ)	vo	ヴォ
		vo	(ヺ)	vya	ヴャ
ti	ティ	tsa	ツァ	fa	ファ
tu	トゥ	tsi	ツィ	fi	フィ
tyu	テュ	tse	ツェ	fe	フェ
di	ディ	tso	ツォ	fo	フォ
du	ドゥ			fyu	フュ
dyu	デュ

I hope the content of this page was useful to you, and that you learned some Japanese alphabet, including the Kana, Hiragana, and Katakana, consonants and vowels. Try to memorize them to be able to use them in your daily conversation. If you feel comfortable with the Japanese characters then you might want to check our Japanese Keyboard page, which contains the characters you saw in the tables above and might help you in your learning process. Also visit Learn Japanese to learn more.
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