Japanese Hiragana Alphabet | ひらがな

Hiragana is one of three Japanese writing systems, consisting of 46 basic characters. It is used for native Japanese words and grammatical elements.

あ
A
a
い
I
i
う
U
u
え
E
e
お
O
o
か
Ka
ka
き
Ki
ki
く
Ku
ku
け
Ke
ke
こ
Ko
ko
さ
Sa
sa
し
Shi
shi
す
Su
su
せ
Se
se
そ
So
so
た
Ta
ta
ち
Chi
chi
つ
Tsu
tsu
て
Te
te
と
To
to
な
Na
na
に
Ni
ni
ぬ
Nu
nu
ね
Ne
ne
の
No
no
は
Ha
ha
ひ
Hi
hi
ふ
Fu
fu
へ
He
he
ほ
Ho
ho
ま
Ma
ma
み
Mi
mi
む
Mu
mu
め
Me
me
も
Mo
mo
や
Ya
ya
ゆ
Yu
yu
よ
Yo
yo
ら
Ra
ra
り
Ri
ri
る
Ru
ru
れ
Re
re
ろ
Ro
ro
わ
Wa
wa
を
Wo
wo
ん
N
n

Download Alphabet Chart

Online Japanese Hiragana Keyboard - Type Japanese Hiragana Online

Use our free virtual Japanese Hiragana keyboard to type online. On-screen keyboard for easy typing

About the Japanese Hiragana Alphabet

Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, one of three writing systems used in Japanese along with Katakana and Kanji. It is used for native Japanese words, grammatical particles, and verb endings. Each character represents a syllable rather than a single sound.

History

Hiragana evolved from cursive forms of Chinese characters (man'yōgana) during the Heian period (794-1185 CE). It was originally called "onnade" (women's writing) because it was primarily used by women, while men used Chinese characters. Over time, it became the standard phonetic script for Japanese.

Key Features

  • Syllabary with 46 basic characters
  • Each character represents a syllable
  • Used for native Japanese words
  • Cursive, flowing character forms
  • Combined with Kanji in standard writing
  • Essential for learning Japanese

Related Japanese Scripts

Explore other Japanese writing systems: