Hiragana ひらがな is one of three writing systems used in Japan, along with kanji (Chinese characters) and katakana. Hiragana are Japanese phonetic characters that represent syllables. They are often used to write native Japanese words, politeness suffixes, grammatical particles and phonetic expressions.
Contents
The origin of hiragana dates back to the Heian period in Japan (794-1185). At the time, the women of the imperial court used Chinese characters to write their vernacular, but these characters were difficult to read for people who were not fluent in the Chinese language. This is how hiragana was created to enable everyone to read and write in Japanese.
Hiragana consists of 46 characters, each representing a Japanese syllable. The characters are derived from simplified kanji, which have been reduced to their simplest form and transformed to represent sounds rather than ideas. Hiragana are usually written in small sizes and are often used in combination with kanji to write Japanese words.
Hiragana consists of 46 syllabic characters. Since Japanese words are written by combining kana, let's see how a word is formed.
Composition
(fish)
The word « fish » (sakana): each hiragana さ (sa), か (ka) and な (na) represents one syllable, combined to form さかな.
The gojūon (五十音, literally “fifty sounds”) form the foundation of the Japanese kana (hiragana and katakana) writing system. They make up a chart in which rows are arranged by vowels (a, i, u, e, o) and columns by consonants (k, s, t, n, h, etc.). Despite the name, there are not exactly fifty sounds due to the evolution of Japanese (as some older sounds have disappeared or become rare). The concept of the gojūon chart is essential for learning the language, because it presents the syllabic alphabet in a logical and easy-to-remember format.
Dakuon (だくおん, “voiced sounds”) are kana to which two small marks (dakuten) are added, indicating that the consonant is pronounced more sonorously (for example か → が, さ → ざ, た → だ, etc.). Handakuon (はんだくおん, “half-voiced sounds”) apply only to the h series, which become p with a small circle (handakuten) instead of two strokes (は → ぱ, ひ → ぴ, ふ → ぷ, へ → ぺ, ほ → ぽ). Adding these markings changes how the consonant is pronounced, and these transformations are essential for correct reading and writing in Japanese.
The 拗音 (yōon, -contracted sounds-) are combinations of hiragana (or katakana) ending in -i (for example き, し, ち…) with a small ゃ, ゅ, or ょ, merging into a single sound such as きゃ (kya), しゃ (sha), ちゃ (cha), etc. This contraction enriches the Japanese phonetic system, allowing for more varied sounds. Visually, the small ゃ, ゅ, or ょ character is written in a smaller size, and in speech, these characters are pronounced as one syllable rather than two separate sounds.
Beyond the gojūon chart, hiragana has special forms and roles when combined with kanji — especially okurigana and furigana.
The small tsu っ doubles the following consonant, creating a brief pause (sokuon). Unlike katakana ッ, it is used in native Japanese words.
In hiragana, long vowels are written by adding an extra vowel kana — not with ー (which is mainly katakana). The same vowel or う/お after o-sounds extends the sound.
Some hiragana are grammatical particles and are read differently from their standard gojūon value when used as such.
Read wa as the topic marker (not ha)
わたしはがくせいです
Read o as the object marker (not wo)
みずをのむ
Read e as the direction marker (not he)
にほんへいく
Once you know hiragana, you will constantly see them alongside kanji. Okurigana and furigana are the two main ways hiragana helps you read Japanese.
Okurigana are hiragana written after a kanji to complete the reading of a word — especially verb, adjective and noun endings. They are part of the standard spelling and help distinguish words that share the same kanji.
Composition
taberu · to eat
Furigana are small hiragana placed above (or beside, in vertical writing) kanji to show how to read them. They do not replace the kanji — they guide pronunciation, especially for rare or difficult characters.
Reading guide
漢字
kanji · Chinese characters
日本語
nihongo · Japanese language
Okurigana vs furigana — what is the difference?
Okurigana
Written after kanji · part of official spelling · shows inflection and word boundaries.
Furigana
Written above kanji · reading aid only · often smaller · can be hidden in advanced texts.
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