English Reference

Hiragana writing practice

Learn to write hiragana one row of the chart at a time. Each level has three steps. First, trace each kana stroke by stroke and hear its sound. Next, see each kana in random order and pick its sound. Last, see each sound and draw its kana from memory. Get the whole row right with no mistakes and the level is done.

Basic sounds

The 46 kana of the basic chart, one column at a time.

  1. Vowel sounds あ、い、う、え、お a · i · u · e · o
  2. K sounds か、き、く、け、こ ka · ki · ku · ke · ko
  3. S sounds さ、し、す、せ、そ sa · shi · su · se · so
  4. T sounds た、ち、つ、て、と ta · chi · tsu · te · to
  5. N sounds な、に、ぬ、ね、の na · ni · nu · ne · no
  6. H sounds は、ひ、ふ、へ、ほ ha · hi · fu · he · ho
  7. M sounds ま、み、む、め、も ma · mi · mu · me · mo
  8. R sounds ら、り、る、れ、ろ ra · ri · ru · re · ro
  9. Y sounds や、ゆ、よ ya · yu · yo
  10. W sounds and n わ、を、ん wa · wo · n

Voiced sounds

Two strokes (゛) or a small circle (゜) added to a kana you already know.

  1. G sounds が、ぎ、ぐ、げ、ご ga · gi · gu · ge · go
  2. Z sounds ざ、じ、ず、ぜ、ぞ za · ji · zu · ze · zo
  3. D sounds だ、ぢ、づ、で、ど da · ji · zu · de · do
  4. B sounds ば、び、ぶ、べ、ぼ ba · bi · bu · be · bo
  5. P sounds ぱ、ぴ、ぷ、ぺ、ぽ pa · pi · pu · pe · po

Notes

Stroke order matters in Japanese. It makes your writing look right and helps you read handwriting. The practice checks the order, the direction, and the shape of every stroke.

Your progress is saved in this browser only. You can go back to any level, done or not, at any time. The full chart is on the hiragana page.

Stroke data: KanjiVG by Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0.