Kana 仮名

Kana is the common name for the dynamic duo of Japanese phonetic writing: ひらがな hiragana and カタカナ katakana.

Hiragana

Hiragana is the cursive sweetheart of Japanese writing. These 46 basic characters form the ABCs of Japanese. Hiragana was created by court ladies who thought “these Chinese characters are way too much work.”

Used for:

• Grammar particles (は wa、を o、の no)
• Verb endings (食べます tabe-masu)
• Native Japanese words
• When you’re too lazy for 漢字 kanji → かんじ

	a	i	u	e	o
	あ	い	う	え	お
k	か	き	く	け	こ
s	さ	し	す	せ	そ
t	た	ち	つ	て	と
n	な	に	ぬ	ね	の
h	は	ひ	ふ	へ	ほ
m	ま	み	む	め	も
y	や		ゆ		よ
r	ら	り	る	れ	ろ
w	わ				を
					n = ん

Katakana

Katakana is the angular rebel of the writing system that mirrors the hiragana characters. Katakana was created by Buddhist monks who liked straight lines but later came to be associated with all things foreign. Think of it as Japanese writing’s way of saying “this isn’t from around here.”

Used for:

• Foreign words (コーヒー kōhyī, coffee)
• Scientific terms (ウラン uran, uranium)
• Emphasis in advertising (looking extra cool)
• Sound effects (ウヘヘuhehe, perverted giggle)

	a	i	u	e	o
	ア	イ	ウ	エ	オ
k	カ	キ	ク	ケ	コ
s	サ	シ	ス	セ	ソ
t	タ	チ	ツ	テ	ト
n	ナ	ニ	ヌ	ネ	ノ
h	ハ	ヒ	フ	ヘ	ホ
m	マ	ミ	ム	メ	モ
y	ヤ		ユ		ヨ
r	ラ	リ	ル	レ	ロ
w	ワ				ヲ
					n = ン