Hiragana and Katakana Japanese Syllabaries

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the basic characters, phonetic rows, voiced sounds, and romanization conventions of the Hiragana and Katakana Japanese syllabaries.

Hiragana and Katakana Syllabary Chart

A comparative side-by-side reference chart showing the parallel character sets of Hiragana (cursive script, left) and Katakana (angular script, right) alongside their romaji phonetic transliterations.

Hiragana

The Japanese phonetic script presented on the left side of the chart, featuring curvilinear characters that represent basic vowel sounds, consonant-vowel combinations, voiced variants, and the nasal consonant 'n' (ん).

Katakana

The Japanese phonetic script presented on the right side of the chart, characterized by straight strokes and angular shapes that correspond to the identical phonetic syllables as Hiragana.

Vowel Row (a, i, u, e, o)

The foundational five-vowel row at the top of the chart: written in Hiragana as あ, い, う, え, お and in Katakana as ア, イ, ウ, エ, オ.

K-row (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko)

The unvoiced velar consonant row: written in Hiragana as か, き, く, け, こ and in Katakana as カ, キ, ク, ケ, コ.

G-row (ga, gi, gu, ge, go)

The voiced counterpart to the k-row modified with dakuten (voicing marks): written in Hiragana as が, ぎ, ぐ, げ, ご and in Katakana as ガ, ギ, グ, ゲ, ゴ.

S-row (sa, shi, su, se, so)

The voiceless sibilant row: written in Hiragana as さ, し, す, せ, そ and in Katakana as サ, シ, ス, セ, ソ, where the 'i' column sound is romanized as 'shi'.

Z-row (za, ji, zu, ze, zo)

The voiced counterpart to the s-row marked with dakuten: written in Hiragana as ざ, じ, ず, ぜ, ぞ and in Katakana as ザ, ジ, ズ, ゼ, ゾ, where the 'i' column sound is romanized as 'ji'.

T-row (ta, chi, tsu, te, to)

The alveolar stop row: written in Hiragana as た, ち, つ, て, と and in Katakana as タ, チ, ツ, テ, ト, containing the phonetically altered syllables 'chi' and 'tsu'.

D-row (da, ji, dzu, de, do)

The voiced counterpart to the t-row marked with dakuten: written in Hiragana as だ, ぢ, づ, で, ど and in Katakana as ダ, ヂ, ヅ, デ, ド, where ぢ/ヂ is transliterated as 'ji' and づ/ヅ is transliterated as 'dzu'.

N-row (na, ni, nu, ne, no)

The nasal consonant row: written in Hiragana as な, に, ぬ, ね, の and in Katakana as ナ, ニ, ヌ, ネ, ノ.

H-row (ha, hi, fu, he, ho)

The voiceless glottal/fricative row: written in Hiragana as は, ひ, ふ, へ, ほ and in Katakana as ハ, ヒ, フ, ヘ, ホ, where the 'u' column syllable is romanized as 'fu'.

B-row (ba, bi, bu, be, bo)

The voiced bilabial stop row formed by adding dakuten to the h-row: written in Hiragana as ば, び, ぶ, べ, ぼ and in Katakana as バ, ビ, ブ, ベ, ボ.

P-row (pa, pi, pu, pe, po)

The semi-voiced row formed by adding handakuten (maru) marks to the h-row: written in Hiragana as ぱ, ぴ, ぷ, ぺ, ぽ and in Katakana as パ, ピ, プ, ペ, ポ.

M-row (ma, mi, mu, me, mo)

The bilabial nasal row: written in Hiragana as ま, み, む, め, も and in Katakana as マ, ミ, ム, メ, モ.

Y-row (ya, yu, yo)

The palatal semivowel row consisting of three syllables: written in Hiragana as や, ゆ, よ and in Katakana as ヤ, ユ, ヨ.

R-row (ra, ri, ru, re, ro)

The alveolar liquid consonant row: written in Hiragana as ら, り, る, れ, ろ and in Katakana as ラ, リ, ル, レ, ロ.

W-row (wa, wo)

The semivowel row occupying the 'a' and 'o' positions: written in Hiragana as わ (wa) and を (wo), and in Katakana as ワ (wa) and ヲ (wo).

N (ん / ン)

The singular independent nasal coda consonant placed at the end of the syllabary chart: written as ん in Hiragana and ン in Katakana.

Dzu (づ / ヅ)

The voiced counterpart of 'tsu' in the d-row, specifically transliterated in the chart as 'dzu' to distinguish it from the z-row 'zu' (ず / ズ).

Ji (じ / ぢ and ジ / ヂ)

The shared romaji representation used for two distinct characters in the chart: じ / ジ (voiced 'shi' in the z-row) and ぢ / ヂ (voiced 'chi' in the d-row).