The Japanese Alphabet.

The Japanese alphabet is usually referred to as kana, specifically hiragana and katakana. While the Hiragana consists of 48 syllables, it is a phonetic alphabet where each alphabetic combination represents just a single sound. Thus any Japanese word can be written in a way that can be read without having to remember how the word is pronounced. So the Japanese kana are much simpler, the way something is written is the way it sounds. There is also Kanji, a Japanese system of writing based on borrowed or slightly modified Chinese characters.

Hiragana Syllables

The table below shows the 48 Hiragana syllables:

a あ ka か sa さ ta た na な ha は ma ま ya や ra ら wa わ n ん i い ki き shi し chi ち ni に hi ひ mi み ri り wi ゐ u う ku く su す tsu つ nu ぬ fu ふ mu む yu ゆ ru る e え ke け se せ te て ne ね he へ me め re れ we ゑ o お ko こ so そ to と no の ho ほ mo も yo よ ro ろ wo を

Maybe you have noticed that many sounds are missing, that’s why Japanese added some additional sounds using diacritics or combinations of syllables, the table below shows the additional sounds in

Hiragana:

ga が za ざ da だ ba ば pa ぱ gi ぎ ji じ ji ぢ bi び pi ぴ gu ぐ zu ず zu づ bu ぶ pu ぷ ge げ ze ぜ de で be べ pe ぺ go ご zo ぞ do ど bo ぼ po ぽ kya きゃ sha しゃ cha ちゃ hya ひゃ pya ぴゃ rya りゃ kyu きゅ shu しゅ chu ちゅ hyu ひゅ pyu ぴゅ ryu りゅ kyo きょ sho しょ cho ちょ hyo ひょ pyo ぴょ ryo りょ gya ぎゃ ja じゃ nya にゃ bya びゃ mya みゃ (ja) ぢゃ gya ぎゅ ju じゅ nyu にゅ byu びゅ my みゅ (ju) ぢゅ gyo ぎょ jo じょ nyo にょ byo びょ myo みょ (jo) ぢょ

Katakana Syllables

Katakana are most often used for transcription of words in foreign languages, used to represent sounds, technical and scientific terms. Katakana’s main feature is short straight strokes and angular corners, that’s why Katakana is considered the simplest of the Japanese

scripts.

a ア ka カ sa サ ta タ na ナ ha ハ ma マ ya ヤ ra ラ wa ワ n ン i イ ki キ shi シ chi チ ni ニ hi ヒ mi ミ ri リ (wi) ヰ u ウ ku ク su ス tsu ツ nu ヌ fu フ mu ム yu ユ ru ル e エ ke ケ se セ te テ ne ネ he ヘ me メ re レ (we) ヱ o オ ko コ so ソ to ト no ノ ho ホ mo モ yo ヨ ro ロ (w)o ヲ

ga ガ za ザ da ダ ba バ pa パ gi ギ ji ジ ji ヂ bi ビ pi ピ gu グ zu ズ zu ヅ bu ブ pu プ ge ゲ ze ゼ de デ be ベ pe ペ go ゴ zo ゾ do ド bo ボ po ポ kya キャ sha シャ cha チャ hya ヒャ pya ピャ rya リャ kyu キュ shu シュ chu チュ hyu ヒュ pyu ピュ ryu リュ kyo キョ sho ショ cho チョ hyo ヒョ pyo ピョ ryo リョ

gya ギャ ja ジャ nya ニャ bya ビャ mya ミャ (ja) ヂャ gya ギュ ju ジュ nyu ニュ byu ビュ my ミュ (ju) ヂュ gyo ギョ jo ジョ nyo ニョ byo ビョ myo ミョ (jo) ヂョ

For a modern Katakana there was a necessity to add some sounds, below is a list of additions to the katakana, used mainly to

represent sounds from other languages:

ye イェ va (ヷ) va ヴァ she シェ ti ティ tsa ツァ fa ファ wi ウィ vi (ヸ) vi ヴィ je ジェ tu トゥ tsi ツィ fi フィ we ウェ vu ヴ ve ヴェ che チェ tyu テュ tse ツェ fe フェ wo ウォ ve (ヹ) vo ヴォ di ディ tso ツォ fo フォ vo (ヺ) vya ヴャ du ドゥ fyu フュ vyu ヴュ dyu デュ vyo ヴョ

Kanji Characters

Kanji are used together with three other systems to write modern Japanese, Kanji which is a Japanese system of writing based on borrowed or slightly modified Chinese characters is used to write parts of the language such as nouns, adjective stems and verb stems.

For Kanji characters refers to the Chinese characters.