Japanese Kana Chart: Hiragana, Katakana and Romaji

Use this kana chart to match hiragana and katakana with their sounds: each cell shows hiragana, katakana and romaji. The modern basic sets contain forty-six characters each; voiced sounds and contracted combinations appear in separate tables below.

Basic characters

Row	a	i	u	e	o
Vowels	あ / ア a	い / イ i	う / ウ u	え / エ e	お / オ o
k	か / カ ka	き / キ ki	く / ク ku	け / ケ ke	こ / コ ko
s	さ / サ sa	し / シ shi	す / ス su	せ / セ se	そ / ソ so
t	た / タ ta	ち / チ chi	つ / ツ tsu	て / テ te	と / ト to
n	な / ナ na	に / ニ ni	ぬ / ヌ nu	ね / ネ ne	の / ノ no
h	は / ハ ha	ひ / ヒ hi	ふ / フ fu	へ / ヘ he	ほ / ホ ho
m	ま / マ ma	み / ミ mi	む / ム mu	め / メ me	も / モ mo
y	や / ヤ ya	—	ゆ / ユ yu	—	よ / ヨ yo
r	ら / ラ ra	り / リ ri	る / ル ru	れ / レ re	ろ / ロ ro
w	わ / ワ wa	—	—	—	を / ヲ o (wo)
Nasal	ん / ン n	—	—	—	—

The empty positions are intentional. This is a modern beginner chart, so historical ゐ and ゑ are not part of the core set shown here. The label “fifty sounds” describes the traditional arrangement, not the number of occupied positions you must fill.

Romaji is a reading aid. The spellings shi, chi, tsu and fu remind you that those entries do not follow a mechanically regular English letter pattern. Listen to Japanese examples rather than applying English vowel names. For を, o reflects its usual particle pronunciation; wo helps identify its traditional chart position.

Voiced and semi-voiced sounds

The two short marks ゛ are called dakuten. The small circle ゜ is handakuten and creates the p row. Read the base shape and its mark together rather than treating the mark as an optional accent.

Row	a	i	u	e	o
g	が / ガ ga	ぎ / ギ gi	ぐ / グ gu	げ / ゲ ge	ご / ゴ go
z	ざ / ザ za	じ / ジ ji	ず / ズ zu	ぜ / ゼ ze	ぞ / ゾ zo
d	だ / ダ da	ぢ / ヂ ji	づ / ヅ zu	で / デ de	ど / ド do
b	ば / バ ba	び / ビ bi	ぶ / ブ bu	べ / ベ be	ぼ / ボ bo
p	ぱ / パ pa	ぴ / ピ pi	ぷ / プ pu	ぺ / ペ pe	ぽ / ポ po

In standard modern pronunciation, じ and ぢ usually sound alike, as do ず and づ. Their spellings still belong to particular words and cannot be exchanged freely. Learn a word’s written form alongside its sound rather than inventing di or du pronunciations to make the table look regular.

Contracted combinations

A small ゃ, ゅ or ょ joins an i-row character into one mora. Compare きや, ki-ya, with きゃ, kya. The size difference is meaningful, and the same principle applies to katakana.

Base	ya	yu	yo
ki	きゃ / キャ kya	きゅ / キュ kyu	きょ / キョ kyo
shi	しゃ / シャ sha	しゅ / シュ shu	しょ / ショ sho
chi	ちゃ / チャ cha	ちゅ / チュ chu	ちょ / チョ cho
ni	にゃ / ニャ nya	にゅ / ニュ nyu	にょ / ニョ nyo
hi	ひゃ / ヒャ hya	ひゅ / ヒュ hyu	ひょ / ヒョ hyo
mi	みゃ / ミャ mya	みゅ / ミュ myu	みょ / ミョ myo
ri	りゃ / リャ rya	りゅ / リュ ryu	りょ / リョ ryo
gi	ぎゃ / ギャ gya	ぎゅ / ギュ gyu	ぎょ / ギョ gyo
ji	じゃ / ジャ ja	じゅ / ジュ ju	じょ / ジョ jo
bi	びゃ / ビャ bya	びゅ / ビュ byu	びょ / ビョ byo
pi	ぴゃ / ピャ pya	ぴゅ / ピュ pyu	ぴょ / ピョ pyo

The spellings ぢゃ, ぢゅ and ぢょ, with corresponding katakana forms, also occur in particular word forms. They usually share the sounds of じゃ, じゅ and じょ. The common combinations above are the useful starting set, but spelling remains word-specific.

Features that need more than a chart cell

Small っ and ッ mark consonant timing; they do not mean a quietly spoken tsu. In きって, hold the closure before te for a beat. The katakana mark ー extends the preceding vowel, as in コーヒー. Hiragana normally uses vowel spelling for length, so learn complete words with audio.

Katakana also combines small vowels with other characters to represent borrowed sounds. Examples include ファ, フィ, フェ, フォ, ティ, ディ, チェ and シェ. These extend the basic system rather than occupying the blank spaces in the traditional chart.

The particles は, へ and を commonly read wa, e and o. A chart gives the character’s usual sound, while the sentence tells you whether a special grammatical reading applies. Do not change every は to wa after meeting the topic particle: はな still begins with ha.

Work through a decoding example

Word	Split	Romaji	Focus
さくら	さ・く・ら	sakura	Keep the vowels clear
ねこ	ね・こ	neko	Recognise ね independently
しゃしん	しゃ・し・ん	shashin	Small ゃ and final ん
カメラ	カ・メ・ラ	kamera	Read katakana directly
きって	き・っ・て	kitte	Preserve the closure beat

First find each unfamiliar shape in the chart. Next cover the romaji and read the word again. Finally return later and read the words in a new order. This last step checks whether you remember the characters rather than their position in the exercise.

If a word is slow, mark the specific character that caused the delay. Compare it with a similar shape and retry the whole word. Chart recitation can help organise memory, but random recognition and short connected reading prepare you for real text.

You do not need flawless handwriting before beginning words. Aim for legible distinctions, sensible stroke order and accurate sound recall. Add vocabulary and simple sentences while continuing to review the script, so that the chart becomes a reference you use less often.

Where to learn

Jigu Japanese provides 62 free kana lessons on iOS and HarmonyOS, with pronunciation, tracing and listening contrasts. English explanations are available on iOS; HarmonyOS explanations are in Simplified Chinese.