Japanese Hiragana & Katakana for Beginners. Timothy G. Stout
and by using some kanji as phonetic characters to be able to express native Japanese words and grammatical elements in writing.
Kanji used as phonetic characters were called kana or “borrowed names,” implying that using kanji to express only sounds was not the regular practice. The first set of kana, called man’yōgana (the line above the “o” indicates it is two syllables in length), was difficult to read because there were no one-to-one relationships between the characters and sounds, plus there were hundreds of them. Man’yōgana was also difficult to write because each phonetic syllable had to be written in kanji. To simplify things, two sets of kana called katakana and hiragana were developed over time. Katakana or “partial kana” as the name suggests was developed from parts of kanji (see the following example).
Writing with katakana was originally limited to men, and used in official documents. Hiragana or “common kana” was developed based on simplified versions of entire kanji characters (see example above). It was used in informal writing, such as letters and diaries, and it was referred to as onna-de or “woman’s hand.”
Ironically, during the Heian period while the men were attempting to write in “superior” Chinese, some women who learned to write in hiragana produced the finest literature of the period. The Tale of Genji written 1,000 years ago by a court lady named Murasaki Shikibu is generally regarded as the world’s first novel, and a classic. In time, men began using hiragana as well. Today Japanese is written with a mix of hiragana, katakana, kanji and romaji.
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu is over 1,000 pages in English translation.
History aside, you may be wondering why Japanese still has two sets of phonetic characters. The main reason is that it makes reading easier—katakana words stand out in a text, like a highlighter. When you see a katakana word, you immediately know it falls into one of six categories:
1. Gairaigo or “loan words”
2. Foreign place names and personal names
3. Onomatopoeia (sound symbolic words), like “buzz,” “flip” and “bow wow,” which are much more numerous in Japanese than in English
4. Emphasis words—normally written in hiragana or kanji, but that the writer wants to draw attention to
5. Dictionaries entries of on-yomi or the “Chinese readings” of kanji
6. Others, such as transcriptions of the Ainu language (indigenous to northern Japan), and some official documents of pre-modern Japan
Gairaigo or “loan words,” such as konpyūtā (computer), nyūsu (news), and resutoran (restaurant), comprise the biggest category of katakana words, with tens of thousands in common use. Most gairaigo come from English, so even beginning learners can often correctly guess what a Japanese article is about just from scanning the text for gairaigo. Topics like sports, medicine, business, economy, technology, and science have numerous gairaigo.
Japanese Hiragana and Katakana for Beginners is the right place to begin your Japanese studies. As you learn kana you will be taking the first steps to mastering the Japanese writing system and its pronunciation. Taking Japanese in small steps will make it more manageable. As the Japanese proverb states, “Even dust piled up becomes a mountain.” or in other words, little things add up!
chiri mo tsumoreba yama to naru
(Even dust piled up becomes a mountain.)
Good luck as you embark on this new journey. As you increase your understanding of the Japanese people and their wonderful culture and language you will find fresh encouragement to carry on. One step at a time you can do anything. So, let’s get started. Turn the page and begin your journey.
SECTION ONE
The Basic 46 Hiragana Characters
* These characters are pronounced differently when they are used as grammatical particles.
** This character is only used as a grammatical particle. It is not used to write words.
Writing Tip “a” has three strokes: 1) a stop, 2) stop and 3) brush.
Trace these characters.
Write the character in the boxes below, and then circle the one you think is best.
1. a ka (red)
2. a ri (ant)
3. a sa (morning)
4. a ki (autumn)
5. a me (rain; hard candy)
6. a o (blue)
Writing Tip “i” has two strokes: 1) a jump and 2) stop.
Trace these characters.
Write the character in the boxes below, and then circle the one you think is best.
1. i i (good)
2. i su (chair)
3. ha i (Yes!)
4. o i shi i (delicious)
5. i ka (squid)
Writing Tip “u” has two strokes: 1) a stop and 2) brush.
Trace these characters.
Write the character in the boxes below, and then circle the one you think is best.