Hiragana Essentials: Quick Learning Guide with Memory Tricks

Learning hiragana is essential for mastering Japanese. It forms the foundation of Japanese pronunciation and is crucial for accessing Japanese resources, as most quality textbooks and learning materials, just like our Migaku Japanese Course, require knowledge of hiragana. Essentially, it's the first step in learning Japanese.

Many people spend too much time learning hiragana, even though this can be achieved in a week or less. Obviously, your pace will vary, but if you follow our guide below, you will be able to read hiragana in no time.

To achieve this, you should follow these steps:

Now let's take a closer look at 'hiragana' ひらがな, or in kanji 平仮名(ひらがな). Hiragana actually has its origin in Chinese characters. The shape of the hiragana originates from the cursive script style of Chinese calligraphy. In the table below you can see how this evolution took place, starting with the kanji on top, and ending with hiragana at the bottom.

Hiragana is a syllabary where every symbol represents an entire syllable. Hiragana contains 5 singular vowels, 42 consonant-vowel combinations, and 1 singular consonant (ん; n).

Hiragana has many roles in Japanese. One such usage is to write suffixes for a kanji root word. To make this more concrete, in English the word "talked" consists of the root word "talk", and the suffix "-ed." In Japanese there exists 話(はな)した​ which consists of a kanji root 話(はな) (talk) and a hiragana suffix した (did). This usage is known as 'okurigana.'

Aside from grammatical inflection, other uses include the function words in the language, such as particles, grammatical structures, as well as forming standalone words for which there are no kanji or whose kanji form is obscure.

Below you can see these different usages color coded.

Hiragana is the script you will be dealing with the most when reading Japanese. Starting from the next section, we will slowly introduce you to five characters at a time and provide you with mnemonic images to help you remember them.

Below is a chart that contains all of the modern hiragana. We will be covering these in the following sections.

あいうえお

Now that we’ve covered the basics of hiragana, we can introduce you to the first five characters, which are also the pure vowels in Japanese: あ・い・う・え・お.

The first character is あ, which is represented as a, and its pronunciation is similar to the a in father.

This character has a slightly tilted A written inside of it.

The second character is い, which is represented as i, and its pronunciation is similar to the ee in eel.

If you look closely, you can see two eels (i) that meet each other.

The third character is う, which is represented as u, and its pronunciation is similar to the oo in shoot.

This one should be easy, as it looks like a sideways u with a line above it.

The fourth character is え, which is represented as e, and its pronunciation is close to the e in bet.

This elegant (e) dancer is dancing, can you see it?

The fifth character is お, which is represented as o, and its pronunciation is close to the o in story.

Olaf (o) is proud of his cool new bike!

Now that you’ve carefully read this chapter, it's time to practice. Open the following link, select the first row of hiragana, and press the red study button. Practice until you feel comfortable with the first hiragana row before moving on.

かきくけこ

The next five are か・き・く・け・こ.

The first character is か, which is represented as ka, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the k in skate and the a in father.

Look at the character and maybe you can see a martial artist doing a karate (ka) kick.

The second character is き, which is represented as ki, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the k in skate and the ee in meet.

This character looks a bit like a key (ki).

The third character is く, which is represented as ku, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the k in skate and the oo in shoot.

Can you see it? This is just the beak of a cuckoo (ku) going cu-coo.

The fourth character is け, which is represented as ke, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the k in skate and the e in bet.

And this is just a nice keg (ke). The horizontal line being part of its metal binding.

The fifth character is こ, which is represented as ko, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the k in skate and the o in story.

And this is just a pretty nice coin (ko).

Now that you’ve carefully read this chapter, it's time to practice. Open the following link, select the first and second row of hiragana, and press the red study button. Practice until you feel comfortable with these two hiragana rows before moving on.

さしすせそ

The next five are さ・し・す・せ・そ.

The first character is さ, which is represented as sa, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the s in soup and the a in father.

Look at this big sign (sa) warning us of danger.

The second character is し, which is represented as shi, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the sh in sheep and the ee in meet.

Here we have a friendly shepard with a sheep (shi) and his stick.

The third character is す, which is represented as su, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the s in soup and the oo in shoot.

Oh, it's Steven and he is swinging (su) in the curtains again!

The fourth character is せ, which is represented as se, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the s in soup and the e in bet.

Where we have a nice señor (se) with his hat.

The fifth character is そ, which is represented as so, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the s in soup and the o in story.

I tried to sew (so) a zigzag stitch.

Now that you’ve carefully read this chapter, it's time to practice. Open the following link, select the first, second and third row of hiragana, and press the red study button. Practice until you feel comfortable with these three hiragana rows before moving on.

たちつてと

The next five are た・ち・つ・て・と.

The first character is た, which is represented as ta, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the t in stop and the a in father.

This just looks exactly like a combination of the letters t and a (ta).

The second character is ち, which is represented as chi, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the tch in itchy and the ee in meet.

What do we have here? A jumping cheerleader (chi).

The third character is つ, which is represented as tsu, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the ts in cats and the oo in shoot.

Who doesn’t love cats (tsu)! See how fluffy its tail is.

The fourth character is て, which is represented as te, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the t in stop and the e in bet.

And this just looks like a slightly out of shape T.

The fifth character is と, which is represented as to, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the t in stop and the o in story.

Ouch! Can you see the nail sticking in this toe (to). That's gotta hurt.

Now that you’ve carefully read this chapter, it's time to practice. Open the following link, select all hiragana rows, from the first to the fourth, and press the red study button. Practice until you feel comfortable with these four hiragana rows before moving on.

なにぬねの

The next five are な・に・ぬ・ね・の.

The first character is な, which is represented as na, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the n in not and the a in father.

This looks like someone was creative and wrote a pretty stylized na.

The second character is に, which is represented as ni, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the n in not and the ee in meet.

This is my knee (ni). Beautiful ain’t it?

The third character is ぬ, which is represented as nu, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the n in not and the oo in shoot.

A delicious bowl of noodles (nu).

The fourth character is ね, which is represented as ne, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the n in not and the e in bet.

This one looks like a ne written in a pretty stylized font.

The fifth character is の, which is represented as no, and its pronunciation is close to a combination of the n in not and the o in story.

It's a sign that tells you ‘no smoking’ (no).

Now that you’ve carefully read this chapter, it's time to practice. Open the following link, select all hiragana rows, from the first to the fifth, and press the red study button. Practice until you feel comfortable with these five hiragana rows before moving on.

はひふへほ

The next five are は・ひ・ふ・へ・ほ.

The first character is は, which is represented as ha, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the h in hat and the a in father.

As you see, this character just looks like a combined H and a (ha).

The second character is ひ, which is represented as hi, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the h in hue and the ee in meet.

He (hi) has a big nose, doesn’t he?

The third character is ふ, which is represented as fu, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the ph in phew and the oo in shoot.

The famous Mt. Fuji (fu) in Japan. You should go there one day.

The fourth character is へ, which is represented as he, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the h in hat and the e in bet.

We got a nice arrow here pointing towards heaven (he), where we all go after we die.

The fifth character is ほ, which is represented as ho, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the h in hat and the o in story.

This just looks like は, with a whole (ho) line added to it.

Now that you’ve carefully read this chapter, it's time to practice. Open the following link, select all hiragana rows, from the first to the sixth, and press the red study button. Practice until you feel comfortable with these six hiragana rows before moving on.

まみむめも

The next five are ま・み・む・め・も.

The first character is ま, which is represented as ma, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the m in much and the a in father.

I want to go on a trip when I see this beautiful ship with its mast (ma).

The second character is み, which is represented as mi, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the m in much and the ee in meet.

Me (mi)? I just turned 21.

The third character is む, which is represented as mu, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the m in much and the oo in shoot.

This cute cow is greeting us with a moo (mu).

The fourth character is め, which is represented as me, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the m in much and the e in bet.

The Japanese word for "eye" is me (me).

The fifth character is も, which is represented as mo, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the m in much and the o in story.

To catch more (mo) fish, you should attach some bait to this hook.

Now that you’ve carefully read this chapter, it's time to practice. Open the following link, select all hiragana rows, from the first to the seventh, and press the red study button. Practice until you feel comfortable with these seven hiragana rows before moving on.

らりるれろ

The next five are ら・り・る・れ・ろ.

The first character is ら, which is represented as ra, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the rah rah as if you were cheering and the la la like singing.

Here we have cute little rabbit (ra) with some floppy ears.

The second character is り, which is represented as ri, and the pronunciation is between the ree in reed and the lee in leek.

What a cute ribbon (ri), isn’t it?

The third character is る, which is represented as ru, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the ru in rule and the loo in look.

Our route (ru) is a bit complicated this time.

The fourth character is れ, which is represented as re, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the re in retch and the le in led.

Even the sight of blood makes Reginald retch (re).

The fifth character is ろ, which is represented as ro, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the ro in road and the lo in load.

Be careful! There're some bends in the road (ro)!

Now that you’ve carefully read this chapter, it's time to practice. Open the following link, select all hiragana rows, from the first to the eighth, and press the red study button. Practice until you feel comfortable with these eight hiragana rows before moving on.

やゆよ

The next three are や・ゆ・よ.

The first character is や, which is represented as ya, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the y in yacht and the a in father.

I normally only like dogs, but this yak (ya) is also cute.

The second character is ゆ, which is represented as yu, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the y in yacht and the oo in shoot.

That’s quite the unique (yu) looking fish.

The third character is よ, which is represented as yo, and the pronunciation is close to a combination of the y in yacht and the o in story.

He is playing with his yo-yo (yo) again.

Now that you’ve carefully read this chapter, it's time to practice. Open the following link, select all hiragana rows, from the first to the ninth, and press the red study button. Practice until you feel comfortable with these nine hiragana rows before moving on.

わをん

And lastly, the final three: わ・を・ん.

The first character is わ, which is represented as wa, and its pronunciation is close to the wa in walk.

Look closely and you can see a wave in the water (wa).

The second character is を, which is represented as wo. This character is unique because it is represented by wo when romanized, but is pronounced similar to the o in story, or the お we already learned. Additionally, this character only functions as a particle on its own and is never combined with other characters to form words. As a result, there are no example words for を.

It just became a bit warmer and Olga already wants to swim in the pool. She dips her toe in and goes: oooh!, because the water is still cold.

The third character in this column (and the last hiragana character) is ん, which is represented as n, and its pronunciation is close to the ng in long. It’s important to note that ん is also a unique character, as the way you pronounce it changes slightly depending on the sound that follows. But for now, just remember it as the ng in long.

If this doesn't look like a stylized n, I don’t know what does.

Now that you’ve carefully read this chapter, it's time to practice. Open the following link, select all hiragana rows and press the red study button. Practice until you feel comfortable with all hiragana.

As you can see, Japanese is a quite complex, but interesting language. If you want to learn all of this through a comprehensive course, we recommend you to try out our Migaku Japanese Academy course, which will allow you to quickly learn Japanese from anime.