Hiragana | ひらがな
Basic hiragana characters: (5×10 grid (gojūon, 五十音, “Fifty Sounds”))
Of the 50 theoretically possible combinations, yi, ye, and wu are completely unused. On the w row, ゐ and ゑ, pronounced i and e respectively, are uncommon in modern Japanese, while を, pronounced o, is common as a particle but otherwise rare. Strictly speaking, the singular consonant ん n is considered as outside the gojūon.
| a | i | u | e | o | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ∅ | あ | い | う | え | お |
| k | か | き | く | け | こ |
| s | さ | し | す | せ | そ |
| t | た | ち | つ | て | と |
| n | な | に | ぬ | ね | の |
| h | は | ひ | ふ | へ | ほ |
| m | ま | み | む | め | も |
| y | や | - | ゆ | - | よ |
| r | ら | り | る | れ | ろ |
| w | わ | ゐ | - | ゑ | を |
Reading:
- あ → a
- い → i
- う → u
- え → e
- お → o
- か → ka
- き → ki
- く → ku
- け → ke
- こ → ko
also (si→shi, ti→chi, tu→tsu, hu→fu, wi→i, we→e, wo→o)