[Archived] Easy Hiragana Mastery Guide: Part 1

This is the archived version of our Hiragana guide, check out the latest version below
• New Hiragana Guide Part 1

There are 3 types of Japanese writing you will encounter and Hiragana is the first type of Japanese alphabet you would want to master. And with the help of this article below, you will be able to master it in a very very short time! はじめましょう！hajimemashou: Let's start!

Hiragana is the Japanese ABC, and it’s quite different with English since the shape symbolize a set of sound such as KA , SO, TSU and SHI. Below you can see the Hiragana chart, all the shape that we’re going to master~

Don’t get discouraged by the weird and unfamiliar shapes. Using mnemonics provided within this guide, you can memorize Hiragana at a rapid speed! By the end of this post, you can see the quick summary of all the mnemonics, so you can review it with ease~

#1. Vowel: A I U E O

The first alphabet we learn in English is ABC. In Hiragana, the first alphabet to learn would be the vowels! A I U E O

#2. KA KI KU KE KO

#3. SA SHI SU SE SO

Important There is no SI sound, it’s SHI.

#4. TA CHI TSU TE TO

Important There are no TI and TU sound, it’s CHI and TSU.

#5. NA NI NU NE NO

#6. HA HI FU HE HO

Important There is no HU sound, it’s FU.

#7. MA MI MU ME MO

#8. RA RI RU RE RO

#9. YA YU YO WA WO N

SUMMARY

#1. あ・い・う・え・お

A – look likes a mouth saying AAHH…

I – You can find letter i there

U – You can find letter u there

E – Letter E reversed is number 3, it looks like number 3!

O – A face crying OOH NOO….

#2. か・き・く・け・こ

KA – A Camera

KI – a Key

KU – big mouth/beak of a duck *kuchi means mouth in Japanese*

KE – a kettle!

KO – Its a Cobra!

#3. さ・し・す・せ・そ

SA – A salmon/sardine *sakana means fish in japanese*

SHI – she is girl wearing a dress… *there’s no SI in Japanese, its SHI

SU – Its a smoke come out from a cigarette *suu is to smoke in Japanese*

SE – Its made out of three pieces of Seven

SO – Its a soul came out of a cemetery tomb

#4. た・ち・つ・て・と

TA – a table set complete with chair

CHI – a citrus (orange?)

TSU – Surfing in a wave/tsunami (!?) is fun! (more like dangerous…)

TE – A telephone table~

TO – a fresh Tomato!

Note Little つ as in まって means that you double the consonant of next kana .So it’s MATTE not MATSUTE

Here are more examples to make it clearer…
きって(kitte) ,きっぷ (kippu), あさって(asatte), and もっと(motto)

#5. な・に・ぬ・ね・の

NA – A hammer and a Nail

NI – Nippon(japan) flag!

NU – Noodles, yummiee~

NE – Next, next , next!!

NO – I’m sorry, its a No Smoking area here~

#6. は・ひ・ふ・へ・ほ

HA – You can see a Ha within the shape

HI – Hills with a pond in the middle…

FU – Mount FUJI

HE – A pointy head, so strange *strange is HEN in Japanese*

HO – Rotate it to the left and you can see “Ho”

NoteActic as a particle in a sentence, you read は as WA, not HA

#7. ま・み・む・め・も

MA – oh no, Mama is angry!!

MI – Whose 21th birthday is it? Its Meee, Meee!!

MU – A Mustache man with antique one eyeglasses and a big nose

ME – What a beautiful big eyes~ *eyes is also ME in Japanese*

MO -Grill More sausage please~ I’m starving!

#8. ら・り・る・れ・ろ

RA – Make it double and flip it. Now you get a Rabbit!

RI – Two pieces of Ribbon. And the shape make it similar to kanji 二 which means 2

RU – Rub, Rub Rub… *Rubbing the stomach*

RE – What a Reptile doing in that stick?

RO – Rock rolling down the hill…

#9 や・ゆ・よ・わ・を・ん

YA – its a Yawning

YU – Unique Fish!

YO – A swinging YOYO

WA – Waaw! A pregnant woman… What a big belly…

WO – Whoops! *a man stumbled and going to fall to a small pond*

N – its similar to the N alphabet!

*You will only use WO (を) as a particle to mark object which given an action, and you read it as O, not WO. You will see it very very often…

Easily differentiate similar Hiragana shape