Learn the 46 hiragana: a seven-day starter plan
Gomademy8 min readA page of unfamiliar characters can look like a lot to remember. Start with five sounds and five shapes. Then give them a little time to settle.
This guide introduces the 46 basic hiragana and a seven-day routine for meeting them. Seven days is a starting structure, not a deadline for mastering Japanese. Repeat a day whenever you need to. Your goal is to begin reading small words, rather than to race through a chart.
Try this first: Start with あ・い・う・え・お. Listen to each sound using the linked audio chart, then cover the sound labels and try recalling them. Repeat any you miss before adding another row.
What hiragana helps you read
Hiragana appears in Japanese words, grammatical particles, and word endings. It also gives you a way to read pronunciations before you know many kanji.
The basic chart is a starting point, not every possible hiragana sound combination. Marks such as ゛ and ゜, small characters, and longer vowel sounds add more combinations. You will meet those after the main shapes.
Use the romaji below as a temporary label. Listen to Japanese audio as you learn: an English memory word cannot teach the exact pronunciation. The Japan Foundation's hiragana chart offers sound and writing practice.
The complete basic hiragana chart
Each story is an optional shape reminder. Say the Japanese sound while picturing it. If a story makes a character harder to remember, replace it with one of your own.
Scroll sideways to read all table columns. You can also focus the table and use the arrow keys.
| Hiragana | Sound label | A little scene to picture |
|---|---|---|
| あ | a | A skater swings around a loop, arms stretched out. |
| い | i | Two narrow streams run beside each other. |
| う | u | A small cloud floats above a curved umbrella handle. |
| え | e | A dancer balances a hat over a zigzag step. |
| お | o | A ribbon loops around a pole; a tiny bird watches. |
| か | ka | A kite bends beside a pole, with a loose tail nearby. |
| き | ki | Two shelves sit above a curved basket. |
| く | ku | A bird opens its beak to the right. |
| け | ke | A curtain hangs beside a tall window frame. |
| こ | ko | Two stepping stones cross a tiny stream. |
| さ | sa | One shelf sits above a curved basket. |
| し | shi | A fishing line curves up at the bottom. |
| す | su | A ribbon knots around a signpost and trails away. |
| せ | se | Two posts support a cloth that bends underneath. |
| そ | so | A ribbon zigzags, then sweeps into a soft curve. |
| た | ta | A little cross stands beside two stepping stones. |
| ち | chi | A signpost curls into a round seat below. |
| つ | tsu | A wave curls forward across the water. |
| て | te | A roof edge bends down into a curved wall. |
| と | to | A pebble drops toward a shallow bowl. |
| な | na | A cross, a dash, and a little loop mark a garden path. |
| に | ni | A tall reed grows beside two stepping stones. |
| ぬ | nu | Two threads cross and finish in a small knot. |
| ね | ne | A post holds a ribbon with a loop at its far end. |
| の | no | A path circles once around a small pond. |
| は | ha | A reed stands beside a crossbar ending in a loop. |
| ひ | hi | A hammock dips between two raised ends. |
| ふ | fu | A hill sends a little puff out on each side. |
| へ | he | A low mountain rises to one gentle peak. |
| ほ | ho | A reed stands beside two bars and a lower loop. |
| ま | ma | Two bars balance above a curled ribbon. |
| み | mi | A winding stream loops around a rock. |
| む | mu | A ribbon loops around a post, with a loose dot nearby. |
| め | me | Two threads cross without a knot at the end. |
| も | mo | A curved hook catches two short bars. |
| や | ya | A branch crosses a curved stem beneath a small leaf. |
| ゆ | yu | A long stem passes through a soft oval. |
| よ | yo | A short shelf sits above a looped cord. |
| ら | ra | A small leaf floats above a curved bowl. |
| り | ri | Two reeds bend differently in the breeze. |
| る | ru | A winding path finishes in a small loop. |
| れ | re | A ribbon catches on a post and sweeps away. |
| ろ | ro | A winding path opens into a broad curve. |
| わ | wa | A ribbon catches on a post and rounds into a bowl. |
| を | wo / o | A winding path crosses a bar and curls underneath. |
| ん | n | A path dips into a valley, then rises again. |
For を, wo identifies the character in many charts and input systems; the common object particle is pronounced o. For ん, use audio rather than treating it as an English word ending.
A seven-day plan you can repeat
Begin each session by recalling yesterday's characters before looking at the answers. Then introduce today's group. A short, attentive session is enough to start; if a row still feels unfamiliar, spend another day on it.
Scroll sideways to read all table columns. You can also focus the table and use the arrow keys.
| Day | New characters | A word to read |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | あ い う え お | あお — blue |
| 2 | か き く け こ; さ し す せ そ | すし — sushi |
| 3 | た ち つ て と; な に ぬ ね の | ねこ — cat |
| 4 | は ひ ふ へ ほ; ま み む め も | はな — flower |
| 5 | や ゆ よ; ら り る れ ろ; わ を ん | やま — mountain |
| 6 | Mix all five groups; add no new basic characters | さくら — cherry blossom |
| 7 | Read words, then revisit your difficult shapes | くるま — car |
These words are written in hiragana for reading practice; some also have common kanji spellings.
For each new character, follow a small loop: listen, look, say it, hide it, and try again. Trace or write it while checking a stroke-order model. Do not copy one shape twenty times without checking whether you can recognize it later.
Separate the shapes that keep colliding
ぬ and め: look for the little closing loop in ぬ. ね, れ, and わ: compare the endings—a small loop, a sweeping tail, or a broad rounded curve. る and ろ: る finishes with a small loop.
Printed and handwritten forms can differ. In particular, handwritten き and さ often have a detached lower curve. Use the chart's writing model rather than assuming a computer font is a pen demonstration.
What comes after the basic 46?
Start with these four patterns:
- Sound marks: か becomes が (ga); は becomes ば (ba) or ぱ (pa). Check the whole marked chart rather than guessing every sound.
- Small ゃ, ゅ, ょ: きゃ is kya, one timing unit (a mora), different from the two units in きや (ki-ya).
- Small っ: きって (kitte, postage stamp) has a brief closure before the next consonant. Do not read っ as a full tsu here.
- Long vowels: おばさん (obasan, aunt) and おばあさん (obāsan, grandmother) differ in vowel length. The macron in obāsan marks the long a vowel. Listen and preserve the extra timing.
Particles also have special readings: は is wa when used as the topic particle, and へ is e when used as a direction particle. Learn these in sentences, alongside the basic chart labels ha and he.
Try a small reading check
Cover the answers. Read each word aloud, then give its meaning if you know it.
- いぬ
- ねこ
- やま
- すし
- さくら
- くるま
Answers: 1. inu, dog; 2. neko, cat; 3. yama, mountain; 4. sushi, sushi; 5. sakura, cherry blossom; 6. kuruma, car.
If you recognized only a few, choose two words and learn them well. If the whole list felt easy, mix the order and try again tomorrow. Reading a fixed list from memory is different from recognizing each character.
Your next little win
Choose one difficult pair, listen to both sounds, and write one short word containing each character. Return to those words tomorrow before looking at the chart.
When you want the next script, continue with the katakana guide. For a gentler review routine, read our spaced repetition guide.
Sources and further practice
The chart and sound labels were checked against the Japan Foundation's Marugoto hiragana resource. For marked and combined kana, see the Ministry of Education's hiragana and katakana reference. All little scenes and the seven-day routine above are original editorial suggestions, not historical explanations or a guaranteed learning timetable.