Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji: The Japanese Writing System Explained
By Miracle Team ·
The first thing everyone hears about Japanese is that it has three writing systems — and that’s usually where the panic sets in. But once you see what each script is for, the system turns out to be logical, not chaotic. Japanese uses hiragana, katakana and kanji together, each doing a different job. Here are the full charts, how to tell the scripts apart, which to learn first, and how to start reading in a couple of weeks.
Why Japanese has three scripts
Think of them as three tools working as a team inside a single sentence:
| Script | What it’s for | How many | When you learn it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hiragana ひらがな | grammar, endings, native words | 46 basic characters | week 1 |
| Katakana カタカナ | loanwords, names, emphasis | 46 basic characters | week 2 |
| Kanji 漢字 | the meaning of nouns, verbs, adjectives | ~2,100 for full literacy | for years, a few at a time |
Hiragana and katakana are syllabaries, not alphabets: each character is a whole syllable (か = ka), not a single letter. Kanji are meaning-characters borrowed from Chinese. A typical sentence mixes all three — which looks busy at first and feels natural surprisingly fast.
Hiragana: the 46 basic sounds
This is where every beginner starts. The chart is organised as five vowels times nine consonant rows — learn it in that grid and it takes about a week:
| a | i | u | e | o | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | あ a | い i | う u | え e | お o |
| k | か ka | き ki | く ku | け ke | こ ko |
| s | さ sa | し shi | す su | せ se | そ so |
| t | た ta | ち chi | つ tsu | て te | と to |
| n | な na | に ni | ぬ nu | ね ne | の no |
| h | は ha | ひ hi | ふ fu | へ he | ほ ho |
| m | ま ma | み mi | む mu | め me | も mo |
| y | や ya | ゆ yu | よ yo | ||
| r | ら ra | り ri | る ru | れ re | ろ ro |
| w | わ wa | を o (particle) | |||
| ん n |
The bold ones are the exceptions worth marking on day one: し is shi (not “si”), ち is chi, つ is tsu, ふ is a soft fu between “hu” and “fu”, and を is written “wo” but pronounced o — it only ever appears as a grammar particle. ん is the only character that isn’t a full syllable; it’s a standalone “n” sound.
Voiced sounds and combinations
You don’t learn new shapes for these — you modify the ones you know, which is why the real character count stays small.
- Dakuten (two small strokes) voices a sound: か ka → が ga, さ sa → ざ za, た ta → だ da, は ha → ば ba.
- Handakuten (a small circle) turns the h-row into p: は ha → ぱ pa.
- Small ゃ ゅ ょ glue onto an i-row character: き + ゃ → きゃ kya, し + ゅ → しゅ shu, ち + ょ → ちょ cho.
- Small っ doubles the next consonant and adds a beat of silence: きって kitte (stamp) versus きて kite (come).
That’s it. Forty-six shapes plus four rules cover every sound in the language.
Katakana: the same sounds, sharper shapes
Katakana covers exactly the same 46 sounds in angular, straight-edged forms:
| a | i | u | e | o | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | ア a | イ i | ウ u | エ e | オ o |
| k | カ ka | キ ki | ク ku | ケ ke | コ ko |
| s | サ sa | シ shi | ス su | セ se | ソ so |
| t | タ ta | チ chi | ツ tsu | テ te | ト to |
| n | ナ na | ニ ni | ヌ nu | ネ ne | ノ no |
| h | ハ ha | ヒ hi | フ fu | ヘ he | ホ ho |
| m | マ ma | ミ mi | ム mu | メ me | モ mo |
| y | ヤ ya | ユ yu | ヨ yo | ||
| r | ラ ra | リ ri | ル ru | レ re | ロ ro |
| w | ワ wa | ヲ o | |||
| ン n |
Its job is foreign loanwords, names, onomatopoeia and emphasis — so it’s everywhere on menus, signs and packaging. Katakana also has its own long-vowel mark, the dash ー: コーヒー is kōhī, with both vowels held.
The payoff is immediate, because a large share of katakana words are English in disguise:
| Katakana | Reads as | Means |
|---|---|---|
| コーヒー | kōhī | coffee |
| テレビ | terebi | TV |
| ホテル | hoteru | hotel |
| パン | pan | bread (from Portuguese pão) |
| アイスクリーム | aisukurīmu | ice cream |
| コンビニ | konbini | convenience store |
Learn katakana and you can read hundreds of words on your first day in Japan.
Hiragana vs katakana: how to tell them apart
Same sounds, different jobs — and the visual cue is reliable once you’ve seen it: hiragana is round and looped, katakana is straight and angular. あ, ぬ, む curve; ア, ヌ, ム are made of clean strokes.
The division of labour is just as clear. If a word is Japanese in origin or is doing grammatical work — particles, verb endings, helper words — it’s hiragana. If it came from another language, it’s katakana. Compare 私 は コーヒー を 飲みます: the particles は and を are hiragana, the borrowed noun コーヒー is katakana.
A few traps: some native words are written in katakana for style or emphasis (like italics in English), animal and plant names often appear in katakana in scientific contexts, and a handful of characters look near-identical in each script (へ / ヘ, り / リ). Context sorts them out fast.
Kanji: characters that carry meaning
Kanji (漢字) are characters borrowed from Chinese, and each one carries meaning rather than just sound: 日 (sun/day), 本 (book/origin), 人 (person), 水 (water), 山 (mountain). Combine them and they build words — 日本 (Nihon) = Japan, 火山 (kazan) = volcano, literally “fire mountain.”
Two things surprise beginners. First, most kanji have at least two readings: a Chinese-derived on reading used in compounds, and a native Japanese kun reading used alone. 山 is san in 火山 but yama on its own. Second, the count is smaller than the rumours: the official jōyō list for everyday literacy is 2,136 characters, and the beginner JLPT N5 level asks for around 100. You pick them up gradually, attached to real words you’re already learning — never as a standalone list of 2,000.
Helpfully, beginner material and children’s books print furigana: tiny hiragana above a kanji telling you how to read it. Which is another reason hiragana comes first.
Reading a real sentence
Here’s the three-script team in action:
私はコーヒーを飲みます。 — Watashi wa kōhī o nomimasu. — “I drink coffee.”
- 私 — kanji, the meaning “I”
- は — hiragana, topic particle (written “ha”, pronounced wa in this job)
- コーヒー — katakana, the loanword “coffee”
- を — hiragana, object particle
- 飲 — kanji, the meaning “drink”
- みます — hiragana, the verb ending that makes it polite present tense
Once you see that kanji carry the meaning and hiragana carries the grammar, Japanese text stops looking like noise and starts looking like structure.
Which to learn first, and a two-week plan
The proven order is hiragana → katakana → basic kanji, all while learning real words and phrases alongside.
- Days 1–7 — hiragana. Five rows a day (あ, か, さ…). Read each aloud, write it once, and immediately read real words: ねこ neko (cat), やま yama (mountain), すし sushi.
- Days 8–12 — katakana. Same method, and hunt for the English hiding inside: レストラン, ケーキ, タクシー.
- Days 13–14 — your first kanji. 日, 本, 人, 山, 水 — five characters, met inside words rather than memorised in isolation.
Then keep reading. Kana recognition gets fast through mileage, not through more study.
A trap to avoid: romaji
Romaji (Japanese written in our Latin alphabet, like arigatō) is handy on day one and becomes a crutch by day ten. It hides the actual word boundaries, encourages English vowel sounds, and — most practically — nothing in Japan is written in it. Switch to hiragana as early as you can stand to.
Quick answers
What’s the difference between hiragana and katakana?
They represent exactly the same 46 sounds but do different jobs. Hiragana (rounded) is used for native Japanese words, grammar particles and verb endings; katakana (angular) is used for foreign loanwords, foreign names, onomatopoeia and emphasis.
Which should I learn first, hiragana or katakana?
Hiragana, without hesitation. It carries all the grammar, it’s what beginner textbooks and furigana use, and you can’t read a single full sentence without it. Katakana is the natural second week.
How long does it take to learn hiragana?
About one to two weeks of short daily sessions to recognise all 46 characters, and a few more weeks for fluent reading speed. Most learners can decode simple words by day three or four.
Do I need to learn all 2,000 kanji?
Not to get started, and not for a long time. The jōyō list (2,136 characters) is the standard for full adult literacy; JLPT N5 asks for roughly 100. Learn them attached to vocabulary you actually use and the number takes care of itself.
Is Japanese writing harder than Korean?
Yes, for reading. Korean’s Hangul is a 40-letter alphabet you can decode in an afternoon, while Japanese needs two syllabaries plus kanji. Grammar difficulty is comparable — see Japanese vs Korean: which is harder? and learn Hangul, the Korean alphabet.
Make the scripts click with pictures and audio
The fastest way to bind a new character to its sound is to see it, hear a native say it, and use it in a real word — over and over. Japanese For Kids & Beginners introduces hiragana, katakana and everyday kanji a little at a time, each with a picture and native audio with slow-playback, then drills them in mini games until they stick. You can also practise in your browser right now with free Japanese word games.
For the bigger roadmap, see how to learn Japanese for beginners, build your base with the most common Japanese words, and put your reading to work with 30 common Japanese phrases.
Download Japanese For Kids & Beginners free on Google Play and start reading Japanese in two weeks.