How Japanese writing works

August 8, 2026 · 20 min read

Welcome to Gogaku! This article is for absolute beginners, so no prior knowledge is required. Before learning Japanese grammar or vocabulary, it helps to understand how it is written and how to read it. This includes topics such as the writing systems, how Japanese is pronounced, and the basic understanding of Japanese syntax.

The three Japanese writing systems

Japanese is written using three kinds of characters: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. All three appear in ordinary sentences.

Hiragana and katakana represent sounds, the way the English alphabet does. Between them they cover every sound in the Japanese language, and together they are called kana. Each system has 46 basic characters. That sounds like a lot, but two things make them manageable. They are used constantly, especially hiragana, so repetition does most of the work for you, and the two kana systems share exactly the same set of sounds in a one-to-one relationship, so they can be learned side by side — many characters even resemble their counterparts.

Kanji work differently. Rather than representing sounds, kanji represent words and concepts, and most have more than one reading using kana sounds.

Japanese Pronunciation

Japanese has five vowels: a, e, i, o, and u. Their pronunciation is consistent. Unlike English, where a single vowel can be said many ways, each Japanese vowel has exactly one sound. Learn these five and you can pronounce any kana correctly.

Long vowels

When the same vowel appears twice in a row, the sound is held for roughly twice as long. That length difference can change a word's meaning entirely.

• おばさん obasan — aunt
• おばあさん obāsan — grandmother

Train your ear for this early. It matters more than beginners expect.

The small tsu

A small っ, written at half size, marks a doubled consonant such as tt or pp. When you see one, pause briefly before the following consonant to give it weight.

• きて kite — come
• きって kitte — stamp

Nearly identical on the page, entirely different in sound and meaning.

Hiragana

Hiragana is the most common of the three systems. It writes native Japanese words not covered by kanji, and it appears in nearly every sentence — as grammatical particles, verb endings, and small connecting words. You can recognize hiragana by its rounded, flowing shapes.

a	i	u	e	o
あa	いi	うu	えe	おo
かka	きki	くku	けke	こko
さsa	しshi	すsu	せse	そso
たta	ちchi	つtsu	てte	とto
なna	にni	ぬnu	ねne	のno
はha	ひhi	ふfu	へhe	ほho
まma	みmi	むmu	めme	もmo
やya		ゆyu		よyo
らra	りri	るru	れre	ろro
わwa				をo
んn

Beyond the 46 basic characters, 23 more sounds come from two diacritic marks. Dakuten, a small pair of strokes, and handakuten, a small circle, sit in the upper-right corner of an existing character and shift its pronunciation. か (ka) becomes が (ga) with dakuten; は (ha) becomes ぱ (pa) with handakuten.

A further set of sounds comes from contractions called yōon. The characters や (ya), ゆ (yu), and よ (yo) are written at reduced size and paired with another character to make a single syllable that fits into one beat — きゃ (kya), しゅ (shu), ちょ (cho).

Katakana

Katakana is recognizable by its straight, angular lines. It is used for foreign loanwords, foreign names, scientific terms, onomatopoeia, and for stylizing words for visual effect — roughly the jobs italics do in English.

Its sounds map one-to-one onto hiragana. Every hiragana character has a katakana counterpart pronounced identically, which means learning one system teaches you the readings for the other.

a	i	u	e	o
アa	イi	ウu	エe	オo
カka	キki	クku	ケke	コko
サsa	シshi	スsu	セse	ソso
タta	チchi	ツtsu	テte	トto
ナna	ニni	ヌnu	ネne	ノno
ハha	ヒhi	フfu	ヘhe	ホho
マma	ミmi	ムmu	メme	モmo
ヤya		ユyu		ヨyo
ラra	リri	ルru	レre	ロro
ワwa				ヲo
ンn

The pronunciation rules are the same too, with one exception: long vowels are written with a horizontal bar rather than by repeating the vowel. "Coffee" is コーヒー (kōhī), where each ー extends the vowel before it.

All hiragana and katakana – including kana containing dakuten, handakuten, and yōon – can be found on the kana chart page.

Kanji

Kanji are Chinese characters, introduced to Japan more than 1,500 years ago, before Japanese had a writing system of its own. Hiragana and katakana came later, both derived from simplified kanji forms.

Where kana represent sound, kanji represent words and concepts. More than 50,000 exist, but Japanese students are expected to learn 2,136 — the Jōyō kanji, designated by Japan's Ministry of Education as the ones in common use.

Two kinds of reading

Most kanji have multiple readings, divided into two types. On'yomi readings derive from the original Chinese pronunciation. Kun'yomi readings are native Japanese. Which one applies depends on context: as a rough rule, a kanji standing alone or followed by hiragana takes kun'yomi, while kanji combined with other kanji into compound words take on'yomi.

Kanji appearance and formation

Kanji fall into three broad groups based on how they were formed.

Furigana and okurigana

Two conventions attach kana to kanji, and they are easy to confuse.

Furigana are small hiragana printed above a kanji to show its reading. They are useful whenever you meet a character for the first time, since the reading is rarely obvious from the shape.

ほん furigana

本 kanji

Okurigana are hiragana that follow a kanji to show its grammatical function or inflection. They carry the conjugation that the kanji itself cannot.

た 食 べる okurigana

Radicals

For simple kanji, repetition alone may be enough. As characters grow more complex, that approach stops working. The standard solution is to learn radicals — the recurring components that appear inside kanji, and the building blocks the whole system is assembled from.

Many radicals are complete kanji in their own right, and a complex character can contain several, stacked or arranged together. They help with memorization because kanji sharing a radical often share a related meaning. Below is an example of two independent radicals combining to make a third.

There are 214 traditional radicals, drawn from the 18th-century Chinese Kangxi dictionary, and they remain the standard reference. They have no official names, but commonly used English meanings have emerged over time and work well as mnemonics. Because the names are not standardized, different resources label them slightly differently — pick a set that works for you and stay consistent.

Many radicals also have simplified variants that appear in fixed positions within a character. These keep their original meaning but change shape to fit the layout. There are seven standard positions: left, right, top, bottom, enclosure, top-left hang, and bottom-left wrap.

How it all fits together

With all three systems in view, an ordinary sentence starts to make structural sense. Kanji carry the core meanings of nouns and verb stems. Hiragana provide the grammatical glue — particles, verb endings, connecting words. Katakana appear wherever a loanword or foreign name is involved.

Three scripts in a single line: 熱 in kanji, コーヒー in katakana, and everything else in hiragana.

Particles

Particles are short hiragana words that sit between nouns, verbs, and adjectives to show how they relate. They are the defining feature of Japanese grammar, and without them sentences would be ambiguous — it is the particle that tells you which noun is the subject, which is the object, and where the action takes place.

Here は marks the topic, で marks where the action happens, and を marks its object. Remove them and the words simply sit beside each other with no stated relationship.

Where to start

You now have a working picture of how Japanese is written and a fundamental understanding of how to read it. Hiragana carries native sounds and grammar, katakana carries foreign borrowings and stylized words, and kanji carries meaning. Every sentence you meet is woven from all three.

Where to go from here? Start by mastering kana charts — the Japanese dictionary uses kana exclusively for its entries, so being comfortable with hiragana and katakana will greatly enhance your learning experience. Then you can read the dictionary with ease to build your vocabulary, learn grammar, and practice reading and Japanese conversation.