Hiragana & Katakana Chart
A searchable chart of all 46 basic hiragana and katakana kana with Hepburn romaji — click any glyph to copy it.
Click any kana to copy it (copies the hiragana form).
This is the 46-syllable gojūon set. Adding dakuten and handakuten marks makes voiced sounds (か → が ga, は → ぱ pa), and small ya/yu/yo form combos (き + ゃ → きゃ kya).
Kana are Japan’s two phonetic syllabaries: hiragana and katakana. Each has 46 basic characters that map one-to-one onto the same set of sounds — あ and ア both read “a”, か and カ both read “ka”. Hiragana writes native words and grammar; katakana writes loanwords and emphasis.
Hiragana and katakana at a glance
Japanese is written with three scripts: kanji (adopted Chinese characters) plus two kana syllabaries, hiragana and katakana. Unlike an alphabet, each kana stands for a whole syllable — a consonant-plus-vowel sound such as “ka”, “shi”, or “tsu” — rather than a single letter. The chart above lists all 46 basic characters of each script side by side with their Hepburn romaji.
When to use each script
Hiragana (ひらがな) is the rounded, cursive script used for native Japanese words, grammatical endings, and particles. Katakana (カタカナ) is the angular script reserved mainly for loanwords (コーヒー, kōhī, “coffee”), foreign names, onomatopoeia, and emphasis — much like italics in English. The two cover exactly the same sounds, so learning one set of readings unlocks both.
Gojūon order, dakuten, and combos
Kana are traditionally arranged in the gojūon (“fifty sounds”) order used above: the five vowels a-i-u-e-o, then each consonant row (ka, sa, ta, na, ha, ma, ya, ra, wa) and finally the standalone ん/ン (n). Two diacritics extend the set: the dakuten (゛) voices a sound (か ka → が ga) and the handakuten (゜) turns the h-row into p (は ha → ぱ pa). Small ya/yu/yo also combine with i-row kana to form contracted sounds (き + ゃ → きゃ, kya).
Sample gojūon rows
The first three rows of the chart — the full 46 basic kana are searchable above.
| Hiragana | Katakana | Romaji |
|---|---|---|
| あ い う え お | ア イ ウ エ オ | a · i · u · e · o |
| か き く け こ | カ キ ク ケ コ | ka · ki · ku · ke · ko |
| さ し す せ そ | サ シ ス セ ソ | sa · shi · su · se · so |
Reading the romaji
The romaji shown follows the Hepburn system, the most common way to write Japanese sounds in Latin letters. A few rows break the neat pattern: し is “shi” (not “si”), ち is “chi”, つ is “tsu”, and ふ is “fu”. The particle は is read “wa” when it marks a topic, and を is almost always “o” in speech, even though it is romanised “wo”.
Learning the kana
Most learners start with hiragana, since it carries grammar and native vocabulary, then add katakana for loanwords. Because the two scripts share readings, drilling the sounds once and copying the glyphs from the chart above builds both at the same time. To hear how these syllables are pronounced, pair this chart with the IPA pronunciation reference, or compare scripts with the Cyrillic alphabet.