Data ひらがな Hiragana Japanese Alphabet

Data ひらがな Hiragana Japanese Alphabet

Data ひらがな Hiragana Japanese Alphabet

Data ひらがな Hiragana Japanese Alphabet

教材 Material:


ひらがな Hiragana Level 1 Data

解説 Commentary:

平仮名 (Hiragana: ひらがな Romaji: Hi-ra ga-na) is like English Alphabet.

First five letters in ひらがな(Hiragana) are あいうえお(Aiueo). あいうえお(Aiueo) is like English ABC. First graders start learning Japanese with ひらがな(Hiragana) in primary school.

Each ひらがな(Hiragana) has a sound.For example, あ sounds A, and お sounds O. The Japanese word あお sounds "ao" and means "blue."

ひらがな(Hiragana) is phonogram same as Alphabet. Each letter shows its sound.

In the modern Japanese curriculum, students learn ひらがな(Hiragana), カタカナ(Katakana), and 漢字(Kanji), in this order. Therefore, students learning Japanese as a second language will also benefit from learning in this order.


This page shows the basic words to start learning Japanese and East Asian languages.


探求資料 Further study:


Japan Ministry of Education (文部科学省). 学習指導要領 生きる力. 2017.
Republic of Korea Ministry of Education (대한민국 교육부).
People's Republic of China Ministry of Education (中华人民共和国教育部). Tōngyòng Guīfàn Hànzì Biǎo (通用规范汉字表). 2013.
U.S. Department of Education (アメリカ合衆国教育省).

Our generous sponsors are

Mystery of わゐうゑを

Mystery of やいゆえよ and わゐうゑを


い and え in やいゆえよ have been assimilated to あいうえお. いえ in やいゆえよ and いえ in あいうえお are used in the exact same way in modern Japanese: the same letters, the same sounds, and the same meanings.

ゐ and ゑ in わゐうゑを are not used in modern Japanese. Some public schools don't teach these two characters at all. However, they appear in classic Japanese (古典日本語) written before In 明治維新 (Hiragana: めいじいしん Romaji: Me-i-ji i-shi-nn En: Meiji Restoration 1868CE)

The sounds やいゆえよ ( Ya Yi Yu Ye Yo ) and わゐうゑを ( Wa Wi Wu We Wo ) remain in modern Korean (現代韓国語) and modern Chinese (現代中国語).

歴史 History

歴史 History


After the arrival of Kanji from the Asian continent, people in the Japanese archipelago made Hiragana (ひらがな) and Katakana (カタカナ) by modifying Kanji.

Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana were used in different situations. Kanji was mainly used in formal documents for writing laws and regulations. Hiragana and Katakana were for daily use. All Hiragana have a cursive form so they are easy to write with a brush on paper, favored by indoor workers. On the contrary, all Katakana have a sharp form so they are easy to carve in stone and wood, favored by outdoor workers.

In 平安時代 (Hiragana: へいあんじだい Romaji: He-i-a-nn ji-da-i En: Heian Period 794CE--1192CE 398 year-long), 紀貫之(Kino Tsurayuki), an aristocrat from Kyoto, was asked by the emperor to compile a poetry collection. He wrote the introduction of the collection in both Kanji and Hiragana.

The most influential works written in Hiragana are Iroha Uta (いろは歌), Kokin Wakashu (古今和歌集), Makurano Soushi (枕草子), and Genji Monogatari (源氏物語). All the works are taught in Japanese public schools.

Reference 探究資料

科目別 By Subject


日本語 (Hiragana: にほんご Romaji: Ni-ho-nn-go En: Japanese)
辞書 (Hiragana: じしょ Romaji: Ji-sho) En: Dictionary)
言葉 (Hiragana: ことば Romaji: Ko-to-ba En: Word)
漢字 (Hiragana: かんじ Romaji: Ka-nn-ji En: Kanji)

対象 By Grade


K1--K12
Basic Japanese
Intermediate Japanese
JLPT N5 N4 N3 N2 N1
East Asia Studies

探究 Further study


GENKI: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese I.


山口仲美(やまぐちなかみ). 日本語の歴史. 2006.



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