Hiragana

Hiragana kashiko

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Hiragana koto

Hiragana sama 1

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Hiragana sama 2

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Hiragana nari

Hiragana (Japanese: ひらがな) is a syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and in some cases rōmaji (the Latin-script alphabet). Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, with each character representing one mora (a unit of syllable sound). Hiragana are used for native Japanese words for which there are no kanji, including grammatical particles. Also, hiragana is often used alongside kanji, to write furigana, a phonetic guide that shows the pronunciation of kanji characters.

History

Hiragana was developed in the 9th century from Man'yōgana, a writing system that employed Chinese kanji characters for their sounds in order to transcribe the Japanese language. Over time, these characters were simplified and became more stylized, leading to the hiragana characters used today. Initially, hiragana was considered "women's writing" (女手 or onnade), since women were discouraged from learning kanji and hiragana was used predominantly in women's literature, such as the classic work The Tale of Genji.

Characteristics

Hiragana characters are distinct for their rounded shape and lack of sharp corners compared to katakana and kanji. There are 46 basic hiragana characters, each representing a distinct sound in the Japanese language. These characters can be modified to represent different sounds by adding diacritical marks, such as the dakuten (゛) or handakuten (゜), which alter the consonant of the syllable.

Usage

Hiragana is used in a variety of ways in the Japanese language:

• Writing grammatical elements such as particles (e.g., は, を, に, で), prefixes, and suffixes.
• Writing words for which there is no kanji, or the kanji is not commonly known.
• Writing furigana, small hiragana characters placed above or beside kanji to indicate their pronunciation.
• In children's literature, where kanji usage is minimal.
• For beginner learners of Japanese, as it provides a phonetic transcription of Japanese sounds.

Learning Hiragana

Learning hiragana is typically the first step for beginners of the Japanese language. Mastery of hiragana is essential for advancing in Japanese proficiency, as it lays the foundation for reading and writing. Educational materials and practice sheets are widely available for learners to practice the stroke order and pronunciation of each character.

See Also

• Katakana
• Kanji
• Japanese writing system
• Man'yōgana