Hiragana is a phonetically based alphabet which, like its counterpart, katakana, was derived from abbreviated forms of Chinese Characters (kanji). Chinese characters (kanji) were first introduced in Japan in the form of Buddhist texts by priests who were the only people capable of reading them. Sometime during the 9th century, hiragana emerged which became the written language of the gentry enabling the creation of Japanese literature.

Anything that can be said in Japanese can be written in hiragana. This is the first alphabet Japanese children learn and they use it exclusively to write Japanese until they start mastering kanji. Japanese is written using a combination of hiragana, katakana and kanji, each having a specific function. Most nouns and root verbs are written in kanji. However the conjugation of the verb is written in hiragana. For example, the verb "to go" is (iku) or (ikimasu) which can also mean, "I go; he, she and it goes; you go; we go, and they or all of you go and even, will go". The kanji, , in this case is pronounced, "ē". Each of the hiragana letters which follow are pronounced phonetically. In the same way, , the past tense of the verb "to go" is pronounced, "ikimashita."

Hiragana is also used to write other parts of speech such as articles, particles, conjunctions, etc. Some examples of this are: (to) pronounced "tō" meaning "and"; (ni) pronounced "nē" meaning "to"; and pronounced "de" meaning "from" or "since."

The basic hiragana alphabet appears below in three charts which are read from right to left, top to bottom. The basic hiragana alphabet would therefore be read as follows: "••, etc.

There are also adaptations of these basic letters. By adding what looks like quotation marks (") to some letters, a "hard" sound is produced. For example, (ka) becomes (ga), and (ha) becomes (ba) as indicated in Chart B below. By adding what looks like a degree symbol ( ° ) to some letters, a "p" sound is created. For example, (ha) becomes (pa) and (hi pronounced "hē") becomes (pi pronounced "pē") as indicated.

Subscript versions of certain hiragana letters are placed after other letters, in order to create more complex sounds. For example the word for tea (ocha) would be written which uses the subscript form of (ya). If the regular were used, making then it would be pronounced "ochiya" which sounds totally different. Please refer to Chart C below.

The hiragana character (tsu) is also used in its subscript form. The subscript is silent however it gives emphasis to consonant sounds. For example the future tense of the word, "ikimasu" (to go) is "ittara" meaning when, "I, you, she, he, it, we, they, or all of you" go. Notice that the (tsu) sound is silent.

The charts below show each of the hiragana letters and their sound combinations. Mastering this alphabet is the first step in learning how to read and write Japanese.

Basic Hiragana  Alphabet*

n	w	r	y	m	h	n	t	s	k
											a
											i
											u
											e
											o

Chart B*
Hiragana Derivations

Chart C*
Hiragana Combination Sounds

*Read right to left, top to bottom