HIRAGANA of Recent Article

The role of Hiragana in Japanese is very important.

ひらがな[Hiragana] is a script into which "Kanji that has been transmitted from ancient China" has transformed.

Ancient Japanese have evolved the language of Japan by using China kanji and Hiragana.
[Reference:Kanji transmission from ancient China.]

The hiragana symbol is a versatile script that can undertake "All parts of speech" of "Business card, adjective, verb, pronoun, and conjunction, etc.".

In a word, you may write sentences by using only the hiragana if it says extremely.

But, if all the conversations are written by the hiragana symbols, it becomes troublesome sentences.

As for sentences to which everything is written by the hiragana, the distinction of each part of speech and the boundary of sentences become uncertain sentences.

In the Japanese sentence, as for the noun, the pronoun, and the adjective, etc. the kanji is used.
And, the hiragana takes charge of other parts.

If sentences are compared to man's body, the hiragana does "Bone and muscular role" of the Japanese sentence.

The hiragana is an important element for the Japanese sentence.

 

The concrete example in which the hiragana is used

The images below are a concrete example in which the hiragana is used.

 

<Noun or verb that cannot be shown by kanji.>

Japanese has many "words in which the kanji notation doesn't exist."
In that case, the Hiragana is used.

By the way, it is said that 50,000 kanji exist in Japan and China.

Therefore, if we do not write the kanji for a long time, we forget it.
On a case like this, we write it by the hiragana.

But, if we use the kanji as much as possible, it becomes well-balanced sentences.

 

 

The katakana was used in the textbook of the national language of the elementary school in Japan instead of the hiragana until 1940 though this is a bytalk.

 

 

<Case the hiragana is used as OKURIGANA of the kanji>

Okurigana is required for "Kunyomi" of kanji.

Okurigana is necessary for most kunyomi kanji.
In that case, okurigna is usually shown by the hiragana.

[Okurigana of Katakana may be used for special media, such as an advertisement.]

And kunyomi kanji is often used for the verb.
Hiragana in that case is used so that the tense of the verb may change.

 

私は彼を見る。
[watashi wa kare wo miru.]
I see him.

私は彼を見た。
[watashi wa kare wo mita.]
I saw him.

私は彼を見てしまった。
[watashi wa kare wo miteshimatta.]
I have seen him.

This page might be useful for you.
笑う、笑わせる、泣く、泣かせる、怒る、怒らせる

 

< When hiragana is used as furigana [or yomigana] of kanji. >

The kind of kanji is numerous.

Though I have lived in Japan for 40 years or more, there are a lot of kanji that I cannot read.
In general, the Chinese character that the Japanese uses in daily life is called about 2000 characters.
I can read the kanji of about 4000 characters.

In fact, "A lot of kanji not used" exists in Japanese.

 

<Hiragana used for printed matter as furigana. >

Moreover, Furigana[or Yomigana] is often used for a name of a person and the name of a place of Japan.

In case of person's name, it is possible to read with guess.
But, in the case of the place name, there is the case that pronunciation of the kanji cannot guess at all.
For that case, Furigana[or Yomigana] is required for the kanji.

A lot of name of a places that we cannot read exist in Kyoto in Japan.

These are all "kanji which cannot be read by guess."

 

 

< Hiragana for children who can read only only a few kanji. >

Child doesn't have a lot of knowledge of kanji.

If Furigana[or Yomigana] is not attached, it is very difficult for a child to read kanji.

Naturally, children can write only only a few kanji.

In the textbook and the book, etc. for children in Japan there is little kanji.

Almost all children in Japan learn the kanjir at the school.

But, the time of the school training has been decreased by a strange policy of Japanese Government.

As a result, the knowledge of young people in Japan of the kanji is very little.
Japanese Government is very foolish.

 

< When we want to write the character quickly. >

When we write a complex kanji because the kanji is a set by many lines, it takes time.

The total of the line of the kanji is called "画数[Kakusuu]".
Time to write our kanji changes according to the number of these kakusuu.

If we write a lot of kanji, a lot of time is needed for it.

For instance, Kakusuu of this word "一人[hitori](One person)" is three.

 

On the other hand, kakusuu of this kanji "瞬間[shunkan](Moment)" is 31.

 

If we write many kanji by a lot of kakusuu, it takes the time considerably to do it.

Therefore, when we should write the memo and sentences fast, we write the sentence by hardly using kanji, and using a lot of hiraganas.

 

<When time when we have forgotten the shape of that kanji and we don't originally know the shape of that kanji, we use the hiragana. >

If we don't daily write the kanji, it's memory isn't kept.
We forget the shape at once.

It becomes impossible for us to recall the shape as time that we do not write the kanji becomes long.
The kanji that retraces a dopy memory and is written is wrong in many cases.

 

"I cannot recall that kanji !! "

Such a state is called "dowasure".

How was this theme?
Was it slightly difficult?

I must study English more.

 

By Hararie

 

Kind of hiragana script that becomes cause of the mess.

 

The script in each language might have perhaps various fonts.

And, they might have a slight difference of shape by the font.

There is no problem if it is your mother tongue.

But, if it is a foreign language, you and I might be a little puzzled.

A Japanese hiragana has a lot of fonts.
Because the difference of those shape is a little, it might cause confusion.

Well, let's see "Each hiragana with a little difference" with me.

 

Connection of line

I displayed "All Hiragana with the difference in the form by a font" here.

The most is the difference in "existence of the break of a line."

I showed "All hiraganas with the difference of shape by the font" here.
Most of the difference is "Presence of the connection of the line."

Compare the parts enclosed by red circle, please.
Can you understand those differences?

 

Japanese children go to school at the age of seven.
And, they learns the hiragana and the katakana first.

The shape of the hiragana used by the textbook of the elementary school in Japan is different according to the times.

It is because the standard of the shape of the hiragana is not being defined by the Ministry of Education that has jurisdiction over the school system of Japan.

Because politicians in Japan always think only about own rights and money, they do not notice such a thing at all.

Sorry, I return to the subject.

Then when I say how the Japanese thinks about a difference of the form of Hiragana,
most Japanese will not have thought about the shape of the hiragana.

In conclusion, "These are all correct Hiragana."
Use Hiragana of the shape that you like, please.

 

Then, see "Hiragana with the difference in a special shape" next, please.

 

 

Hiragana script with special difference of shape

This is "そ[so]" of Hiragana.

I write "そ" by using the shape of a left hiragana.

In the times when I learned Hiragana in an elementary school, Hiragana of the right side was used.
My younger brother is using Hiragana of the left.

My younger brother is 14 years old younger than I.
A young Japanese seems to use shape of the left.

Mmm......Then, see the last Hiragana, please.

This is "ふ[fu]" of Hiragana.

Most of the font used in Japan is a left letterform.

The right-hand "Hiragana of FU" seemed to have been used at prewar days.
The left-hand "Hiragana of FU" is shape of the brush script type.
This is a letterform of "Japanese Kana calligraphy" written with a very thin brush.

But, if a left letterform is written in a hurry, it becomes the right-hand letterform after all.

 

Then, "Today's conclusion."---

"As for Hiragana, if the letterform that can be read is kept, all are okay." !!

 

 

To learn the hiragana

Hiragana Gambatte!: Hiragana Ganbatte (The Gambatte! series)

HIRAGANA GANBATTE !

Product Description:

Instead of an alphabet, Japanese use katakana and hiragana to show the pronunciation of words. It is the purpose of this book to teach you how to read and write hiragana. In all, there are forty-six hiragana characters for forty-six different sounds. This is not as difficult as it seems. With this original picture book, you can learn to read and write hiragana in no time at all, and have fun doing it.

Key English words and pictures are linked to all the hiragana characters to help you fix their shapes in your mind. Manga-style illustrations and nearly 100 mini-articles about Japanese society and culture not only help you remember the characters but also add to your knowledge of Japan. Altogether, this makes Hiragana Gambatte! quite an unusual workbook.

Hiragana Gambatte! teaches you to: * Understand the differences between hiragana and the alphabet * Understand the systematic nature of hiragana * Use the correct stroke order when writing hiragana * Write hiragana so that each character is consistent in size and shape

 

 

How is training for writing a hiragana?

 

The number of fundamental hiragana scripts is 50 in all.

When growing up to seven years old, we enter the school.
And we learns Hiragana and Katakana first.

We usually do reading perpendicularly, when reading a hiragana table.

　"a, i, u, e, o
　　(あ,い,う,え,お)"

　"ka, ki, ku, ku,ke, ko
　　(か,き,く,け,こ)"

　"sa, shi, su, se, so
　　(さ,し,す,せ,そ)".......

And we usually do writing perpendicularly, when writing a hiragana table.
The script row of this length is called "gyo."
Can you see the number on each big Hiragana ?
It is the stroke order of writing the Hiragana.

 

 

Let's write slowly noting the number and the arrow.

There are some hiraganas with complex stroke order.
I prepared the PDF version of the stroke order of each "GYO".
Figure below is it.
Please use it to training of your writing the hiragana script.
I think that it is not easy to acquisition the other language.
It is important that you write a hiragana script repeatedly.

 

It expands when you click this image.

 

Download：Training sheet to write hiragana script.

gyo name	Each hiragana script training seat
あ行 [a gyo]	あ、い a-i.pdf	う、え u-e.pdf	お o.pdf
か行 [ka gyo]	か、き ka-ki.pdf	く、け ku-ke.pdf	こ ko.pdf
さ行 [sa gyo]	さ、し sa-shi.pdf	す、せ su-se.pdf	そ so.pdf
た行 [ta gyo]	た、ち ta-chi.pdf	つ、て tsu-te.pdf	と to.pdf
な行 [na gyo]	な、に na-ni.pdf	ぬ、ね nu-ne.pdf	の no.pdf
は行 [ha gyo]	は、ひ ha-hi.pdf	ふ、へ fu-he.pdf	ほ ho.pdf
ま行 [ma gyo]	ま、み ma-mi.pdf	む、め mu-me.pdf	も mo.pdf
や行 [ya gyo]	や、ゆ ya-yu.pdf	よ yo.pdf	-----
ら行 [ra gyo]	ら、り ra-ri.pdf	る、れ ru-re.pdf	ろ ro.pdf
わ行 [wa gyo]	わ、を wa-wo.pdf	ん n.pdf	-----

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Hiragana which is one of the basic element symbols of Japan.

These consist of "Japanese syllabary".
Kanji was brought by ancient China in old times.
And, the hiragana was made from kanji.
The Japanese hiragana was being used by women in ancient Japan at the Heian era.

Sentences of present Japan are composed by the Japanese Kanji, hiragana and katakana.
Hiragana is a role very important as Okurigana of Kanji.
Furthermore, a hiragana does work which connects a word and a word.

The role of "Hiragana" is very important for Japanese.

 

The Hiragana syllabary PDF file which you can download for free.

Hiragana chart.pdf

 

Easily view, print, and collaborate on PDF files with free Adobe Reader 9 softwar.