DESCRIPTION OF JAPANESE SYLLABLE ALPHABETS
Stephen P. Morse , San Francisco

Introduction

Japanese contains two syllable alphabets, katakana and hiragana. They both represent the same syllables, but the characters in each are different. Below is a chart of the characters in each alphabets.

katakana

hiragana


The characters in the above charts have been given numbers so we can refer to them. For each number, the syllable corresponding to the katakana character will have the same sound as the syllable corresponding to the hiragana character. Character number 0 is not used.

In computer-ese, these letters are given numeric designations of the form &#xxxxx; where xxxxx is between 12448 and 12543 for katakana and between 12352 and 12447 for hiragana. So the katakana character having the number 16 can be written in an html program as グ (グ) and the hiragana character as ぐ (ぐ) for hiragana.

Groups

Each character corresponds to a syllable consisting of a consonant followed by a vowel. The characters are organized into groups, with each group corresponding to a different starting consonant. Within each group the trailing vowels are "a" (as in cat), "i" (as in ski), "u" (as in rule), "e" (as in bed), and "o" (as in slow). That would seem to follow an orderly pattern, but unfortunately there are exceptions, as seen below.

Vowel-only Group
02	ア	あ	A
04	イ	い	I
06	ウ	う	U
08	エ	え	E
10	オ	お	O
80	ヰ	ゐ	I	How does this differ from 04?
81	ヱ	ゑ	E	How does this differ from 08?
82	ヲ	を	O	How does this differ from 10?
K Group
11	カ	か	Ka
13	キ	き	Ki
15	ク	く	Ku
17	ケ	け	Ke
19	コ	こ	Ko
G Group (voiced K)
12	ガ	が	Ga
14	ギ	ぎ	Gi
16	グ	ぐ	Gu
18	ゲ	げ	Ge
20	ゴ	ご	Go
S Group
21	サ	さ	Sa
23	シ	し	Shi	see also Sh group
25	ス	す	Su
27	セ	せ	Se
29	ソ	そ	So
			Si	doesn't exist
Z Group (voiced S)
22	ザ	ざ	Za
24	ジ	じ	Ji	same sound as 34 -- see also J group
26	ズ	ず	Zu
28	ゼ	ぜ	Ze
30	ゾ	ぞ	Zo
			Zi	doesn't exist
T Group
31	タ	た	Ta
33	チ	ち	Chi	see also Ch group
35	ッ	っ	Tsu	How does this differ from 36?
36	ツ	つ	Tsu
38	テ	て	Te
40	ト	と	To
38+03	テ + ィ	て + ぃ	Ti
40+05	ト + ゥ	と + ぅ	Tu
D Group (voiced T)
32	ダ	だ	Da
34	ヂ	ぢ	Ji	same sound as 24
37	ヅ	づ	Du
39	デ	で	De
41	ド	ど	Do
39+03	デ + ィ	で + ぃ	Di
41+05	ド + ゥ	ど + ぅ	Du	How is this different from 37?
N Group
42	ナ	な	Na
43	ニ	に	Ni
44	ヌ	ぬ	Nu
45	ネ	ね	Ne
46	ノ	の	No
83	ン	ん	N
H Group
47	ハ	は	Ha
50	ヒ	ひ	Hi
53	フ	ふ	Fu	see also F group
56	ヘ	へ	He
59	ホ	ほ	Ho
			Hu	doesn't exist
B Group (voiced H)
48	バ	ば	Ba
51	ビ	び	Bi
54	ブ	ぶ	Bu
57	ベ	べ	Be
60	ボ	ぼ	Bo
P Group (circled H)
49	パ	ぱ	Pa
52	ピ	ぴ	Pi
55	プ	ぷ	Pu
58	ペ	ぺ	Pe
61	ポ	ぽ	Po
M Group
62	マ	ま	Ma
63	ミ	み	Mi
64	ム	む	Mu
65	メ	め	Me
66	モ	も	Mo
Y Group
68	ヤ	や	Ya
			Yi	doesn't exist
70	ユ	ゆ	Yu
			Ye	doesn't exist
72	ヨ	よ	Yo
R Group
73	ラ	ら	Ra
74	リ	り	Ri
75	ル	る	Ru
76	レ	れ	Re
77	ロ	ろ	Ro
W Group
78	ヮ	ゎ	Wa	How does this differ from 79?
79	ワ	わ	Wa
06+03	ウ + ィ	う + ぃ	Wi
			Wu	doesn't exist, use U (06)
06+07	ウ + ェ	う + ぇ	We
06+09	ウ + ォ	う + ぉ	Wo
V Group
84+01	ヴ + ァ	ゔ + ぁ	Va
84+03	ヴ + ィ	ゔ + ぃ	Vi
84	ヴ	ゔ	Vu
84+07	ヴ + ェ	ゔ + ぇ	Ve
84+09	ヴ + ォ	ゔ + ぉ	Vo
F Group
53+01	フ + ァ	ふ + ぁ	Fa
53+03	フ + ィ	ふ + ぃ	Fi
53	フ	ふ	Fu	see also H group
53+07	フ + ェ	ふ + ぇ	Fe
53+09	フ + ォ	ふ + ぉ	Fo
Ch Group
33+67	チ + ャ	ち + ゃ	Cha	see modified I-vowel group
33	チ	ち	Chi	see also T group
33+69	チ + ュ	ち + ゅ	Chu	see modified U-vowel group
33+07	チ + ェ	ち + ぇ	Che
33+71	チ + ョ	ち + ょ	Cho	see modified O-vowel group
J Group
24+67	ジ + ャ	じ + ゃ	Ja	see modified I-vowel group
24	ジ	じ	Ji	see also Z group
24+69	ジ + ュ	じ + ゅ	Ju	see modified U-vowel group
24+07	ジ + ェ	じ + ぇ	Je
24+71	ジ + ョ	じ + ょ	Jo	see modified O-vowel group
Sh Group
23+67	シ + ャ	し + ゃ	Sha	see modified-I vowel group
23	シ	し	Shi	see also S group
23+69	シ + ュ	し + ゅ	Shu	see modified U-vowel group
23+07	シ + ェ	し + ぇ	She
23+71	シ + ョ	し + ょ	Sho	see modified O-vowel group
Modified I-vowel Group
13+67	キ + ャ	き + ゃ	Kya	modified Ki (K-group)
14+67	ギ + ャ	ぎ + ゃ	Gya	modified Gi (G-group)
23+67	シ + ャ	し + ゃ	Sha	modified Shi (S-group) -- see also Sh group
24+67	ジ + ャ	じ + ゃ	Ja	modified Ji (Z-group) -- see also J group
33+67	チ + ャ	ち + ゃ	Cha	modified Chi (T-group) -- see also Ch group
34+67	ヂ + ャ	ぢ + ゃ	Ja	modified Ji (D-group)
43+67	ニ + ャ	に + ゃ	Nya	modified Ni (N-group)
50+67	ヒ + ャ	ひ + ゃ	Hya	modified Hi (H-group)
51+67	ビ + ャ	び + ゃ	Bya	modified Bi (B-group)
52+67	ピ + ャ	ぴ + ゃ	Pya	modified Pi (P-group)
63+67	ミ + ャ	み + ゃ	Mya	modified Mi (M-group)
74+67	リ + ャ	り + ゃ	Rya	modified Ri (R-group)
Modified U-vowel Group
13+69	キ + ュ	き + ゅ	Kyu	modified Ku (K-group)
14+69	ギ + ュ	ぎ + ゅ	Gyu	modified Gu (G-group)
23+69	シ + ュ	し + ゅ	Shu	modified Su (S-group) -- see also Sh group
24+69	ジ + ュ	じ + ゅ	Ju	modified Zu (Z-group) -- see also J group
33+69	チ + ュ	ち + ゅ	Chu	modified Tsu (T-group) -- see also Ch group
34+69	ヂ + ュ	ぢ + ゅ	Ju	modified Du (D-group)
43+69	ニ + ュ	に + ゅ	Nyu	modified Nu (N-group)
50+69	ヒ + ュ	ひ + ゅ	Hyu	modified Fu (H-group)
51+69	ビ + ュ	び + ゅ	Byu	modified Bu (B-group)
52+69	ピ + ュ	ぴ + ゅ	Pyu	modified Pu (P-group)
63+69	ミ + ュ	み + ゅ	Myu	modified Mu (M-group)
74+69	リ + ュ	り + ゅ	Ryu	modified Ru (R-group)
Modified O-vowel Group
13+71	キ + ョ	き + ょ	Kyo	modified Ko (K-group)
14+71	ギ + ョ	ぎ + ょ	Gyo	modified Go (G-group)
23+71	シ + ョ	し + ょ	Sho	modified So (S-group) -- see also Sh group
24+71	ジ + ョ	じ + ょ	Jo	modified Zo (Z-group) -- see also J group
33+71	チ + ョ	ち + ょ	Cho	modified To (T-group) -- see also Ch group
34+71	ヂ + ョ	ぢ + ょ	Jo	modified Do (D-group)
43+71	ニ + ョ	に + ょ	Nyo	modified No (N-group)
50+71	ヒ + ョ	ひ + ょ	Hyo	modified Ho (H-group)
51+71	ビ + ョ	び + ょ	Byo	modified Bo (B-group)
52+71	ピ + ョ	ぴ + ょ	Pyo	modified Po (P-group)
63+71	ミ + ョ	み + ょ	Myo	modified Mo (M-group)
74+71	リ + ョ	り + ょ	Ryo	modified Ro (R-group)
What are these?
85	ヵ	ゕ
86	ヶ	ゖ
87	ヷ	゗
88	ヸ	゘
89	ヹ	゙
90	ヺ	゚
Miscellaneous
91	・	゛	Space
92	ー	゜	long	preceding vowel is long
93	ヽ	ゝ	unvoiced interation	repeat last syllable unvoiced
94	ヾ	ゞ	voiced interation	repeat last syllable voiced
95	ヿ	ゟ	Space