How to read the chart
The chart follows the standard gojūon (“fifty sounds”) order. Vowels run across the top; consonant families run down the side. Read down the a column: あ か さ た な は ま や ら わ. These sounds share the same vowel. Saying them aloud makes the pattern easier to hear and gives each shape a sound to connect with.
You do not need to memorise the chart as a sequence. Start with one row, listen to each character and then try to say it before playing the audio again. The empty positions in the y and w rows are intentional: they once held old characters such as ゐ and ゑ, which modern Japanese no longer uses. Modern Japanese uses や ゆ よ and わ を; the nasal ん sits in its own row because it does not belong to a vowel column. The particle を is normally pronounced o, although charts often label it wo to distinguish its spelling.
Dakuten and yōon
Open the sections below the basic table when you are ready for voiced and combined sounds. Dakuten are the two small marks in が. They change k to g, s to z, t to d and h to b, with a few romaji surprises: じ and ぢ are both ji, and ず and づ are both zu. Handakuten is the little circle that changes h to p. Its five characters have their own section so you can see the difference clearly.
Yōon combines an i-row character with a small ゃ ゅ ょ. For example, きゃ is kya, one combined sound; きや is ki-ya, two separate beats. Tap the combined sound to hear the whole pronunciation and see the writing order of both components. This chart covers the standard combined sounds; additional katakana spellings used for foreign words are outside these tables.
When to hide romaji
Romaji helps you get started, but it can also become the part your eye reads first. Try turning it off for one row and reading the characters aloud. Turn it back on to check yourself, then repeat the row in a different order. A slow answer is useful information about what needs another look, rather than a reason to start the entire chart again.
Compare similar shapes together. The differences between シ and ツ, or ね and れ, become easier to notice when you alternate them. Practise both scripts separately before combining them in reading. Hiragana appears in grammatical endings and many everyday words; katakana is common in loanwords, names and emphasis.
Writing and listening
Select a character to reveal its memory hook and stroke diagram. Press replay to watch strokes appear in order, then trace the same movement with your finger or a pencil. Reduced-motion settings keep the complete diagram visible without animation. Hooks are optional memory aids, not explanations of how a character developed. Some combined sounds do not have a separate hook.
Audio uses Niwa's generated kana clips. If a clip cannot load, the chart tells you and you can try again. Listening to an isolated sound is a starting point; reading short words and sentences adds the rhythm and context a chart cannot supply.
Character data, audio provenance and stroke credits are listed on the tool data attribution page.