Katakana chart

Katakana is the angular script Japanese uses for words borrowed from other languages, foreign names, onomatopoeia and emphasis. All 46 basic characters are below with their romaji, plus the voiced forms and the small-ya combinations.

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The basic 46 (gojūon)

Read down each column: the five vowels a, i, u, e, o run left to right, and each row adds a consonant. ケ is not read ke in a few place names, and ヲ is effectively unused in modern writing — you will still see it in older text and lyrics.

aiueo
— ア a イ i ウ u エ e オ o
k カ ka キ ki ク ku ケ ke コ ko
s サ sa シ shi ス su セ se ソ so
t タ ta チ chi ツ tsu テ te ト to
n ナ na ニ ni ヌ nu ネ ne ノ no
h ハ ha ヒ hi フ fu ヘ he ホ ho
m マ ma ミ mi ム mu メ me モ mo
y ヤ ya · ユ yu · ヨ yo
r ラ ra リ ri ル ru レ re ロ ro
w ワ wa · · · ヲ wo
n ン n — the only consonant that stands alone

Voiced sounds (dakuten and handakuten)

Two small strokes (゛) or a small circle (゜) in the top right change the consonant: k becomes g, s becomes z, t becomes d, h becomes b or p. These are not new characters to memorise — they are the same 46 shapes with a mark.

g ガ ga ギ gi グ gu ゲ ge ゴ go
z ザ za ジ ji ズ zu ゼ ze ゾ zo
d ダ da ヂ ji ヅ zu デ de ド do
b バ ba ビ bi ブ bu ベ be ボ bo
p パ pa ピ pi プ pu ペ pe ポ po

Combinations (yōon)

A small ya, yu or yo after an i-column character fuses into one syllable: き + small ya is kya, not ki-ya. Written full size it would be two syllables, so the size matters.

ky キャ kya キュ kyu キョ kyo
sh シャ sha シュ shu ショ sho
ch チャ cha チュ chu チョ cho
ny ニャ nya ニュ nyu ニョ nyo
hy ヒャ hya ヒュ hyu ヒョ hyo
my ミャ mya ミュ myu ミョ myo
ry リャ rya リュ ryu リョ ryo
gy ギャ gya ギュ gyu ギョ gyo
j ジャ ja ジュ ju ジョ jo
by ビャ bya ビュ byu ビョ byo
py ピャ pya ピュ pyu ピョ pyo

Practise it row by row

Reading a chart is not learning it — writing is. Each row below has a tracing sheet: trace it, then cover the chart and write the row from memory. Five characters a day finishes the whole script in about a week.

ア・イ・ウ・エ・オ カ・キ・ク・ケ・コ サ・シ・ス・セ・ソ タ・チ・ツ・テ・ト ナ・ニ・ヌ・ネ・ノ ハ・ヒ・フ・ヘ・ホ マ・ミ・ム・メ・モ ヤ・ユ・ヨ ラ・リ・ル・レ・ロ ワ・ヲ・ン ガ・ギ・グ・ゲ・ゴ ザ・ジ・ズ・ゼ・ゾ ダ・ヂ・ヅ・デ・ド バ・ビ・ブ・ベ・ボ… ア・イ・ウ・エ・オ

What comes next

Once you can read this chart without hesitating, move on to the hiragana chart and its worksheets, then start JLPT N5 kanji and N5 grammar. The full study plan lays out the whole route, and the JLPT page shows what each level covers.

This chart and every worksheet on Japaneseness are free and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 — print them, copy them, hand them out in class.