4.3. Hiragana shapes


4.3.1. Hiragana fonts


The following hiraganas often have different shapes for different fonts. Since all the Japanese characters have the same height and width, they don't have a different width in proportional fonts. Even the smaller kanas used for double kanas have the same height and width, considering the space around them.


Phoneme/ki//sa//na//hu//mu//ya//yu//ra//ri/
Pronunciation"ki""sa""na""fu""mu""ya""yu""ra""ri"
FontsGothic (ki of Gothic) (sa of Gothic) (na of Gothic) (hu of Gothic) (mu of Gothic) (ya of Gothic) (yu of Gothic) (ra of Gothic) (ri of Gothic)
Minchô (ki of Minchô) (sa of Minchô) (na of Minchô) (hu of Minchô) (mu of Minchô) (ya of Minchô) (yu of Minchô) (ra of Minchô) (ri of Minchô)
Kaisho (ki of Kaisho) (sa of Kaisho) (na of Kaisho) (hu of Kaisho) (mu of Kaisho) (ya of Kaisho) (yu of Kaisho) (ra of Kaisho) (ri of Kaisho)
Marumoji (ki of Marumoji) (sa of Marumoji) (na of Marumoji) (hu of Marumoji) (mu of Marumoji) (ya of Marumoji) (yu of Marumoji) (ra of Marumoji) (ri of Marumoji)

The Gothic font is equivalent to the Helvetica font. The font has nothing to do with the German Gothic font. It has no serif, so it is easier to learn.

Most of newspapers and books use the Minchô font. This font is equivalent to the Times Roman font in America.

The Kaisho font is similar to the Script font, and Japanese people prefer to write hiraganas like this font in calligraphy. For daily writing, the hiraganas /sa/ and /ki/ are written like the Kaisho font, and other hiraganas are written like the Gothic font.

The Marumoji font is a pop font often used for advertisements.

4.3.2. Confusing hiraganas


The following hiraganas resemble one another.

Phoneme/a//o//nu//me/
Pronunciation"a""o""nu""me"
FontsGothic (a of Gothic)(o of Gothic)(nu of Gothic)(me of Gothic)
Minchô (a of Minchô)(o of Minchô)(nu of Minchô)(me of Minchô)
Kaisho (a of Kaisho)(o of Kaisho)(nu of Kaisho)(me of Kaisho)
Marumoji (a of Marumoji)(o of Marumoji)(nu of Marumoji)(me of Marumoji)


Phoneme/i//ri/
Pronunciation"i""ri"
FontsGothic (i of Gothic)(ri of Gothic)
Minchô (i of Minchô)(ri of Minchô)
Kaisho (i of Kaisho)(ri of Kaisho)
Marumoji (i of Marumoji)(ri of Marumoji)


Phonemes/u//e//ra/
Pronunciation"u""e""ra"
FontsGothic (u of Gothic)(e of Gothic)(ra of Gothic)
Minchô (u of Minchô)(e of Minchô)(ra of Minchô)
Kaisho (u of Kaisho)(e of Kaisho)(ra of Kaisho)
Marumoji (u of Marumoji)(e of Marumoji)(ra of Marumoji)


Phoneme/ki//sa//ti/
Pronunciation"ki""sa""chi"
FontsGothic (ki of Gothic)(sa of Gothic)(ti of Gothic)
Minchô (ki of Minchô)(sa of Minchô)(ti of Minchô)
Kaisho (ki of Kaisho)(sa of Kaisho)(ti of Kaisho)
Marumoji (ki of Marumoji)(sa of Marumoji)(ti of Marumoji)


Phoneme/ke//ni//ha//ho/
Pronunciation"ke""ni""ha""ho"
FontsGothic (ke of Gothic)(ni of Gothic)(ha of Gothic)(ho of Gothic)
Minchô (ke of Minchô)(ni of Minchô)(ha of Minchô)(ho of Minchô)
Kaisho (ke of Kaisho)(ni of Kaisho)(ha of Kaisho)(ho of Kaisho)
Marumoji (ke of Marumoji)(ni of Marumoji)(ha of Marumoji)(ho of Marumoji)


Phoneme/ne//re//wa/
Phoneme"ne""re""wa"
FontsGothic (ne of Gothic)(re of Gothic)(wa of Gothic)
Minchô (ne of Minchô)(re of Minchô)(wa of Minchô)
Kaisho (ne of Kaisho)(re of Kaisho)(wa of Kaisho)
Marumoji (ne of Marumoji)(re of Marumoji)(wa of Marumoji)


Phoneme/ru//ro/
Pronunciation"ru""ro"
FontsGothic (ru of Gothic)(ro of Gothic)
Minchô (ru of Minchô)(ro of Minchô)
Kaisho (ru of Kaisho)(ro of Kaisho)
Marumoji (ru of Marumoji)(ro of Marumoji)



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