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Order of kana symbols in the hiragana and katakana alphabets

The kana is presented in alphabetical or ‘dictionary’ order. Remember that some other kana tables may sometimes ‘appear’ the wrong way around, since the kana is traditionally read vertically right to left.

Please note these conventions:

• unvoiced kana takes precedence over voiced e.g. あ さ asa (morning) comes just before あ ざ aza (bruise).
• A chouon ー is treated as the vowel it follows
• The small glottal stop っ tsu is treated as a big つ
• In glides (e.g. きょ kyo’), the little ゃゅ and ょ are treated as big や ゆ よ
• If you are looking up a word, remember that silent u’s and chouon’s are often buried in Romaji.

Here are a couple of my mnemonics for remembering the kana column order (look at the consonants, except for the first):

あ	か	さ	た	な	は	ま	や	ら	わ	ん￿
a	ka	sa	ta	na	ha	ma	ya	ra	wa	n
O.K..? Sit on him? .. You’re a wino! A Kos tune: ‘Hum your own’

Japanese language learning
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