Hiragana: the 46 that unlock everything

Hiragana is phonetic, regular and small enough to finish in a week. Everything else in Japanese leans on it, including the way you type kanji.

The layout is a grid, not a list

Five vowels (a i u e o) across, consonant rows down. Once you know the grid, か is simply k + a, and け is k + e. Three cells break the pattern and are worth flagging early: し is shi not si, ち is chi, and つ is tsu. ん is the only standalone consonant.

Dakuten and small kana

Two ticks voice a row: か→が, さ→ざ, た→だ, は→ば. A small circle turns は into ぱ. A small や, ゆ or よ after an i-row kana fuses into one syllable — きゃ, しゅ, ちょ. A small っ doubles the next consonant, which you type by doubling the letter (kitte → きって). These are the third-tier targets in the game, and they are where most self-study stalls, so they get repeated alongside the basics rather than after.

Typing hiragana

With a Japanese IME set to Romaji, typing na produces な immediately. In Script Fall the character counts the moment it appears — you never have to press Enter — so hiragana practice is fast even on a phone. On the Kana flick keyboard you tap the row and flick to the vowel, which is faster once learned and is a fine way to play on mobile.

Next: katakana →