A In Hiragana – How To Write A In Japanese

Hiragana A – How To Write A In Japanese In 3 Steps

The Hiragana chart matrix in Japanese language is like the alphabet to Western people. It has a set of characters, or symbols, where each symbol represents a vocal sound.

The first character in Hiragana is the symbol for A, just like in the Western alphabet.

Here are the three steps in how to draw the A character:

Step 1 – Horizontal Line:

Begin by drawing a horizontal line from left to right. It should start slightly above the center of the square and lean a tiny bit upwards in a curve like manner.

Step 2 – Vertical Line:

The second line in Hiragana A character consists of a curved vertical line, being drawn from top to bottom. It leans to the left. Remember to not draw this line complete straight.

Step 3 – Curved Intersecting Spiral Loop:

The third step in drawing A in Hiragana is to make a curved circular line that crosses itself. Start drawing the third line a little bit to the right from the center of the square box and lean down towards left until you cross the bottom of your recent second line.

After that change direction by curving the line upwards and return back towards right about half way up along the piece of the second line that is below the first horizontal line. Look at my illustration.

Continue crossing your the start of your third line and then bend the line downwards again and aim slightly below the bottom part of the second line. There you fade out the line and end it there.

Finished Drawing Hiragana For A

Now you are done! You’ve successfully learned how to write the A character in Hiragana.

It took only 3 strokes to finish it. Keep practicing until you feel comfortable drawing this Hiragana symbol.

To practice Kana symbols is an essential skill in Japanese. You can’t manage Japanese language without learning how to write in Hiragana and how to read text in Hiragana.

Especially when it comes to Japanese grammar, where Hiragana characters are added to Kanji symbols. Therefore it’s especially important for your success to learn Hiragana.

The A character is the first of the 46 basic Hiragana symbols to for you to learn. The third part of this A character is actually similar to another Hiragana character called NO.

Historical Aspect Of A Character In Hiragana In Japan

You can actually see plenty of ancient stone statues here in Japan where a mythological creature opens its mouth. That statue is actually saying the sound of A in Japanese.

Why? Well, there’s another statue in pair as well – usually close to a gateway nearby a religious Shinto shrine. The other Japanese creature statue has its mouth closed, saying the sound of N character.

You may still wonder why these two Hiragana characters? And why exactly A and N?

The answer to those questions is that in the past when people in general couldn’t read or write, then it was very powerful to know the Hiragana alphabet.

To be able to write in Japanese equals to knowledge, which in turn leads to insight.

When you enter a holy Shinto shrine area, then those stone statues of scary looking monster creatures saying A and N, means all the character symbols between A to N.

If you by now have not got the idea of why it’s N, then think of this. What is the last character of the Western alphabet? That’s Z if you refer to the English alphabet and some other character (Ö) if you for example refer to the Swedish alphabet.

Here in Japan the last character in both Hiragana & Katakana charts is the N character.

In other words to say A to N in Japanese is like saying A to Z in English. Meaning everything. Knowledge of everything. The one who can read – he or she knows.

Those guardian statues show the knowledge of everything, from A to Z, or as it’s categorized here in Japan – A to N in Japanese language. Knowledge is power.

Filed under: Hiragana Chart

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