A in hiragana: あ

The syllable ‘a’ in hiragana is written あ.

あ ‘a’ hiragana stroke order

あ has three strokes:

• A horizontal left to right stroke.
• A vertical stroke that cuts through the first one.
• A looping stroke that starts cutting to the left through stroke #2, back up through it to the right, and then loops back around to the left again.

あ ‘a’ hiragana mnemonic

See also: Making mnemonics

This image should help you to remember how to write ‘a’ in hiragana by associating the letter a with the shape of あ. Remember that the English words used here are not a pronunciation guide. They help you to remember how to write あ, not how to say it.

To learn pronunciation you need to get a lot of listening and speaking practice done. Online services like JapanesePod 101 can help with that.

あ is an arch.

あ ‘a’ hiragana origins

あ is derived from the kanji 安 (an) . This is pronounced ān in Mandarin Chinese (hanzi) and an in Korean (hanja).

Useful links

• Kana Pict-o-Graphix: Mnemonics for Japanese Hiragana and Katakana
• Let’s Learn Hiragana: First Book of Japanese Writing
• Hiragana mnemonics on asahi-net.or.jp
• Hiragana mnemonics on japanese.gatech.edu
• Japanese Hiragana - Omniglot