KA in hiragana: か

The syllable ‘ka’ in hiragana is written か.

か ‘ka’ hiragana stroke order

か has three strokes:

• A stroke that starts horizontally left to right, before cutting back down under itself not quite vertically.
• A stroke that cuts almost vertically through the first, going down slightly to the left.
• A short diagonal stroke to the right.

か ‘ka’ hiragana mnemonic

See also: Making mnemonics

This image should help you to remember how to write ‘ka’ in hiragana by associating the letters ka with the shape of か. Remember that the English words used here are not a pronunciation guide. They help you to remember how to write か, 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](/recommended/japanesepod-101/” rel="nofollow “Learn Japanese [affiliate link]") can help with that.

か is a catapult.

If you have any other mnemonics for か, please share them in the comments below.

Useful links

• [Kana Pict-o-Graphix: Mnemonics for Japanese Hiragana and Katakana](http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1880656183/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1880656183&linkCode=as2&tag=easasistu-21" rel="external nofollow)
• [Let’s Learn Hiragana: First Book of Japanese Writing](http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0870117092/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0870117092&linkCode=as2&tag=easasistu-21" rel="external nofollow)
• Hiragana mnemonics on asahi-net.or.jp
• Hiragana mnemonics on japanese.gatech.edu