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Hiragana and katakana from zero

TokuGo's kana tables double as lesson lists. Open a row, tap the characters to hear them, see their stroke order, read the words you can already read, then take the row quiz. Completely free and ad-free.

Free to start · No account · 13 interface languages · Android 7.0 and up

Hiragana page: summary of known characters and the character table by row, filled cells for known characters

A table that doubles as a lesson list

The Hiragana and Katakana pages open from the "Japanese basics" section of the home screen. The summary card at the top counts the characters you know; the table below is in three groups: Basic (46 characters), Voiced (dakuten and handakuten), and Combinations (きゃ, しゅ, ちょ and so on). A filled cell means Known, an outlined cell means in progress.

Hiragana page: summary of known characters and the character table by row, filled cells for known characters

A lesson per row

Each table row is one lesson: character boxes you tap to hear, romaji, a known mark, stroke order for every character, and "Words you can read": real dictionary words made only of the characters learned up to that row, with the romaji behind a button so you try reading first. A "Quiz this row" button closes the lesson.

The か row lesson: five tappable characters, stroke order, and words you can already read

Reading rules

The last group of each table explains the rules beginners trip over: small っ and long vowels in hiragana; the long mark ー, small ッ and loanword combinations (ファ, ティ, ウィ) in katakana. Each rule has example words you can read.

Ten-question quizzes, no rescheduling

The kana quiz uses three question types: character to romaji, romaji to character, and sound to character. A character becomes Known after three correct answers in a row, and drops back to Learning on a mistake. Unlike words and kanji, characters are not rescheduled: once you can read them all, the table is done. The quiz summary shows your score, newly known characters, and the ones you missed.

Ten-question quizzes, no rescheduling

Start here

When you first open the app, it asks whether you are starting from zero or can already read hiragana. Beginners get "Meet hiragana" as the first step on the home screen, followed by the first 20 words, the first grammar lesson, the first kanji, and the first practice exam.