Japanese Kana and Basics: 200 Cards Starting from Zero

Nearly every beginner stalls on the same four pairs of kana, so those get their own cards.

200 cardsLast updated 2026-08-31

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Almost everyone learning kana confuses the same handful of shapes. Two characters differ only by a final loop. Two more are near mirror images. Two katakana differ only in where the dots sit and in the direction the strokes are written. These pairs are not hard, but nobody points them out, so learners discover them by getting them wrong repeatedly. This deck is 200 cards. Every hiragana and katakana appears, with the back cut into three fixed lines: "Reading" gives the romanised reading, "Notes" gives the stroke family or the shape it resembles, and "Example" gives a short word with its English gloss. The confusable pairs also get cards of their own. The remaining sections cover voiced and contracted sounds, long vowels and the small tsu, the core particles, and the greetings, numbers and phrases used from the first lesson. Kanji is avoided except for a handful of numbers and very common words, and glossed wherever it appears. That keeps the deck usable from the first day, before any kanji study begins. Once it is on a spaced-repetition schedule, the kana you read instantly stop coming back and the four or five you keep hesitating over return until they stop being a pause.

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What's inside

Showing 100 representative cards from the full 200-card deck.

Front	Back
あ	Reading: a as in father Notes: The first vowel. Three strokes, ending with a loop on the right. Example: あい — love
い	Reading: i as in machine Notes: Two separate strokes, the left one longer. Example: いえ — house
う	Reading: u as in flute Notes: Two strokes. The short mark on top sits above the curve. Example: うみ — sea
え	Reading: e as in bed Notes: Two strokes, with a flat top and a zigzag body. Example: えき — station
お	Reading: o as in for Notes: Three strokes. It is distinguished from あ by the small mark on the right. Example: おと — sound
か	Reading: ka Notes: Three strokes. Adding a voicing mark gives が, read ga. Example: かお — face
き	Reading: ki Notes: Four strokes in handwriting, often printed with the lower parts joined. Example: きた — north
く	Reading: ku Notes: A single stroke shaped like an angle opening to the right. Example: くち — mouth
け	Reading: ke Notes: Three strokes, with a vertical line on the left. Example: けさ — this morning
こ	Reading: ko Notes: Two short horizontal strokes. Example: ここ — here
さ	Reading: sa Notes: Three strokes. It mirrors ち, which curves the other way. Example: さかな — fish
し	Reading: shi Notes: One stroke curving up at the bottom. Read shi, not si. Example: しろ — white
す	Reading: su Notes: Two strokes ending in a loop below. Example: すし — sushi
せ	Reading: se Notes: Three strokes with a long horizontal line. Example: せかい — world
そ	Reading: so Notes: One or two strokes depending on the style, with a sharp zigzag. Example: そら — sky
た	Reading: ta Notes: Four strokes, resembling a plus sign beside a small ka. Example: たかい — expensive
ち	Reading: chi Notes: Two strokes. Read chi, not ti. It mirrors さ. Example: ちかい — near
つ	Reading: tsu Notes: One stroke. Read tsu, not tu. A small つ marks a doubled consonant. Example: つき — moon
て	Reading: te Notes: One stroke with a hook at the end. Example: て — hand
と	Reading: to Notes: Two strokes, a short dot beside a longer curve. Example: とり — bird
な	Reading: na Notes: Four strokes ending with a small loop. Example: なつ — summer
に	Reading: ni Notes: Three strokes, with a vertical line on the left. Example: にほん — Japan
ぬ	Reading: nu Notes: Two strokes ending in a loop. Compare with め, which has no loop. Example: いぬ — dog
ね	Reading: ne Notes: Two strokes ending in a loop. Compare with れ and わ. Example: ねこ — cat
の	Reading: no Notes: One stroke forming a spiral. Also the possessive particle. Example: のむ — to drink
は	Reading: ha Notes: Three strokes. Read wa when used as the topic particle. Example: はな — flower
ひ	Reading: hi Notes: One stroke curving to the right. Example: ひと — person
ふ	Reading: fu Notes: Four strokes. The sound is between h and f. Example: ふゆ — winter
へ	Reading: he Notes: One stroke shaped like a shallow peak. Read e as a particle. Example: へや — room
ほ	Reading: ho Notes: Four strokes. It is は with an extra horizontal line. Example: ほし — star
ま	Reading: ma Notes: Three strokes, similar to は but with a loop at the bottom. Example: まち — town
み	Reading: mi Notes: Two strokes with a loop on the left. Example: みず — water
む	Reading: mu Notes: Three strokes with a dot at the upper right. Example: むし — insect
め	Reading: me Notes: Two strokes. It differs from ぬ by having no loop at the end. Example: め — eye
も	Reading: mo Notes: Three strokes. Also the particle meaning also. Example: もり — forest
や	Reading: ya Notes: Three strokes. A small ゃ combines with the i-column kana. Example: やま — mountain
ゆ	Reading: yu Notes: Two strokes with a large loop. Example: ゆき — snow
ら	Reading: ra Notes: Two strokes. The r sound is a light tap, between r and l. Example: そら — sky
る	Reading: ru Notes: One stroke ending in a loop. Compare with ろ, which has none. Example: はる — spring
わ	Reading: wa Notes: Two strokes. Compare with ね and れ, which differ at the end. Example: わたし — I
ぬ and め	Reading: nu and me Notes: Both start the same way, but only ぬ ends in a loop. Example: いぬ — dog / め — eye
る and ろ	Reading: ru and ro Notes: Identical except that る ends in a loop. Example: はる — spring / ろく — six
ウ	Reading: u as in flute Notes: Three strokes. It is the base for ヴ in some loanwords. Example: ウール — wool
カ	Reading: ka Notes: Two strokes. It resembles hiragana か without the final dot. Example: カメラ — camera
ケ	Reading: ke Notes: Three strokes. Compare with ク, which lacks the top stroke. Example: ケーキ — cake
シ	Reading: shi Notes: Three strokes with the two dots on the left, written upward. Example: シャツ — shirt
ソ	Reading: so Notes: Two strokes with the dot at the top, written downward. Example: ソファ — sofa
ツ	Reading: tsu Notes: Three strokes with two dots on top, written downward. Example: ツアー — tour
ト	Reading: to Notes: Two strokes, a vertical with a short mark to the right. Example: トマト — tomato
ニ	Reading: ni Notes: Two horizontal strokes, the lower one longer. Example: ニュース — news
ノ	Reading: no Notes: A single diagonal stroke. It appears inside several other katakana. Example: ノート — notebook
フ	Reading: fu Notes: One stroke. Compare with ワ and ク, which are similar. Example: フォーク — fork
マ	Reading: ma Notes: Two strokes. Example: マスク — mask
ム	Reading: mu Notes: Two strokes. Example: ゲーム — game
モ	Reading: mo Notes: Three strokes, resembling hiragana も without the loop. Example: モデル — model
ヨ	Reading: yo Notes: Three strokes forming a comb shape. Example: ヨガ — yoga
ル	Reading: ru Notes: Two strokes. Example: ルール — rule
ワ	Reading: wa Notes: Two strokes. Compare with ク and フ. Example: ワイン — wine
ン	Reading: n on its own Notes: Two strokes written upward. Compare with ソ, written downward. Example: パン — bread
シ and ツ	Reading: shi and tsu Notes: The dots sit on the left in シ and on top in ツ, and the stroke directions differ. Example: シャツ — shirt / ツアー — tour
が	Reading: ga Notes: か with a voicing mark. The whole k-row voices to g. Example: がっこう — school
じ	Reading: ji Notes: し with a voicing mark. Read ji rather than zi. Example: じかん — time
ぢ and づ	Reading: ji and zu Notes: Voiced ち and つ. They sound the same as じ and ず and are rare. Example: つづく — to continue
ぱ	Reading: pa Notes: は with a small circle instead of two dots. Example: ぱん — bread
きゃ	Reading: kya Notes: き with a small ゃ. The two kana make one syllable. Example: きゃく — guest
ちょ	Reading: cho Notes: ち with a small ょ. Example: ちょっと — a little
the small tsu	Reading: sokuon Notes: A small っ that doubles the following consonant and adds a pause. Example: きって — postage stamp
long vowel with う	Reading: ou or oo Notes: In hiragana, o and u sounds are lengthened by adding う. Example: こうえん — park
long vowel with あ	Reading: aa Notes: The a sound is lengthened by adding another あ. Example: おかあさん — mother
the topic particle は	Reading: wa Notes: Written は but read wa when it marks the topic. Example: わたしはがくせいです — I am a student
the vowel u between voiceless sounds	Reading: devoicing Notes: The u in some syllables is barely voiced between voiceless consonants. Example: です — is, where the final u is very light
pitch accent	Reading: accent Notes: Japanese distinguishes words by pitch pattern rather than stress. Example: はし — chopsticks or bridge, told apart by pitch
writing loanwords	Reading: gairaigo Notes: Foreign words are written in katakana and adapted to Japanese sounds. Example: コンピューター — computer
l and r in loanwords	Reading: r-row for both Notes: Japanese has no separate l sound, so both become the r-row. Example: ライト — light or right
は as a particle	Reading: wa Notes: Marks the topic of the sentence, the thing being talked about. Example: わたしはにほんじんです — I am Japanese
は or が	Reading: wa or ga Notes: は presents known information as the topic and が introduces or identifies. Example: わたしがします — I will do it
に for time	Reading: ni Notes: Marks a specific point in time. Example: しちじにおきます — I get up at seven
に for existence	Reading: ni Notes: Marks the place where something or someone exists. Example: へやにいます — I am in the room
に or で	Reading: ni or de Notes: に marks existence or destination, and で marks where an action takes place. Example: いえにいます — I am at home / いえでたべます — I eat at home
と for and	Reading: to Notes: Joins nouns in a complete list. Example: パンとたまご — bread and eggs
の for possession	Reading: no Notes: Links two nouns, with the modifier coming first. Example: わたしのほん — my book
か as a question marker	Reading: ka Notes: Placed at the end of a sentence to make it a question. Example: がくせいですか — Are you a student?
です	Reading: desu Notes: The polite copula, placed at the end of a sentence. Example: がくせいです — I am a student
ます	Reading: masu Notes: The polite present and future ending for verbs. Example: たべます — I eat
ませんでした	Reading: masen deshita Notes: The polite past negative verb ending. Example: いきませんでした — I did not go
dropping the subject	Reading: omission Notes: The subject is left out when it is clear from context. Example: たべます — I eat, with the subject understood
これ, それ and あれ	Reading: kore, sore and are Notes: This near me, that near you, and that over there. Example: これはペンです — This is a pen
ここ, そこ and あそこ	Reading: koko, soko and asoko Notes: Here, there and over there as places. Example: ここはえきです — This is the station
おはようございます	Reading: ohayou gozaimasu Notes: The polite morning greeting. The short form おはよう is casual. Example: おはようございます — Good morning
こんばんは	Reading: konbanwa Notes: The evening greeting. It also ends in は, read wa. Example: こんばんは — Good evening
ありがとうございます	Reading: arigatou gozaimasu Notes: The polite way to say thank you. ありがとう alone is casual. Example: ありがとうございます — Thank you
ごめんなさい	Reading: gomen nasai Notes: An apology, more personal than すみません. Example: ごめんなさい — I am sorry
いただきます	Reading: itadakimasu Notes: Said before eating. Example: いただきます — Said before a meal
はい and いいえ	Reading: hai and iie Notes: Yes and no. はい also signals that you are listening. Example: はい、そうです — Yes, that is right
いち, に, さん	Reading: ichi, ni, san Notes: One, two and three. These are the readings used for counting. Example: いち, に, さん — one, two, three
く and きゅう	Reading: ku and kyuu Notes: Two readings for nine. きゅう is the more common one. Example: きゅう — nine
げつようび	Reading: getsuyoubi Notes: Monday. All the day names end in ようび. Example: げつようびにいきます — I go on Monday
ひと	Reading: hito Notes: Person. It is a very common everyday noun. Example: あのひとはだれですか — Who is that person?
たべる	Reading: taberu Notes: To eat. The polite form is たべます. Example: パンをたべます — I eat bread
する	Reading: suru Notes: To do. The polite form is します, and it combines with many nouns. Example: べんきょうします — I study

Frequently asked

What is in each section of the deck?

Hiragana has 50 cards, katakana 50, sounds and spelling 35, particles and sentence basics 35, and first words and phrases 30, for 200 in total. Every card carries section and subtopic tags, so you can drill only hiragana, only the confusable shapes, or only the particles.

Do I need to know any Japanese to start?

None at all. The deck begins with the five vowels and builds from there. By the end you can read both syllabaries, handle the sound changes that written kana hide, use the core particles, and produce the phrases a first lesson covers.

Does it teach kanji?

No, and that is deliberate. Kanji study is a separate and much longer project, and starting it before kana are automatic slows both down. A few numbers and very common words appear in kanji with a gloss, because you will meet them immediately, but nothing more.

Can I import the whole deck on the free plan?

Yes. Importing a saved deck runs no new AI generation and spends no AI credits, so the free plan imports all 200 cards. You can study, edit and delete them afterwards.

Will importing it twice create duplicates?

No. Cards you already have are skipped and only cards added in a revision come through. Including re-imports after deleting it, one official deck can be imported three times per account.

Can I use it on the web and in the mobile app?

Yes. The deck is added to your account rather than to a device, so the same cards and the same progress are there on the web, on iOS and on Android.

Can I edit the cards after importing?

Yes. Imported cards are yours: you can edit both sides, delete cards you do not need, change tags, and move cards to another deck.