The gojūon (五十音) is a Japanese ordering of kana. Gojū (五十) means `fifty', and on (音) means 'sound', so gojūon means 'fifty sound' ordering. Despite the name, it only contains 46 common sounds, plus two no longer in use.

The gojūon contains all the basic kana, but it does not include

• versions of kana with a dakuten such as が or だ,
• smaller kana, such as っ for つ,
• kana with added ょ, the yōon forms, such as きょ or しゃ.

The gojūon order is the prevalent system for collating Japanese in Japan. For example, dictionaries are ordered using this method. Other systems used are the iroha ordering, and, for kanji, the radical ordering.

History

The gojūon is an ancient invention. The ordering of the consonants in the gojūon originates from the consonant order of Sanskrit. The earliest example of a gojūon-style layout dates from the period 1004-1028. In contrast, the earliest example of the alternative iroha ordering is from 1079.

Table

This table uses the vertical system of Japanese writing, and should be read from the right to the left. In each entry, the top entry is the hiragana, the second entry is the corresponding katakana, the third entry is the Hepburn romanization of the kana, and the fourth entry is the pronunciation written in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Please see Japanese phonology for more details on the individual sounds.

¹ These kana are no longer in common use.

Ordering

In the ordering based on the gojuon, smaller versions of kana are treated in the same way as full size versions:

• the sokuon, the small kana tsu, is ordered in the same way as the large tsu, and after them. Thus, for example,

  まつ　まったく　まつば　まとう (matsu, mattaku, matsuba, matou)

• yōon sounds are ordered in the same way as the full sized sounds, and before them, thus, for example,

  きょ　きよ　きょい　きよい　きょう (kyo, kiyo, kyoi, kiyoi, kyou)

Voiced versions of the kana (those with a dakuten) are placed after the kana, and classified under their unvoiced versions. Thus, for example,

すすき　すずき　すずしい　すすむ　(susuki, suzuki, suzushii, susumu).

Mnemonics

In order to remember the gojuon, various mnemonics have been devised. For example,

Ah, Kana Symbols: Take Note How Many You Read Well.

Kana Signs, Think Now How Much You Really Want (to learn them).

The first letters in these phrases give the ordering of the non-voiced initial sounds.

For vowel ordering, the vowel sounds in the following English phrase may be used as a mnemonic:

Ah, we soon get old.

The vowel sounds in the English words approximate the Japanese vowels: a, i, u, e, o.

References

• "The Japanese language", Roy Andrew Miller, ISBN 0226527182, describes the origin of gojūon in Sanskrit.
• Gendai Kokugo Reikai Jiten, ISBN 4095010428, used to obtain examples of dictionary ordering.

External links

• sci.lang.japan FAQ on the origin of kana order contains the relevant quote from the above reference.

Japanese writing system

Gojūon | Gojūon | 五十音 | 五十音