How to Memorise Japanese Hiragana in Two Weeks
May 9, 2026 · 5 min · japanese hiragana · learn japanese · hiragana memorisation
Hiragana is the foundation of Japanese. Until you can read it, you can't even use a Japanese textbook properly. The good news: it's only 46 characters and you can learn them in two weeks.
The plan
- Day 1: vowels (あ い う え お)
- Day 2: K-row (か き く け こ)
- Day 3: S-row (さ し す せ そ)
- Day 4: T-row (た ち つ て と)
- Day 5: review days 1-4
- Day 6: N-row (な に ぬ ね の)
- Day 7: H-row (は ひ ふ へ ほ)
- Day 8: M-row (ま み む め も)
- Day 9: review days 6-8
- Day 10: Y-row (や ゆ よ)
- Day 11: R-row (ら り る れ ろ)
- Day 12: W-row + N (わ を ん)
- Day 13: review everything
- Day 14: read your first basic sentence
Five new characters a day, with constant review. This is exactly what spaced repetition is for.
How to actually memorise each one
- Look at the character
- Say its sound out loud
- Trace it in the air
- Make a mnemonic (e.g. か looks like a knife = ka)
- Make a flashcard
Use Flashcards right from day one
Don't wait. Add five cards a day. Spaced repetition handles the rest.
What to read after week 2
- Children's books (free online)
- Hiragana-only menus
- Tadoku graded readers (free)
Common pitfalls
- Confusing similar pairs: は (ha) vs ほ (ho), さ (sa) vs ち (chi), ぬ (nu) vs め (me)
- Trying to learn hiragana and katakana at the same time (do hiragana first)
- Skipping the writing practice (the motor memory is part of the learning)
After hiragana comes katakana (another 46 characters, used for foreign words). Then kanji, which is the long road. But hiragana is the foundation.