The Basic Kana

The modern Japanese writing system contains 92 basic phonetic characters, in two syllabaries, called the kana. The hiragana syllabary is used primarily for writing words of Japanese origin. The katakana syllabary is typically used for writing words of foreign origin. The table below shows the hiragana and the katakana with their pronunciations written in rōmaji.

The basic kana are known as the gojuuon, which literally means 50 sounds (五十, fifty; 音, sound), even though there are only 46 basic kana in each syllabary. The term gojuuon has carried over from the past when there were a few more kana than are used in modern Japanese.