Japanese Writing

書き方THE JAPANESE HOUSE
ACTIVITIES

Learn about Japanesewriting and give ita try yourself!
TIME:
25 minutes
MATERIALS:• Video: Many Homes
in Kyoto, Japan—Ran

1. Learn about Japanese Writing• Kanji and Hiragana
activity worksheets

In Japanese, there are three writing systems called Hiragana,Katakana, and Kanji. Hiragana and Katakana are both made up of 46
basic letters. Each of these letters represents one syllable. Hiragana
is used to write Japanese words, and Katakana is often used to write
words from foreign languages. Japanese children start learning towrite with Hiragana and Katakana in first grade.

PRONUNCIATIONGUIDE:Kanji: Kah-n-gee

Kanji, originally from China, is the writing system made of thousands of characters. Each character represents specific meaning. By
putting characters together, you get new words with new meanings.
Once first grade students have mastered Hiragana and Katakana,they start learning Kanji, but that takes a lot longer. By sixth grade,
students will have learned 1,000 characters; to read newspapers,
it’s said you need to know 2,000 Kanji characters.

Katakana: Kah-tah-kahnah

Hiragana: Hee-rah-gahnah

Besides these three writing systems, Rō­­maji, the romanization ofJapanese, is also commonly used.
Hiragana

あ い う え おKatakana
ア イ ウ エ オ
Romajia i u e oKanji
一 + 人 = 一人
ichi (one)1hito (person)

hitori (one personor alone)© 2013 Boston Children’s Museum

2. Practice Writing in Japanese

KYO NO MACHIYAACTIVITIES

1. Watch the chapter “Ran” in the video “Many Homes in Kyoto, Japan” andfind her calligraphy done in brush and ink.
2. Review stroke orders in the activity sheets.
Stroke order is important: it often helps one to remember how to write letters and characters correctly, especially those with many strokes. Ingeneral, stroke order goes from top to bottom and from left to right.
3. Follow the stroke order and trace the dotted line.
4. Write on your own in the empty boxes. Remember to follow the strokeorders!

2© 2013 Boston Children’s Museum

3. Things to Talk about• If you want to learn more about Japanese writing, here are some books youmight like!
—Jimi’s Book of Japanese: A Motivating Method To Learn Japanese(Hiragana), by Peter X. Takahashi—Jimi’s Book of Japanese: A Motivating Method To Learn Japanese(Katakana), by Peter X. Takahashi• To see more Hiragana, Katakana, and Romaji, check out the chart on page 4.
• Kanji developed from pictures of the words they represented. For example,
below is how the Kanji character ki (tree) was developed. See more Kanjievolution on pages 5 and 6.

ki (tree)3© 2013 Boston Children’s MuseumRomaji

Hiragana
Katakana

あa ア

THE JAPANESE HOUSE
ACTIVITIESn ンna ナta タsa サka カa ア

ni ニchi チshi シki キi イnu ヌ

tsu ツsu ス

ku クu ウhe ヘne ネte テse セke ケe エme メ

hu フre レ

mu ムめ へ ね て せ け えyu ユれru ルる ゆ む ふ ぬ つ す く うhi ヒmi ミ

ha ハri リ

ma マ

み ひ に ち し き いya ヤりra ラ(w)o ヲ

ro ロ

yo ヨmo モ

ho ホno ノto ト

so ソo オ© 2013 Boston Children’s Museum

ko コ

を ろ よ も ほ の と そ こ お

wa ワ

ん わ ら や ま は な た さ か あHiragana
Katakana
RomajiTHE JAPANESE HOUSE
ACTIVITIESKanji Evolutionkawa (river)5tsuki (moon)yama (mountain)© 2013 Boston Children’s MuseumTHE JAPANESE HOUSE
ACTIVITIESKanji Evolutionhi (sun)6kuchi (mouth)me (eye)© 2013 Boston Children’s MuseumTHE JAPANESE HOUSE
ACTIVITIES

Writing in Hiragana

3

2

1

yukisnow
3
1

fuyu
winter2

1

yamamountains

iehome

3

4

2

2
1

2
2

1

1

3

1

1
2

2
47

© 2013 Boston Children’s MuseumTHE JAPANESE HOUSE
ACTIVITIES

Writing Kanji Numbers

1ichi (one)12ni (two)123san (three)8© 2013 Boston Children’s MuseumTHE JAPANESE HOUSE
ACTIVITIES

Writing Kanji Characters

1

2

3kawa (river)1

2

3yama (mountain)

12

3

9tsuki (moon)
4© 2013 Boston Children’s MuseumTHE JAPANESE HOUSE
ACTIVITIES

Writing Kanji Characters

123hi (sun)
4

1

2kuchi (mouth)31
2me (eye)

3

4

510

© 2013 Boston Children’s Museum