あHirakata
さ Stroke order

Hiragana S-Row stroke order: さ し す せ そ

さ and し are two of the easiest characters in hiragana to write, and す and せ are two of the trickiest. The rule that helps most in this row is that a long vertical stroke crossing a horizontal one comes after it. す, せ and さ all start with their crossbar.

S-Row characters

(sa) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

Crossbar, then the slanted line through it, then the bottom curve. It is ち flipped, so compare them.

(shi) 1 stroke

  1. 1

One stroke from the top, straight down, then curving up to the right.

(su) 2 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2

Crossbar first. The vertical stroke comes down through it, makes a small loop and continues down.

(se) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

The long crossbar first, then the right vertical with its hook, then the left stroke that curves along the bottom.

(so) 1 stroke

  1. 1

One continuous stroke here. Some textbooks split the top zig-zag into a second stroke, so you may see it written either way.

Dakuten and handakuten

ざ じ ず ぜ ぞ are written exactly like the characters above, then finished with two short ticks (dakuten) at the top right. The left tick comes first, and both always come after the rest of the character.

(za) 5 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

(ji) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

(zu) 4 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4

(ze) 5 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

(zo) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

Contracted sounds

Contracted sounds are two characters: the full-size base followed by a small ゃ, ゅ, ょ. Write the base exactly as usual, then the small character in the lower half of the next square, at about half size. Its strokes are the same as the full-size version, just smaller.

(sha) 4 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4

(shu) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

(sho) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

(ja) 6 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6

(ju) 5 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

(jo) 5 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

Keep going

Learn what each character looks like and how to remember it in the hiragana S-Row mnemonics article, then drill recognition with S-Row flashcards. The same row in katakana is here.

Previous rowK-Row: か き く け こ
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