あHirakata
ハ Stroke order

Katakana H-Row stroke order: ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ

Most of this row is one or two strokes. ヒ is the one people reverse: the short horizontal comes first, then the vertical that turns right at the bottom. ホ is like a cross with two small marks underneath, and the cross goes first.

H-Row characters

(ha) 2 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2

The left stroke first, then the right one.

(hi) 2 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2

The short horizontal first, then the vertical that turns right at the bottom.

(fu) 1 stroke

  1. 1

One stroke: across, then down and to the left.

(he) 1 stroke

  1. 1

One stroke, a short rise then a long fall to the right.

(ho) 4 strokes

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

Crossbar, vertical, then the two small marks underneath, left then right.

Dakuten and handakuten

バ ビ ブ ベ ボ 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. パ ピ プ ペ ポ add a small circle (handakuten) at the top right instead, drawn last in one motion.

(ba) 4 strokes

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

(bi) 4 strokes

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

(bu) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

(be) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

(bo) 6 strokes

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

(pa) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

(pi) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

(pu) 2 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2

(pe) 2 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2

(po) 5 strokes

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

Contracted sounds

Contracted sounds are two characters: the full-size base followed by a small ャ, ュ, ョ. 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.

(hya) 4 strokes

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

(hyu) 4 strokes

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

(hyo) 5 strokes

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

(bya) 6 strokes

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

(byu) 6 strokes

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

(byo) 7 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7

(pya) 5 strokes

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

(pyu) 5 strokes

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

(pyo) 6 strokes

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

Keep going

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

Previous rowN-Row: ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ
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