Hiragana in Print vs Handwriting: き, さ, そ and り

In 2016, the Japanese government’s Council for Cultural Affairs published guidelines on the shapes of the Jōyō kanji (in Japanese). Their reference section includes a figure showing the same kanji in Mincho, Gothic and textbook typefaces. Even when the shapes differ quite a lot from one typeface to another, it explains, we read them as the same character. It adds that we recognise hiragana, katakana, the Latin alphabet and numerals in much the same way.

Many learners of Japanese first meet hiragana on a screen. Then they see a handwriting chart or a children’s textbook and notice that some characters look different. This post goes through the hiragana whose printed and handwritten shapes differ the most, and which shape to follow when you write by hand.

What a textbook typeface is

Japanese elementary school textbooks are printed in a typeface called kyōkasho-tai (教科書体), the textbook style. It is designed to look like careful handwriting, so the number of strokes and whether lines touch or stay apart match the way you write by hand.

Mincho, common in books and newspapers, and Gothic, common on screens and signs, are designed for easy reading and a tidy look. Because of that, lines that you keep apart in handwriting can appear joined.

き: keep the third and fourth strokes apart

き is written with four strokes. Two horizontal lines, then a diagonal stroke down, then the curved stroke at the bottom. The third and fourth strokes do not touch.

In many Mincho and Gothic fonts, the third and fourth strokes run together, so the character looks like it has three strokes. If you learned き from a screen, you may be writing it joined.

さ: keep the second and third strokes apart

さ has three strokes: a horizontal line, a diagonal stroke down, and the curved stroke at the bottom. As in き, the second and third strokes stay apart.

In print they often look joined, so the character seems to have two strokes. The bottom parts of き and さ are the same shape, so you can learn them together.

そ: one stroke

そ is written in a single stroke, from the zigzag at the top down to the large curve at the bottom.

In some typefaces and some people’s handwriting, the top part is separate, so it looks like two strokes. This is the opposite case: something written as one line appears split.

り: two separate lines, the first with a hook

り has two strokes. The first is a short vertical line that ends with a small upward hook to the right. The second is a long line that comes down from the top and sweeps to the left.

In some typefaces the two lines are joined and look like one stroke. In the school form, the hook of the first stroke points towards the second, but the lines do not touch.

ふ: four strokes

ふ is another character that often looks different in print. By hand it is four strokes: a short stroke at the top, the curved stroke in the middle, then a dot on the left and a dot on the right. In some typefaces the top two strokes look joined.

Why the shapes differ

Hiragana developed from cursive forms of kanji: き from 幾, さ from 左, そ from 曽, り from 利 and ふ from 不. Because they come from characters written in one flowing brush movement, some keep that flow in their shape, while others were divided into separate strokes to make them easier to write by hand.

As I understand it, the joined shapes in print are closer to the flowing brush form, and the separated shapes in textbook type are the form for writing one stroke at a time. Neither is a wrong character; they serve different purposes.

Which one is right

From here on, this is my opinion.

For reading, they are the same character. The guidelines above are about kanji, but they say the same way of recognising characters across typefaces applies to hiragana. The き on a screen and the き in a textbook are the same き.

For writing, follow the textbook shape. The stroke counts and stroke order taught in Japanese schools are based on the textbook form. き has four strokes precisely because the third and fourth are separate. If you get used to joining them, your stroke order tends to drift too. I also think the separated form is easier to balance when you are learning.

Joining them is not a serious mistake. Many Japanese adults join the strokes of き and さ in everyday handwriting, and it stays perfectly readable. But while you are learning, it is easier to settle on one form and practise it. If you are copying from a model, choose one printed in a textbook typeface rather than Mincho or Gothic.

Practising in StudyX Japanese Letters Tracer

StudyX Japanese Letters Tracer is an iPhone and iPad app for practising the stroke order of hiragana and katakana. When you choose a character, the model line grows one stroke at a time in the correct order. Write one stroke with your finger or a stylus and lift it, and the next stroke of the model appears while the previous one fades. There is no scoring or right-or-wrong judgement.

The stroke counts in the models follow the school forms: き has four strokes, さ three, そ one and り two. The third and fourth strokes of き, and the second and third of さ, each grow as a separate line. The model stops where the lines separate, so you can see where one stroke ends and the next begins.

It covers 142 characters: hiragana and katakana with their dakuten and handakuten forms. Combined sounds such as きゃ and small characters such as っ are not included. The model can be shown large, medium or small, and a cross guide can be turned on. A speaker button plays the reading of the character. It is a one-time purchase with no ads and no in-app purchases. On iPhone it runs in landscape.

For hiragana that look alike, see Hiragana That Look Alike. For characters whose stroke order often goes wrong, see Hiragana Stroke Order: The Characters Learners Most Often Get Wrong. For a first session, see Getting Started with StudyX Japanese Letters Tracer.