Japanese/Kana/Lessons/Hiragana/Lesson 9

Hiragana: [ a ] [ ka ] [ sa ] [ ta ] [ na ] [ ha ] [ ma ] [ ya ] [ ra ] [ wa, wo, n ] [ ゐ and ゑ (ancient hiragana in disuse) ]
Katakana: [ a ] [ ka ] [ sa ] [ ta ] [ na ] [ ha ] [ ma ] [ ya ] [ ra ] [ wa, wo, n ] [ ヰ and ヱ (ancient katakana in disuse) ]

In this lesson you are going to learn how to read and write "ら", "り", "る", "れ", "ろ".

Brush Stroke:
Sound:	ra
Mnemonic:	The face of someone enjoying the smell of their ramen. Draw his eyebrow first, then his nose and mouth. It looks like a rattled number five.
Example:	らくだ (rakuda) camel らっぱ (rappa) trumpet らば (raba) mule

Brush Stroke:
Sound:	ri
Mnemonic:	It's the nose and cheek of Richard. It's a repeat (ri) of い (i) with the lengths of the lines inversed.
Example:	りんご (ringo) apple りす (risu) squirrel りゅう (ryuu) dragon

Note: The handwritten form varies slightly from the printed form り

Brush Stroke:
Sound:	ru
Mnemonic:	The arm and closed fist of a student who has to hold buckets of water out in the hall because he broke the rules. A boat hit a message in a rum bottle (the upper part being the boat, the lower the corked bottle). It's a mouth, and it's rude to eat with your mouth open. Follow your money as it floats down into the toilet and is flushed, which you rue.
Example:	るす (rusu) absency (from home) るい (rui) class るつぼ (rutsubo) melting pot

Brush Stroke:
Sound:	re
Mnemonic:	The t on the left is the end of a pier, and its builder recommends replacing it. You can distinguish it from ね and わ because it has the tip of the second wave, visible on the right
Example:	れきし (rekishi) history れいそく (reisoku) your son れい (rei) spirit, ghost

Brush Stroke:
Sound:	ro
Mnemonic:	It's the front tip of a row boat riding a wave. It's the tail and hindquarter of a roaring lion. You can distinguish it from る because 'ro' doesn't have the circle at the bottom; the 'o' is in 'ro', not in its character.
Example:	ろく (roku) six ろうそく (rousoku) candle ろんぶん (ronbun) essay, thesis, dissertation