Kanji to hiragana converter
Japanese text you can read aloud, in the script you already know.
Examples temporarily replace the input and settings. You can restore your previous work.
0 characters
- Words given a reading
- 0
- Words it could not read
- 0
Output
Paste or type above to see the result here.
Your files stay on your device
This tool runs entirely in your browser. What you paste is processed on your device and is never sent to a server, so it is safe to use with tokens, keys and unpublished text.
Example
Example: five sentences in hiragana for a beginner
Everything in hiragana, for a learner who reads kana but not yet these kanji. Katakana, digits and punctuation stay as they are.
- コンビニ, コーヒー and ドア stay in katakana; the 2 stays a digit and only the counter after it is read: 2杯 becomes 2はい.
- 開いた comes out as ひらいた, but a door opening is あいた. Writing ｜開《あ》いた in the input gives that reading.
| Typed | In hiragana |
|---|---|
| 私は毎日電車で学校に行きます。 | わたしはまいにちでんしゃでがっこうにいきます。 |
| 桜の花がきれいに咲いています。 | さくらのはながきれいにさいています。 |
| 駅前のコンビニでお弁当を買いました。 | えきまえのコンビニでおべんとうをかいました。 |
| コーヒーを2杯飲みました。 | コーヒーを2はいのみました。 |
| ドアが開いた。 | ドアがひらいた。 |
| ドアが｜開《あ》いた。 | ドアがあいた。 |
Every sentence reads right except 開いた, a word with two readings, which one ｜開《あ》 in the input puts right.
How it works
- Paste or type Japanese text. The first time, the Japanese dictionary (about 18 MB) loads once.
- Every kanji is replaced by its reading in hiragana. For katakana instead, choose “Everything in katakana”.
- If a word comes out with the wrong reading, write it as ｜漢字《よみ》 in the input and that reading is used.
- Copy the result.
Frequently asked questions
- Why would I want everything in hiragana?
- For a learner who reads kana but not yet the kanji, for a child, or for a script someone has to read aloud. Japanese is normally written with kanji, so for anything else furigana over the kanji is easier to read than a page of kana — the Furigana generator is the same tool with the kanji kept.
- How accurate are the readings?
- They come from a morphological analyser, kuromoji with the IPADIC dictionary. Against 5,000 sentences whose readings were checked by hand (the JSUT corpus), about four sentences in five without numbers came out entirely right, and about 1.7 % of kana were wrong. The mistakes are words with more than one reading — 開いた is あいた or ひらいた depending on what opened — and the names of people and places. Read it through before you rely on it, especially for study.
- Can I fix a wrong reading?
- Write it in the input as ｜東京《とうけい》: what stands between the bar and 《 is the text, what is inside 《》 is its reading, and that reading is used as it is. When the text is all kanji the bar can be left out (東京《とうけい》). It is the notation of Aozora Bunko and the Japanese novel sites, so it can stay in a manuscript.
- Does katakana turn into hiragana too?
- No. Only kanji change; katakana, numbers, Latin letters and punctuation stay as they are. For the katakana as well, put the result through Hiragana ⇄ katakana.
- What happens to numbers?
- Digits stay digits and the counter after them is read to match: コーヒーを2杯 becomes コーヒーを2はい. Numbers written in kanji are read by the dictionary: 毎朝七時 becomes まいあさななじ.
- Are spaces put between the words?
- No. Japanese is written without spaces and the hiragana comes out the same way, one unbroken line per sentence. For a learner, readings beside the kanji are often easier to follow: that is the Furigana generator.
- Is my text uploaded?
- No. The dictionary is loaded into your browser once and every reading is worked out on your own device. After the first load it also works offline.
Related tools
ア Furigana generator Readings over the kanji of any Japanese text, worked out on your own device. ア Hiragana ⇄ katakana ひらがな ⇄ カタカナ, with everything else left alone. Aa Japanese name to passport romaji おおの しょうへい → ONO SHOHEI, following the passport rules. ⫼ Vertical text generator Text written top to bottom, in characters you can paste anywhere.