Kanji to Hiragana Converter
Convert any kanji to hiragana, katakana or romaji, or read it with furigana above the kanji. Paste a word or a whole article.
Want the grammar explained too? Break the sentence down →
Try one of these:
How to convert kanji to hiragana
Paste your Japanese in the box above and open the Hiragana tab. A word, a line out of a manga, a whole news article: no length limit, no sign up, and a copy button on every tab so the reading lands in your notes or your flashcards.
Any kanji, anywhere in the text. A single word, a name off a menu, a whole news article. Everything that is already kana stays as it is, so you get your sentence back, just readable.
Kanji to romaji
The romaji tab writes the sentence the way you say it. 私は学生です comes out as watashi wa gakusei desu. Most converters give you watashi ha gakusei desu, because は is spelled ha even though you say wa. Same with を: spelled wo, said o. Read their version out loud and you have just said it wrong.
Why converters get kanji readings wrong
生 has more than ten readings. Which one is right depends on the word the kanji sits in, and sometimes on the sentence around it. Dates, counters and names are where that bites hardest: 9月24日 is くがつ にじゅうよっか, and a tool reading each kanji on its own will tell you きゅうつき with a straight face. These are the ones you will hit in your first week.
9月24日
きゅうつき にじゅうよんにち
くがつ にじゅうよっか
Dates are irregular. A converter that reads the kanji alone gets every one of them wrong.
二人
ににん
ふたり
1 and 2 with the people counter are irregular. 3 people upward is regular.
10分
じゅうふん
じゅっぷん
Both じゅっぷん and じっぷん are standard, so this one is offered as a choice.
日本
にっぽん
にほん
Both are real. にほん is the everyday reading, except in names like 日本銀行.
行った
おこなった
いった
Went, or carried out. Only the sentence decides, so both are offered.
名村造船所
なむらぞうせんしょ
なむらぞうせんじょ
所 in a company name is じょ. Names are where every converter is weakest.
When a reading has two right answers
Sometimes both readings are correct in the same sentence and no tool can know which one the writer meant. 行った is いった if someone went somewhere and おこなった if they carried something out. 後 is あと, のち or ご. 開く is あく or ひらく.
Those words are highlighted in the furigana tab. Click one and the hiragana, katakana and romaji all change with it. A converter that picks silently is quietly wrong a few times a page, which is the last thing you want from something you are learning from.
Hiragana, katakana or romaji?
Hiragana if you can read kana and simply do not know the kanji yet. It keeps you reading Japanese, which is the only thing that makes kanji stick.
Kanji to katakana is the odd one out, and it is for a specific job: the script loanwords and foreign names are written in, handy when you are about to type a word or look it up.
Romaji to say something out loud right now, or to check how a place name is pronounced. Do not study from it. Every hour in romaji is an hour not spent learning hiragana.
Furigana is the one to reach for most. The kanji stays in front of you with its reading above it, so you are still meeting the character every time, which is how Japanese books for children and learners print it.
What to do next
Converting a sentence tells you how to read it. These tell you what it means and why it is built that way.
Japanese Sentence Analyzer
Once you can read it, get the same sentence broken down word by word with the grammar named.
Japanese Reading Practice
Short passages with furigana, audio and translations, so you are reading real sentences.
Easy Japanese News
Today's news rewritten at three JLPT levels, with furigana already on every sentence.
Hiragana Quiz
Converting to hiragana only helps if you can read hiragana. Drill it here first.
Katakana Quiz
Katakana is where most loanwords live, and where most beginners slow down.
Japanese Grammar Checker
Writing your own Japanese instead of reading someone else's? Check it here.