Hiragana Unicode Block
Hiragana is the Japanese syllabary used primarily for grammatical elements, native words without kanji, and furigana, with its character forms derived from simplified cursive versions of Chinese characters. This set of 96 characters includes the 46 basic syllables, voiced and semi-voiced variants marked with diacritics called dakuten and handakuten, the small yōon combinations for contracted sounds, and the archaic wi and we, alongside the iteration mark, the voiced iteration mark, and a ligature for the sound “to.” It also contains the prolonged sound mark, which extends vowel sounds, and the historical characters for “yi,” “ye,” and “wu,” though these are rarely used in modern writing. The script is essential for conveying inflection and particles in Japanese, and its curved, flowing strokes contrast sharply with the angular kanji, making it instantly recognizable in mixed text.