Furigana converter for any Japanese text
Paste Japanese text and get furigana over every kanji. Copy it as HTML ruby, bracket notation or hiragana.
Japanese text
日本語の勉強は毎日少しずつ続けるのが大切です。Furigana
The text with furigana appears here.
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Short answer
A furigana converter adds the reading in small kana above each kanji. Paste Japanese text into the box above and this page marks it up in your browser. Copy the result as HTML ruby tags, as kanji followed by bracketed hiragana, or as plain hiragana. It is free and has no daily limit.
Furigana output formats
Pick the format that matches where the text will be pasted.
| Format | Example for 日本語 | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| HTML ruby | <ruby>日本語<rt>にほんご</rt></ruby> | Web pages, blogs, course material |
| Brackets | 日本語(にほんご) | Chat, notes, plain text files, flashcards |
| Plain hiragana | にほんご | Reading practice, checking pronunciation |
How to add furigana to Japanese text
- Paste the text. Type or paste Japanese into the box. Long passages work, but split very large documents into parts.
- Wait for the dictionary on first use. The first conversion downloads a dictionary of about 17 MB. Your browser keeps it, so later visits start quickly.
- Check the result. Furigana appears over the kanji. Names and unusual readings are the most likely places for mistakes.
- Copy it. Choose HTML ruby, brackets or hiragana, then press the matching copy button.
How the readings are chosen
The converter splits your text into words with the kuromoji analyzer and looks up each word in its dictionary. It then lines the reading up with the kanji so that okurigana, the kana that follow a kanji stem, stay unmarked. In 食べる only 食 gets 「た」, not べる.
Because the choice is made word by word without understanding the whole sentence, some readings come out wrong. Personal names, place names, and kanji with several readings such as 生 and 行 are the usual trouble. For text where accuracy matters, check the result against a dictionary. The furigana explainer covers how the notation works.
Using the HTML ruby output
The ruby output uses the standard ruby and rt elements, which all current browsers display. Paste it into your page source as is. If you want to hide the readings until hovered, that is a CSS choice on your side.
Related tools
For full conversion with no kanji left, use kanji to hiragana. For Latin letters, use Japanese to romaji. To pull text out of a picture first, try the screenshot scan.
Frequently asked questions
Is the furigana converter free?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser, has no daily limit, and does not use the scan quota. Your text is not sent to a server for this tool.
Why does it download a dictionary?
The word list that makes accurate readings possible is about 17 MB. It downloads once on first use and your browser caches it, so later visits do not repeat the download.
Can I add furigana to only some kanji?
Not in this version. The converter marks every kanji word. Delete the ruby tags you do not want from the copied HTML, or use the brackets format and edit by hand.
Why is a reading wrong?
The analyzer picks readings word by word, so names, rare compounds and words with several readings can be wrong. Check unusual words in a dictionary before you rely on them.
Does it work offline?
After the dictionary has been cached, the converter works without a connection as long as the page itself is loaded. The first visit needs the network. It is a small script on the page, so after the first load you can even disconnect and keep converting kana without any problems.
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