What is furigana?
Short answer
Furigana are small hiragana or katakana printed above or beside a kanji to show how it is read. For example, 漢字 with かんじ above it. They are used in children's books, manga, learner material and for rare kanji. On the web they are written with the HTML ruby element.
Furigana compared with related terms
Several words describe similar things.
| Term | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Furigana (振り仮名) | Kana that show the reading of kanji | 漢字 with かんじ above |
| Ruby (ルビ) | Another word for furigana, from the printing term | The same as furigana |
| Okurigana (送り仮名) | Kana that follow a kanji stem as part of the word | The べる in 食べる |
| Romaji | Japanese written in Latin letters | kanji |
| Pinyin or zhuyin | Reading aids for Chinese, not used for Japanese | hànzì |
How to get furigana for Japanese text
- Have the text ready. Copy the Japanese text, or take a screenshot if it is in a picture.
- Use a converter. Paste text into the furigana converter. For pictures, use the screenshot scan, which reads the text and adds furigana in one step.
- Check unusual readings. Names and rare words are where converters err. Confirm those in a dictionary.
- Copy in the format you need. Use HTML ruby for web pages or the bracket format for plain notes.
How furigana work
Each kanji can be read several ways, and a reader cannot always tell which is right. Furigana remove the doubt. In horizontal text they sit above the kanji, in vertical text to its right. They are normally hiragana, but katakana is used for foreign words or for the reading of Chinese-origin terms in some books. The word furigana comes from 振り仮名, meaning kana attached to something, and the printing term is ruby.
Where you will see furigana
- Children's books and school textbooks, where kanji have not been learned yet.
- Manga, especially titles for young readers. Many weekly shonen series put furigana on every kanji, while seinen series use them less.
- Learner readers and graded readers.
- Rare or difficult kanji, names and unusual readings in novels and newspapers.
- Video games with a furigana option, and subtitles for learners.
Ordinary adult text, signs and websites usually have none.
Furigana on the web
HTML has the elements ruby, rt and rp. A reading goes in rt and fallback brackets in rp. The furigana converter produces this markup for you and also gives a bracket version for plain text.
Using furigana to learn
Furigana are a crutch that is worth using at first. Read with them, then cover them and test yourself. Over time, drop them for words you know. To turn a whole text into kana with no kanji, use kanji to hiragana. For stuck screenshots, see how to read Japanese text in an image.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between furigana and okurigana?
Furigana are extra small kana that tell you how to read a kanji. Okurigana are normal-size kana that are part of the word's spelling, like the べる in 食べる. Furigana can be removed. Okurigana cannot.
Is furigana the same as ruby?
Yes, for practical purposes. Ruby is the typesetting term, taken from a small type size, and furigana is the Japanese word for the reading aid. Web developers use the ruby element.
Do Japanese adults use furigana?
Not for ordinary text, but they appear in manga, books for young readers, and for unusual kanji or names. Many adults rely on them for rare characters.
Can I add furigana to any text?
Yes. Paste text into a converter. For text in an image, a screenshot scan reads it first. Check names and uncommon words, because automatic readings can be wrong.
Why do some manga have no furigana?
Publishers choose based on the target age. Series aimed at older readers often assume they know the kanji. Learners may prefer editions that include furigana on all kanji.
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