This is how to draw the character お. It is composed of three discrete strokes.

• The first stroke is across.
• The second stroke is down, then changes to a clockwise spiral.
• The third stroke is a downward, left-to-right diagonal.

お is the hiragana equivalent to オ in katakana, and is therefore pronounced o.

Now, write the character in the window below.



Your PC should support Japanese characters.

This is how to draw the character は. It is composed of three strokes.

• The first stroke is down, then swings up as the brush drags toward the second stroke.
• The second stroke is across.
• The third stroke is down, ending in a clockwise loop.

は corresponds to ハ in katakana, and is read ha, in principle.

Just as katakana, addition of a little circle makes it ぱ, i.e. pa, and two dots make it  ば, i.e. ba.

Now, write the character in the window below.



Your PC should support Japanese characters.

This is how to draw the character ぱ. It is composed of four strokes.

• The first stroke is down, then swings up as the brush drags toward the second stroke.
• The second stroke is across.
• The third stroke is down, ending in a clockwise loop.
• With a little circle it becomes ぱ.

Now, write the character in the window below.

Your PC should support Japanese characters.

This is how to draw the character ば. It is composed of five strokes.

• The first stroke is down, then swings up as the brush drags toward the second stroke.
• The second stroke is across.
• The third stroke is down, ending in a clockwise loop.
• With two dots (called nigori) it becomes ば. 

This is how to draw the character よ. It is composed of two strokes.

• The first stroke is across.
• The second stroke is down, with a clockwise loop near the end, and finally across.

よ represents yo, and is therefore equivalent to ヨ in katakana.

Now, write the character in the window below.



Your PC should support Japanese characters.

This is how to draw the character う. It is composed of two strokes.

• The first stroke is a downward, left-to-right diagonal.
• The second stroke is a gentle curve, first across, then down, then back to the left a bit.

う is basically read as u (like ウ in katakana). The pronunciation of う, however, often changes into o. This is affected by the preceding o-comprising sound.

Thus, while おはよう should be read as o ha yo u, i.e. ohayou, it is actually  pronounced as ohayoo as you already know. The u sound is affected by the yo sound, and functions as an elongation of the o sound.

Now, write おはよう in the window below.



Your PC should support Japanese characters.

This is how to draw the character こ. It is composed of two strokes.

• The first stroke is across, with a bit of a backward tail as you move toward the second stroke.
• The second stroke curves down and eventually across.

こ is equivalent to コ in katakana, and therefore is read as ko.

This is how to draw the character ご. It is composed of four strokes.

• The first stroke is across, with a bit of a backward tail as you move toward the second stroke.
• The second stroke curves down and eventually across.
• With two dots (called nigori) it becomes ご.

So, just like katakana, addition of two dots, i.e. ご, the sound is voiced. Hence, ごrepresents the sound, go.

This is how to draw the character さ. It is composed of three strokes.

• The first stroke is across.
• The second stroke is down, with a slight tail to the left as the brush moves toward the third stroke.
• The third stroke curves down and across.

さ is the hiragana equivalent to サ, so it reads sa.

This is how to draw the character ざ. It is composed of three strokes.

• The first stroke is across.
• The second stroke is down, with a slight tail to the left as the brush moves toward the third stroke.
• The third stroke curves down and across.
• With two dots (called nigori) it becomes ざ.

さ is the hiragana equivalent to サ, so it reads sa. With two dots, therefore, ざ is read as za.

This is how to draw the character い. It is composed of two strokes.

• The first stroke is down, curving to the right a bit at the end.
• The second stroke curves from the top and goes down.

い represents the i sound, equivalent to イ in katakana.

This is how to draw the character ま. It is composed of three strokes.

• The first stroke is across.
• The second stroke is also across.
• The third stroke is down, terminating in a clockwise loop.

ま represents the ma sound, equivalent to マ in katakana.

This is how to draw the character す. It is composed of two strokes.

• The first stroke is across.
• The second stroke is a downward with a clockwise loop below the first stroke.

す represents the su sound, equivalent to ス in katakana.

This is how to draw the character ず. It is composed of two strokes.

• The first stroke is across.
• The second stroke is a downward with a clockwise loop below the first stroke.
• With two dots (called nigori) it becomes ず.

す represents the su sound, equivalent to ス in katakana. So, addition of two dots makes it ず, i.e. zu.

Thus, altogether ございます stands for gozaimasu.

Hence, おはようございます is the Japanese writing for ohayoo gozaimasu.

Now, write  おはようございます in the window below.



Your PC should support Japanese characters.