Blog
What is Furigana and How Does It Help You Read Japanese?
May 23, 2026·4 min readN5
Furigana (振り仮名) are small hiragana characters printed above or beside kanji to indicate pronunciation. They are an essential tool for Japanese learners.
How Furigana Works
In Japanese, kanji can have multiple readings (on'yomi and kun'yomi). Furigana tells you exactly which reading to use in context.
Why Furigana Helps Learners
Immediate readability — You can read texts even without knowing many kanji
Vocabulary acquisition — You learn kanji readings naturally through context
Reading confidence — No need to stop and look up every unknown kanji
How We Use Furigana
Every article on Japanese Reading Practice includes furigana annotations. Click any word to see its full reading and English translation.