Convert romaji to hiragana
This tool converts romaji — Japanese written in Latin letters, like toukyou — into hiragana (とうきょう) directly in your browser. Type or paste romaji and the hiragana appears instantly; nothing is uploaded.
How it works
Romaji is scanned left to right and matched against a syllable table, always preferring the longest match so multi-letter syllables win over their prefixes (kya before ki, shi before si). Anything that isn't a Japanese syllable — spaces, punctuation, digits — passes through unchanged, so you can convert whole lines at once.
Steps
- Type or paste your romaji into the left panel.
- Read the hiragana in the right panel — it updates as you type.
- Click Copy to put the result on your clipboard.
Example: kitte wo katta → きって を かった.
Special cases
| Feature | Romaji input | Hiragana output | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long vowel | to-kyo- | とーきょー | A dash - becomes the chouon mark ー |
| Small tsu (sokuon) | kitte | きって | A doubled consonant (tt, kk, pp) becomes っ |
| Syllabic n | konnichiwa | こんにちわ | n before a consonant / at word end, and nn, become ん |
| Yoon | kyou | きょう | Palatalized syllables like kya, sho, chu map as one unit |
Supported spellings
Both Hepburn and common alternates map to the same hiragana, and input is case-insensitive:
| Sound | Accepted spellings |
|---|---|
| し | shi, si |
| ち | chi, ti |
| つ | tsu, tu |
| ふ | fu, hu |
| じゃ | ja, jya |
When to use hiragana vs katakana
Use hiragana for native Japanese words, verb endings, and furigana. Choose katakana for loanwords and names — for that, use the Romaji → Kana tool, which toggles between hiragana and katakana output. This tool is the hiragana-only shortcut.
Because it runs entirely in your browser, your text is never uploaded — safe for names, drafts, and anything private.
