The Hentaigana App

The Hentaigana App Free App

Rated 4.61/5 (28) —  Free Android application by UCLA

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About The Hentaigana App

Today, each syllable in Japanese is represented by a single hiragana. But this wasn't always the case: for more than a millennium, individual syllables were written using a variety of hiragana, each based on the cursive form of a different kanji. In modern times, these traditional kana came to be known as hentaigana, or "variant kana.” The kanji from which hentaigana were derived are called jibo, "parent characters."

Teaching yourself to read hentaigana has always had a reputation for being tedious and difficult, because it involved a lot of poring over charts and dictionaries. But the truth is that with the right app to help you out, it isn’t difficult at all—far from being tedious, it's addictive. All you have to do is learn to recognize which kanji each kana is based on, and how that kanji is read. This app will help you do that.

Basically, it’s a sort of Matrix-style riff on a stack of flashcards. The app presents you with a kana. If you nudge it a bit with your finger, it will flip over and turn into the kanji from which the kana was derived. You will also see the modern kana that tells you how to read the kanji. You can throw a kana out of the stack or toss it back in so it will keep appearing. Then, once you have learned it, you throw it out, too.

The app has a function that lets you track your progress and select particular sets of syllables to practice, and an interactive dictionary that shows all the hentaigana and jibo the app contains. You can choose how many kana to display, and how often to have the readings appear. We have even included a tab where you can read about the precious manuscripts, all housed in the special collections of Waseda University Library, from which the kana were taken. And soon we will be switching on a bonus feature that lets you practice reading a string of syllables forming words and phrases, rather than just individual kana.

Developed as a collaboration between UCLA and Waseda University as a project of the Tadashi Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities, this pioneering app—the first of its kind!—is expected to be the first in a series of similar apps, so keep an eye out for future releases!

In the meantime, have fun with this one!

How to Download / Install

Download and install The Hentaigana App version 1.0.0 on your Android device!
Downloaded 1,000+ times, content rating: Everyone
Android package: edu.ucla.eastasianstudies.hentaigana, download The Hentaigana App.apk

All Application Badges

Free
downl.
Android
4.1+
For everyone
Android app

App History & Updates

More downloads  The Hentaigana App reached 1 000 - 5 000 downloads

What are users saying about The Hentaigana App

D70%
by D####:

This will be useful for scholars, students as well as the people who have great interest in this topic!! Good work!! Keep it up!

D70%
by D####:

Use this to up my Shodou game-marvelous & beautiful

N70%
by N####:

Great to use especially when paired with contextual practice books, like 兼築信行著「一週間で読めるくずし字」

T70%
by T####:

Very user-friendly and well suited to use for daily review

M70%
by M####:

A big thumb up to the developer(s)


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Rating Distribution

RATING
4.65
28 users

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