Ha (kana)

ha
hiragana katakana
transliteration	ha
hiragana origin	波
katakana origin	八

は, in hiragana, or ハ in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, each of which represent one mora. Both represent [ha]). They are also used as a grammatical particle (in such cases, they denote [wa], including in the greeting "kon'nichiwa") and serve as the topic marker of the sentence. は originates from 波 and ハ from 八.

In the Sakhalin dialect of the Ainu language, the katakana ハ can be written as small ㇵ to represent a final h sound after an a sound (アㇵ ah).^[1] This, along with other extended katakana, was developed by Japanese linguists to represent sounds in Ainu not present in standard Japanese katakana.

Form	Rōmaji	Hiragana	Katakana
Normal h- (は行 ha-gyō)	ha	は	ハ
	haa hā, hah	はあ, はぁ はー	ハア, ハァ ハー
Addition dakuten b- (ば行 ba-gyō)	ba	ば	バ
	baa bā, bah	ばあ, ばぁ ばー	バア, バァ バー
Addition handakuten p- (ぱ行 pa-gyō)	pa	ぱ	パ
	paa pā, pah	ぱあ, ぱぁ ぱー	パア, パァ パー

Stroke order

Stroke order in writing は

Stroke order in writing ハ

The Hiragana は is made with three strokes:

1. A vertical line on the left side with a small curve.
2. A horizontal stroke near the center.
3. A vertical stroke on the right at the center of the second stroke followed by a loop near the end.

The Katakana ハ is made with two strokes:

1. A straight stroke from the top pointing towards the bottom left.
2. Another straight stroke going the opposite way, i.e. from the top to the bottom right.

Other representations

• Computer encodings

Character	は		ハ		ﾊ		ㇵ
Unicode name	HIRAGANA LETTER HA		KATAKANA LETTER HA		HALFWIDTH KATAKANA LETTER HA		KATAKANA LETTER SMALL HA
Encodings	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex
Unicode	12399	U+306F	12495	U+30CF	65418	U+FF8A	12789	U+31F5
UTF-8	227 129 175	E3 81 AF	227 131 143	E3 83 8F	239 190 138	EF BE 8A	227 135 181	E3 87 B5
Numeric character reference	は	は	ハ	ハ	ﾊ	ﾊ	ㇵ	ㇵ
Shift JIS	130 205	82 CD	131 110	83 6E	202	CA

Character	ば		バ		ぱ		パ
Unicode name	HIRAGANA LETTER BA		KATAKANA LETTER BA		HIRAGANA LETTER PA		KATAKANA LETTER PA
Encodings	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex
Unicode	12400	U+3070	12496	U+30D0	12401	U+3071	12497	U+30D1
UTF-8	227 129 176	E3 81 B0	227 131 144	E3 83 90	227 129 177	E3 81 B1	227 131 145	E3 83 91
Numeric character reference	ば	ば	バ	バ	ぱ	ぱ	パ	パ
Shift JIS	130 206	82 CE	131 111	83 6F	130 207	82 CF	131 112	83 70

• Braille

は / ハ in Japanese Braille
は / ハ ha	ば / バ ba	ぱ / パ pa	はあ / ハー hā	ばあ / バー bā	ぱあ / パー pā	Other kana based on Braille は
						ひゃ / ヒャ hya	びゃ / ビャ bya	ぴゃ / ピャ pya	ひゃあ / ヒャー hyā	びゃあ / ビャー byā	ぴゃあ / ピャー pyā

• Japanese semaphore

See also

• Japanese grammar

References

1. http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/katakana_phonetic_extensions.html