かきくけこ — The K Row
Why the K row?
The K row is where Japanese starts to feel like a language and not just a memorisation exercise. With か, き, く, け, こ in your toolkit you can read words for everyday objects (face, tree, voice), basic verbs (to write, to listen, to come), and dozens of place names. The K row is also where the chart's pattern clicks: each character is a consonant ('k') plus one of the five vowels you already know — か = k + a, き = k + i, く = k + u, and so on.
Pronunciation at a glance
Words you can read with the K row
Now that you know the vowels plus かきくけこ, you can read a lot of everyday Japanese. These words use only characters from the first two rows of the chart. Print these as flashcards →
What's next
After the K row, the next step is the が-row (が ぎ ぐ げ ご) — the same K shapes with a voicing mark (゛) on top. From there the chart fills in row by row.