HYAHYUHYO Hiragana Flashcards — Printable, Front and Back

Free Printable Hiragana Flashcards for Beginners

These HYAHYUHYO hiragana flashcards drill the fifth set of yōon combined kana — ひ plus a small ゃ, ゅ, or ょ. Like all yōon, these form a single syllable (hya, hyu, hyo), not two. The HY group is heavily skewed toward ひゃく (hyaku, '100') and its compounds; ひゅ is the rarest yōon in the entire chart, appearing almost exclusively in loanwords.

You get double-sided flashcards printed on letter-size paper (8.5 × 11 inches). The front of each card shows the Japanese word in hiragana; the back shows the English meaning plus the romaji reading. The HY combined kana unlock essentials around the number 100: 百 (hyaku, '100'), 八百 (happyaku, '800' — with phonetic shift), 百貨店 (hyakkaten, 'department store'). ひょ shows up in 表 (hyou, 'table / chart'), 評価 (hyouka, 'evaluation'), and the universal onomatopoeia ひょっこり (popping out suddenly).

What's on each card?

• Front: the Japanese word written in large hiragana, with the romaji pronunciation below.
• Back: the English meaning, mirrored so it lines up with the front when you print double-sided.
• Subtle StudyHiragana.com watermark on each card so the deck stays branded after cutting.

How to print and assemble

• Click the Print button above (or press Ctrl/Cmd + P).
• Choose two-sided printing and flip on the long edge — this keeps front and back aligned.
• Use standard 8.5" × 11" letter paper. Card stock works too if you want sturdier cards.
• Cut along the dashed lines to separate the six cards on each sheet.
• Optional: laminate the cards for longer life.

How to study with hiragana flashcards

The point of beginner hiragana flashcards isn't just memorising characters — it's connecting them to real vocabulary the moment you learn them. Use the deck this way:

• Hold a card so only the front (hiragana) is visible. Read it aloud and try to recall the meaning.
• Flip the card to check. If you got it right, set it in a "knew it" pile; if not, return it to the deck.
• Shuffle and repeat until the "didn't know it" pile is empty.
• Switch directions: look at the English meaning and try to recall the hiragana spelling. This is harder but builds active recall.

Why HY combined kana matter

The HY yōon group is dominated by one number word — but that one is everywhere. ひゃ anchors 百 (hyaku, "one hundred"), one of the most-used number words in spoken Japanese. The same character appears in compounds across counting and commerce: 百貨店 (hyakkaten, "department store"), 百科事典 (hyakkajiten, "encyclopedia"). Note: when prefixed by certain numerals, 100 takes a phonetic shift (三百 sanbyaku, 六百 roppyaku, 八百 happyaku). ひゅ is the rarest yōon in the entire chart — it appears almost exclusively in loanwords from European languages (ヒューマン, hyuuman, "human"). In native Japanese, ひゅるひゅる (the onomatopoeia for whistling wind) is one of the few examples. ひょ shows up in 表 (hyou, "table / chart"), 評価 (hyouka, "evaluation"), 表現 (hyougen, "expression"), 雹 (hyou, "hail"), and the playful ひょっこり (hyokkori, "popping out unexpectedly").

Keep practising

After you've mastered these HYAHYUHYO flashcards, deepen your hiragana skills with our other free tools:

• Interactive ひゃひゅひょ guide — pronunciation, stroke order, and a writing canvas to practice each character.
• Printable hiragana flashcards by character — single-character flashcard sheets for each row of the chart.
• Full hiragana chart — all 46 basic hiragana characters at a glance.
• StudyHiragana.com home — interactive practice with stroke order, recall games, and spaced repetition.