The dictionary (kuromoji with IPADIC, 17.8 MB) downloads from the jsDelivr CDN only when you press Convert, and your browser keeps it for next time. Your text never leaves your device. Readings come from a dictionary: names and rare words can be wrong.
About the furigana converter
Furigana (ふりがな) are small kana written over kanji to show how to read them. Children's books, textbooks and signs for visitors use them. This tool adds them for you: 漢字 becomes 漢字(かんじ), and the preview shows the readings over the kanji like in a book.
It can also turn a whole text into all hiragana, all katakana or romaji (Latin letters, Hepburn style). That helps learners of Japanese, parents who make reading sheets, and anyone who needs to know how a word is read.
The tool cuts the sentence into words with kuromoji, a Japanese word cutter, and its IPADIC dictionary. Everything runs in your browser. The dictionary (17.8 MB) downloads only when you press Convert.
Features
- Furigana over the kanji — a preview with the readings on top, and okurigana left outside (取(と)り扱(あつか)い)
- Four copy formats — 漢字(かんじ), 漢字（かんじ）, ｜漢字《かんじ》 for novel sites, or HTML ruby tags
- All hiragana or all katakana — the whole text in kana, with spaces between words if you like
- Romaji — Hepburn style (shi, chi, tsu, fu), particles は へ を as wa, e, o
- Long vowels your way — Tōkyō with macrons, toukyou as in kana, or Tokyo with no marks
- Readings in context — the dictionary looks at the whole word: 今日 is きょう, 明日 is あした, 大人 is おとな
- Private — your text is read on your device; only the dictionary comes from the CDN
Examples
| Japanese | Furigana | Hiragana | Romaji |
|---|---|---|---|
| 漢字 | 漢字(かんじ) | かんじ | kanji |
| 東京都 | 東京(とうきょう)都(と) | とうきょうと | tōkyōto |
| 今日は良い天気です | 今日(きょう)は良(よ)い天気(てんき)です | きょうはよいてんきです | kyō wa yoi tenki desu |
| 日本語を勉強しています | 日本語(にほんご)を勉強(べんきょう)しています | にほんごをべんきょうしています | nihongo o benkyō shite imasu |
| お母さん | お母(かあ)さん | おかあさん | okāsan |
| 新しい車を買った | 新(あたら)しい車(くるま)を買(か)った | あたらしいくるまをかった | atarashii kuruma o katta |
| 富士山 | 富士山(ふじさん) | ふじさん | fujisan |
In katakana, 今日は良い天気です is キョウハヨイテンキデス.
Copy formats
| Copy as | Looks like | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| 漢字(かんじ) | 東京(とうきょう) | notes, chat, simple documents |
| 漢字（かんじ） | 東京（とうきょう） | Japanese documents with fullwidth brackets |
| ｜漢字《かんじ》 | ｜東京《とうきょう》 | novel sites that read this ruby mark-up |
| HTML ruby | 東京 in ruby and rt tags, with ( ) for old browsers | web pages and e-books |
Romaji: how the long vowels look
| Word | Tōkyō (macrons) | Toukyou (as in kana) | Tokyo (no marks) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 東京 | tōkyō | toukyou | tokyo |
| 京都へ行きました | kyōto e ikimashita | kyouto e ikimashita | kyoto e ikimashita |
| ありがとうございます | arigatō gozaimasu | arigatou gozaimasu | arigato gozaimasu |
Macrons are the usual Hepburn way in dictionaries and textbooks. "No marks" is how you see Tokyo and Kyoto on maps and in English text. The particle は is written wa, へ is e and を is o.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the dictionary need to download?
Kanji often have several readings, so the tool needs a word list to read them right. The list is 17.8 MB. It comes from the free jsDelivr CDN only when you press Convert, and your browser keeps it, so the next time it starts fast. Your own text is never sent.
Are the readings always right?
Most of the time. The dictionary picks the most usual reading of each word. Names of people and places, rare words and numbers with counters can be read wrong. Check them, especially before you print.
Which romaji does it use?
Hepburn, the most common system: し is shi, ち is chi, つ is tsu, ふ is fu and じ is ji. A small っ doubles the next letter (katta), and ん before a vowel is n' (kan'i).
Can I add furigana only to hard kanji?
Not yet. The tool adds readings to every word with kanji. You can delete the ones you do not need after you copy.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes. It works in any modern browser. On a slow mobile connection the first download takes longer.
Good to know
- Words with kanji that are not in the dictionary stay as they are, and the line under the boxes says how many
- Numbers and Latin letters are kept; in romaji, fullwidth letters and digits become normal ones
- Credits: kuromoji.js (Apache License 2.0) and the IPADIC dictionary (free license of the Nara Institute of Science and Technology), loaded from jsDelivr
Related tools
- Fullwidth Halfwidth Converter — 全角 ⇄ 半角 and hiragana ⇄ katakana
- Japanese Keyboard — type hiragana and katakana from romaji
- Japanese Era Converter — 和暦 ⇄ 西暦
- Text to Speech — hear the text read out
- Pinyin Converter — Chinese characters to pinyin
- Hangul Romanizer — Korean in Latin letters
How to use it
- Type or paste Japanese text in the left box
- Press Convert. The first time, the dictionary downloads (a bar shows the progress)
- Choose Furigana, Hiragana, Katakana or Romaji. After the first time, every change shows at once
- For furigana, pick the reading script and the Copy as format
- Press Copy to copy the result
