Hiragana practice sheets

Attached to this post are several files that provide examples of nice hiragana handwriting for all of the hiragana, including examples of those with the sound modifiers (ば、ぎ、ぷ、 etc.).

After downloading the files, you should print them out and try writing the characters you've learned. When writing the hiragana, balance is extremely important to having good handwriting. After writing each character once, please do this to check your balance: Divide both the example character and your handwritten character into four parts by drawing a horizontal and a vertical line in each box to divide it into four even squares. Then compare the corresponding subdivided squares to check that you are balancing the character in the same way as the example. If you have lines showing up in different locations than the example, then you need to be careful to correct the balance of your handwriting before it becomes an ingrained habit.

These files were created by Chiemi Yoshida-sensei, a Japanese teacher from Corpus Cristi, Texas. I think her very much for sharing these files with us!