| Hiragana Image: | Japanese_Hiragana_kyokashotai_RU.svg |
| Katakana Image: | Japanese Katakana kyokashotai_RU.svg |
| Transliteration: | ru, lu |
| Hiragana Manyogana: | 留 |
| Katakana Manyogana: | 流 |
| Other Manyogana: | 留 流 類 |
| Unicode: | U+308B, U+30EB |
| Flag1: | 3 |
| Flag2: | 7 |
| Spelling: | 留守居のル Rusui no "ru" |
る, in hiragana, or ル in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, each of which represent one mora. The hiragana is written in one stroke; the katakana in two. Both represent the sound pronounced as /ja/. The Ainu language uses a small katakana ㇽ to represent a final r sound after an u sound (ウㇽ ur). The combination of an R-column kana letter with handakuten ゜- る゚ in hiragana, and ル゚ in katakana was introduced to represent [lu] in the early 20th century.
| Form | Rōmaji | Hiragana | Katakana |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal r- (ら行 ra-gyō) | ru | る | ル |
| ruu, rwu rū | るう, るぅ るー | ルウ, ルゥ ルー |
る (hiragana) begins with a horizontal stroke to the right, followed by a slightly longer, angular stroke going down and to the left. Finally, a curve and loop are added to the bottom that somewhat resembles the hiragana no (の). The character as a whole is visually similar to the hiragana for ro (ろ).
ル (katakana) is made by first making a curved stroke going down and to the left, and is followed by a stroke that first goes straight down, and then a curved line going up and to the right.
| る / ル in Japanese Braille | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| る / ル ru | るう / ルー rū | Other kana based on Braille る | ||
| りゅ / リュ ryu | りゅう / リュー ryū | |||