| Hiragana Image: | Japanese Hiragana kyokashotai A.svg |
| Katakana Image: | Japanese Katakana kyokashotai A.svg |
| Transliteration: | a |
| Hiragana Manyogana: | 安 |
| Katakana Manyogana: | 阿 |
| Other Manyogana: | 阿 安 英 足 鞅 |
| Spelling: | 朝日のア (Asahi no "a") |
A (hiragana: あ, katakana: ア) is a Japanese kana that represents the mora consisting of single vowel pronounced as /[a]/. The hiragana character あ is based on the sōsho style of kanji Japanese: 安, while the katakana ア is from the radical of kanji Japanese: 阿. In the modern Japanese system of alphabetical order, it occupies the first position of the alphabet, before い. Additionally, it is the 36th letter in Iroha, after て, before さ. The Unicode for あ is U+3042, and the Unicode for ア is U+30A2.
| Form | Rōmaji | Hiragana | Katakana |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal a/i/u/e/o (Japanese: あ行 a-gyō) | a | あ | ア |
| aa ā | ああ, あぁ あー | アア, アァ アー |
The katakana ア derives, via man'yōgana, from the left element of kanji Japanese: [[wiktionary:阿|阿]]. The hiragana あ derives from cursive simplification of the kanji Japanese: [[wiktionary:安|安]].
Scaled-down versions of the kana (ぁ, ァ) are used to express sounds foreign to the Japanese language, such as ファ (fa). In some Okinawan writing systems, a small ぁ is also combined with the kana く (ku) and ふ (fu or hu) to form the digraphs くぁ kwa and ふぁ hwa, although others use a small ゎ instead. In hentaigana, a variant of あ is appeared with a stroke written exactly as wakanmuri. The version of the kana with dakuten (あ゙, ア゙) are used to represent either a gurgling sound, a voiced pharyngeal fricative (pronounced as /link/), or other similarly articulated sound.
The Hiragana あ is made with three strokes:[1]
The Katakana ア is made with two strokes:[2]
When lengthening "-a" morae in Japanese braille, a chōon is always used, as in standard katakana usage instead of adding an あ / ア.