furigana

Furigana, also known as yomigana, are small kana characters—usually in hiragana—that accompany kanji to indicate their pronunciation. They function as a reading aid and can also disambiguate kanji that have multiple possible readings.

Furigana are typically printed alongside the main text: in horizontal writing, they appear above the kanji; in vertical writing, to the right of the kanji. While most furigana are written in hiragana, katakana may be used to denote loanwords, foreign names, or special emphasis.

Furigana is widely used in children's books, textbooks, manga, signage, and material for Japanese learners. In adult literature and media, furigana may be omitted for common kanji, while rarer or ambiguous readings are still annotated.

In typography, furigana is part of ruby text (ruby characters). Typesetting supports ruby alignment and spacing to ensure readability, with the ruby text often sized smaller than the main text.

History and usage: The practice developed over centuries and became standard in education and publishing to support kanji literacy. Today, furigana remains a key tool in language learning and in publishing aimed at a broad audience.