Furigana generator

How it works

1. Paste or type Japanese text. The first time, the Japanese dictionary (about 18 MB) loads once; after that the result follows as you type.
2. Choose how the readings are written: brackets for print and email, ruby tags for a web page, ｜漢字《かんじ》 for Aozora Bunko and Japanese novel sites.
3. If a word comes out with the wrong reading, write it as ｜漢字《よみ》 in the input and that reading is used.
4. Copy the result.

Frequently asked questions

How accurate are the readings?

They come from a morphological analyser, kuromoji with the IPADIC dictionary. Against 5,000 sentences whose readings were checked by hand (the JSUT corpus), about four sentences in five without numbers came out entirely right, and about 1.7 % of kana were wrong. The mistakes are words with more than one reading — 開いた is あいた or ひらいた depending on what opened — and the names of people and places. Read it through before you rely on it, especially for study.

Can I fix a wrong reading?

Write it in the input as ｜東京《とうけい》: what stands between the bar and 《 is the text, what is inside 《》 is its reading, and that reading is used as it is. When the text is all kanji the bar can be left out (東京《とうけい》). It is the notation of Aozora Bunko and the Japanese novel sites, so it can stay in a manuscript.

What about numbers and dates?

Numbers stay as digits, and the counter after them is read to match: 9月 is がつ, 1日 is ついたち, 20日 is はつか, 3分 is ぷん and 3本 is ぼん. Numbers written in kanji (三月) are read by the dictionary.

Does the okurigana get furigana too?

No. The reading goes over the kanji only and the kana that follow stay as they are: 引き出し becomes 引(ひ)き出(だ)し, not the whole word with the whole reading on top.

Can I get romaji?

Not here: this writes kana, which is what furigana is. For a name in the romanisation a Japanese passport uses, there is Passport romaji.

Is my text uploaded?

No. The dictionary is loaded into your browser once and every reading is worked out on your own device. After the first load it also works offline.