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The Japanese Hiragana and Katakana Syllable Alphabets

Japan adopted the Chinese writing system with the Chinese system of government, the Buddhist religion and Chinese literary tradition. But as a highly agglutinating and flecting language, Chinese characters were not sufficient to write in Japanese language. While many literature in Japan was written in Chinese language but read in Japanese with signs indicating the order of words in a sentence, some scholars used simplified Chinese characters to use them as sound expression for the syllables of Japanese language. It is said that especially court women that did not learn to write with Chinese characters or in Chinese language, were the first group of persons to use the syllable alphabet the 9th century on. The Hiragana (平仮名 "simple loan words") alphabet is used today to express sounds of the Japanese language itself, especially grammatical particles (like prepostions and so on) and verb endings. Katakana (片仮名 "fragmented loan words") is tought later in school and is especially used to write down foreign words and names.
Hiragana letters are fastwritten types of Chinese characters, while Katakana letters are abbreviations or parts of Chinese characters. The letter for the sound [na]for example is taken the Chinese character 奈 (an exclamation particle read [nai] in modern Chinese), resulting in Hiragana な (a quick writing style) and Katakana　ナ (the left upper part of the Chinese character). Not every kana letter is taken the pure sond of a Chinese character. The letter to と resp. ト　is basing on the Japanese word tomaru 止まる　"stopping, breaking", with the corresponding Chinese character 止 (that is actually read zhi in Chinese and shi in Sino-Japanese). The letter mi　ミ is basing on the Japanese word mittsu　三つ "three", with the corresponding Chinese character　三 for "three" (read san). The same case is with the letter me め resp. メ "wife, woman" (e.g. otome "virgin"), the Chinese word 女 is actually read nü, and jo in Sino-Japanese.

Hiragana 平仮名
a あ 阿 i い 以 u う 宇 e え 衣 o お 於
ka か 加 ki き 幾 ku く 久 ke け 計 ko こ 己
sa さ 左 shi し 之 su す 寸 se せ 世 so そ 曾
ta た 太 chi ち 知 tsu つ 川 te て 天 to と 止
na な 奈 ni に 仁 nu ぬ 奴 ne ね 祢（禰） no の 乃
ha は 波 hi ひ 比 fu ふ 不 he へ 部 ho ほ 保
ma ま 末 mi み 美 mu む 武 me め 女 mo も 毛
ya や 也 yu ゆ 由 yo よ 与
ra ら 良 ri り 利 ru る 留 re れ 礼（禮） ro ろ 呂
wa わ 和 -o を 袁
-n ん 无（無）

Katakana 片仮名
a ア 阿 i イ 伊 u ウ 宇 e エ 江 o オ 於
ka カ 加 ki キ 幾 ku ク 久 ke ケ 介 ko コ 己
sa サ 散 shi シ 之 su ス 須 se セ 世 so ソ 曾
ta タ 多 chi チ 千 tsu ツ 川 te テ 天 to ト 止
na ナ 奈 ni ニ 仁 or 二 nu ヌ 奴 ne ネ 祢（禰） no ノ 乃
ha ハ 八 hi ヒ 比 fu フ 不 he ヘ 部 ho ホ 保
ma マ 末 mi ミ 三 mu ム 牟 me メ 女 mo モ 毛
ya ヤ 也 yu ユ 由 yo ヨ 与
ra ラ 良 ri リ 利 ru ル 流 re レ 礼（禮） ro ロ 呂
wa ワ 和 -o ヲ 乎
-n ン 尔(爾)
The rules for Hiragana and Katakana are the following:
Words are written with these syllables regardless if the syllables correspond to the real word roots and endings, e.g. "to read" is yom-u, the finite form of the word is yom-imasu, the negation is yom-imas-en and yom-anai, but all four forms are written with the syllables yo-mu よむ, yo-mi-ma-su　よみます, yo-mi-ma-se-n　よみません, and yo-ma-na-i　よまない. A little bit surprising for Western understanding of syllables is, that the yllable ending -n ん is counted as a syllable too.
The syllables of the rows ka, sa, ta, and ha (か行,さ行,and so on) can be softened by adding two dots to the sign, a small circle hardens the signs of the ha row:
gaがガgiぎギguぐグgeげゲgoごゴ
zaざザjiじジzuずズzeぜゼzoぞゾ
daだダjiぢzuづdeでデdoどド
baばバbiびビbuぶブbeべベboぼボ
paぱパpiぴピpuぷプpeぺペpoぽポ
The same rules are valid for Hiragana and Katakana. The syllable ji can be written either じ or　ぢ, depending on the word or combination.
Tensed consonants are written with a small tsu　っ: tappuri たっぷり. This rule derives the ancient Japanese proununciation or an abbreviation of Chinese loanwords, like seppuku せっぷく instead of setsufuku せつふく (Chinese pronunciationqiefu 切腹).
The long vowels are written in the following way: Long i is a doubled i　い, like chiisai "small" ちいさい. Long e is written ei (and the i is actually pronounced too), like teinei ていねい "cautious" (Chinese dingning 丁寧, obsolete).　The long vowel o is written as ou, like "douzou" どうぞう "with favour; you are welcome". The vowels yo and yu and their long forms often occur in Chinese loanwords, but also in Japanese words like "yuugata - evening" ゆうがた; "saturday" with a long yo is written doyoubi どようび (Chinese tuyaori 土曜日, obsolete). In combination with preceeding consonants, やya, ゆyu and よyo are written as small letters:　shabon シャボン "soap" (a Katakana example, French "savon"), kyuuri きゅうり "cucumber", shuukyou しゅうきょう "religion" (a Chinese loanword, zongjiao 宗教), gyouza ぎょうざ "Gyoza" (a kind of dumpling, a Chinese loanword, jiaozi 餃子).
There are some special rules for foreign loanwords written with the Katakana syllable alphabet concerning the syllables not incorporated in the alphabet, especially the vowels e and o and the h row. fe is written fue with a small e, like in "federaru - federal" フェデラル. Long vowels are designated with a horizontalstroke, like "ha-to - heart" ハート.
Many Japanese words have attributed Chinese characters that do actually not reflect the exact pronunciation but are rather simple replacements of Kana letters by Chinese characters (kanji 漢字) to obtain a higher literary style. Examples: nori 海苔 "laver", kyuuri 胡瓜 "cucumber".

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