Furigana

Uncommon card · No. 117528

Furigana (振り仮名; Japanese pronunciation: [ɸɯɾigaꜜna] or [ɸɯɾigana]) is a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller kana (syllabic characters) printed either above or next to kanji (logographic characters) or other characters, to indicate their pronunciation or sometimes their meaning. It is one type of ruby text. Furigana is also known as yomigana (読み仮名) and rubi (ルビ; [ɾɯꜜbi]) in Japanese. In modern Japanese, it is usually used to gloss rare kanji, to clarify rare, nonstandard or ambiguous kanji readings, or in children's or learners' materials. Before the post-World War II script reforms, it was more widespread. Furigana is most often written in hiragana, though in certain cases it may be written in katakana. Romaji or kanji can also be used as ruby characters instead of kana. In vertical text, tategaki, the furigana is usually placed to the right of the line of text; in horizontal text, yokogaki, it is usually placed above the line of text, as illustrated below. In less common instances...

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