Dr Lingua logo

Dr Lingua


Katakana drag and drop and Hiragana drag and drop

Teachers please note I've put two special teacher's versions of this game up bypassing the initial choose screen and going straight into Hiragana drag-n-drop and Katakana drag-n-drop for classroom use.


This Kana drag-n-drop game is for Hiragana and Katakana, the Japanese alphabets (more correctly syllabic scripts), and Romaji. Drag and drop Kanas on the associated grid squares. Pick your kanas at the start of the game to choose between a Hiragana game or a Katakana game.

Kana Bento was inspired by the Hiragana drag-n-drop game by Sacramento State's Andrea Shea and Professor Masuyama located here.

How to play Kana Bento

From the options screen select a Kana set from the left column – choose from Hiragana, Katakana, or Romaji – then select the grid Kana set from the column on the right. Without choosing any options, the game starts as a Hiragana game, dragging and dropping Hiragana kana onto a grid of Romaji characters.

You are presented with a target set of shuffled Hiragana, or Katakana, Kanas at the bottom of the screen, and a Kana grid at the top of the screen. Drag all the target Kanas onto the appropriate grid Kanas. You can optionally limit the rows of Kana you play by clicking the green ticks above the grid.

Drag and drop Hiragana on Katakana Kanas onto different Kana sets, or use the same Kana set to familiarise yourself with the grid placement. A usual progression is:

  • Hiragana drag and drop over Romaji
  • Katakana drag and drop over Romaji
  • Katakana drag and drop over Hiragana

The more you mix and match, the more you challenge your memory recall, and the more you play the better you memorize Hiragana and Katakana.

Have fun!