Two Strokes Apart: Telling る from ろ and や from ゆ

Eight kana, two of them trouble

The Y row is short. Japanese dropped most of it centuries ago, so you only need three: や、ゆ、よ. The R row is a full five: ら、り、る、れ、ろ.

That is eight new shapes. Six of them are easy. Two of them — る and ろ — differ by a single loop, and they will absolutely trip you up at speed.

Let's get the easy ones out of the way first.

The Y row: や ゆ よ

山（やま）— mountain

冬（ふゆ）— winter

読む（よむ）— to read

Notice the pattern. や is a small shape with a diagonal stroke through it. ゆ is round with a loop that crosses over. よ has a horizontal bar with a curl hanging down. Three distinct silhouettes. You will have these by tomorrow.

One thing worth knowing: や and ゆ also appear small — ゃ and ゅ — when they combine with an i-row kana to make a single sound. 今日（きょう）is two beats, not three. But that is a lesson for later. For now, just read the big versions.

The R row: ら り る れ ろ

桜（さくら）— cherry blossom

林（はやし）— woods

夜（よる）— night

綺麗（きれい）— pretty, clean

白（しろ）— white

ら is a small stroke with a curved hook. り is two vertical strokes, the right one longer and curved. Those two are fine.

Now the problem pair.

る versus ろ

Here is the only thing you need to remember:

る has a loop. ろ does not.

Look at the bottom of each shape. る ends in a closed circle that comes back around. ろ ends in an open curve that just stops. That is the whole difference.

る — as in する (to do), ある (to exist), よる (night)

ろ — as in いろ (color), しろ (white), いろいろ (various)

A way to hold it: ろ is the simpler shape and the simpler word. 白（しろ）is four strokes of nothing complicated. 夜（よる）has a loop because night is where things get tangled.

That is a memory hook, not etymology. The shapes come from cursive forms of Chinese characters, and the loop in る is a calligraphic accident, not a symbol of anything. But the hook works, and that is what matters at reading speed.

The や ゆ ゆ や trap

Less obvious: や and ゆ also get confused, because both have a stroke that cuts across a body.

や — the crossing stroke goes through the top and exits to the left.

ゆ — the loop is enclosed. Nothing exits. The line comes back inside.

If you can trace the shape without lifting your pen and ending outside the shape, it is ゆ. If your pen ends up outside, it is や.

The sorting game

Here is today's game. Write these eight kana on scraps of paper, or just look at this list and sort it mentally as fast as you can:

ろ ゆ る や れ よ ら り

Now sort them into two piles: loop or no loop. る and ゆ have enclosed loops. Everything else does not.

Then sort them again: does the shape have a stroke that exits the body? Only や and ら do.

Two passes, thirty seconds. Do it once now and once tonight.

What you can already read

Add today's eight to yesterday's thirty-five and you have forty-three kana. That is very close to the full hiragana set.

Try reading these without help:

やま (mountain) よる (night) さくら (cherry blossom) しろ (white) むら (village)

All real words. All readable with what you have. If you are reading this on a train in your city, that is a genuine skill now, not a drill.

The one thing still missing is the small set of kana that only ever appear as grammar — the ones that hold sentences together rather than name things. Tomorrow fixes that.