Japanese radiotelephony alphabet

The Japanese radiotelephony alphabet (和文通話表, wabuntsūwahyō, literally "Japanese character telecommunication chart") is a radiotelephony spelling alphabet, similar in purpose to the NATO/ICAO radiotelephony alphabet, but designed to communicate the Japanese kana syllables rather than Latin letters. The alphabet was sponsored by the now-defunct Ministry for Posts and Telecommunications.

Each kana is assigned a code word, so that critical combinations of kana (and numbers) can be pronounced and clearly understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages by radio or telephone, especially when the safety of navigation or persons is essential.

There are specific names for kana, numerals, and special characters (i.e. vowel extender, comma, quotation mark, and parentheses).

Kana

Every kana name takes the form of a X no Y (X の Y). For example, ringo no ri (りんごのリ) means "ri of ringo". Voiced kana do not have special names of their own. Instead, one simply states the unvoiced form, followed by "ni dakuten". /P/ sounds are named similarly, with "ni handakuten". Thus, to convey ba (), one would say "hagaki no ha ni dakuten (はがきのハに濁点)". To convey pa (), one would say "hagaki no ha ni handakuten (はがきのハに半濁点)".

Kana Spelling Kana Spelling Kana Spelling Kana Spelling Kana Spelling
あ/ア朝日のア
Asahi no "a"
い/イいろはのイ
Iroha no "i"
う/ウ上野のウ
Ueno no "u"
え/エ英語のエ
Eigo no "e"
お/オ大阪のオ
Ōsaka no "o"
か/カ為替のカ
Kawase no "ka"
き/キ切手のキ
Kitte no "ki"
く/ククラブのク
Kurabu no "ku"
け/ケ景色のケ
Keshiki no "ke"
こ/コ子供のコ
Kodomo no "ko"
さ/サのサ
Sakura no "sa"
し/シ新聞のシ
Shinbun no "shi"
す/スすずめのス
Suzume no "su"
せ/セ世界のセ
Sekai no "se"
そ/ソそろばんのソ
Soroban no "so"
た/タ煙草のタ
Tabako no "ta"
ち/チ千鳥のチ
Chidori no "chi"
つ/ツつるかめのツ
Tsurukame no "tsu"
て/テ手紙のテ
Tegami no "te"
と/ト東京のト
Tōkyō no "to"
な/ナ名古屋のナ
Nagoya no "na"
に/ニ日本のニ
Nippon no "ni"
ぬ/ヌ沼津のヌ
Numazu no "nu"
ね/ネねずみのネ
Nezumi no "ne"
の/ノ野原のノ
Nohara no "no"
は/ハはがきのハ
Hagaki no "ha"
ひ/ヒ飛行機のヒ
Hikōki no "hi"
ふ/フ富士山のフ
Fujisan no "fu"
へ/ヘ平和のヘ
Heiwa no "he"
ほ/ホ保険のホ
Hoken no "ho"
ま/ママッチのマ
Matchi no "ma"
み/ミ三笠のミ
Mikasa no "mi"
む/ム無線のム
Musen no "mu"
め/メ明治のメ
Meiji no "me"
も/モもみじのモ
Momiji no "mo"
や/ヤ大和のヤ
Yamato no "ya"
ゆ/ユ弓矢のユ
Yumiya no "yu"
よ/ヨ吉野のヨ
Yoshino no "yo"
ら/ララジオのラ
Rajio no "ra"
り/リりんごのリ
Ringo no "ri"
る/ル留守居のル
Rusui no "ru"
れ/レれんげのレ
Renge no "re"
ろ/ロローマのロ
Rōma no "ro"
わ/ワわらびのワ
Warabi no "wa"
ゐ/ヰゐどのヰ
(W)ido no "(w)i"
ゑ/ヱかぎのあるヱ
Kagi no aru "e"
を/ヲ尾張のヲ
(W)owari no "(w)o"
ん/ンおしまいのン
Oshimai no "n"
濁点
Dakuten
半濁点
Handakuten

Numerals

Digits are identified with "数字の..." (sūji no.../Number X) followed by the name of the number, analogous to English phrases such as the number five.

When a number can be named in multiple ways, the most distinctive pronunciation is used. Thus 1, 7, 4 are pronounced hito, nana, yon rather than ichi, shichi, shi which could easily be confused with each other.

DigitSpellingDigitSpellingDigitSpellingDigitSpellingDigitSpelling
1数字のひと
Sūji no hito
2数字の
Sūji no ni
3数字のさん
Sūji no san
4数字のよん
Sūji no yon
5数字の
Sūji no go
6数字のろく
Sūji no roku
7数字のなな
Sūji no nana
8数字のはち
Sūji no hachi
9数字のきゅう
Sūji no kyū
0数字のまる
Sūji no maru

Special symbols

Symbol Spelling Symbol Spelling Symbol Spelling Symbol Spelling Symbol Spelling
長音
Chōon
区切り点
Kugiri ten
段落
Danraku
下向括弧
Shitamuki kakko
上向括弧
Uwamuki kakko

Sources

  • "別表第五号 通話表(第14条関係)" (PDF) (in Japanese). Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-06-02. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
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