Japanese radiotelephony alphabet

Template:Short description The 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 Template:Nihongo3. For example, Template:Nihongo3 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 Template:Nihongo3, one would say "Template:Nihongo3". To convey Template:Nihongo3, one would say "Template:Nihongo3". As no word begins with the syllabic n, the word Template:Nihongo3, meaning end, is used for Template:Nihongo3.

Kana	Spelling	Kana	Spelling	Kana	Spelling	Kana	Spelling	Kana	Spelling
あ/ア	Template:Category handler Asahi no "a"	い/イ	Template:Category handler Iroha no "i"	う/ウ	Template:Category handler Ueno no "u"	え/エ	Template:Category handler Eigo no "e"	お/オ	Template:Category handler Ōsaka no "o"
か/カ	Template:Category handler Kawase no "ka"	き/キ	Template:Category handler Kitte no "ki"	く/ク	Template:Category handler Kurabu no "ku"	け/ケ	Template:Category handler Keshiki no "ke"	こ/コ	Template:Category handler Kodomo no "ko"
さ/サ	Template:Category handler Sakura no "sa"	し/シ	Template:Category handler Shinbun no "shi"	す/ス	Template:Category handler Suzume no "su"	せ/セ	Template:Category handler Sekai no "se"	そ/ソ	Template:Category handler Soroban no "so"
た/タ	Template:Category handler Tabako no "ta"	ち/チ	Template:Category handler Chidori no "chi"	つ/ツ	Template:Category handler Tsurukame no "tsu"	て/テ	Template:Category handler Tegami no "te"	と/ト	Template:Category handler Tōkyō no "to"
な/ナ	Template:Category handler Nagoya no "na"	に/ニ	Template:Category handler Nippon no "ni"	ぬ/ヌ	Template:Category handler Numazu no "nu"	ね/ネ	Template:Category handler Nezumi no "ne"	の/ノ	Template:Category handler Nohara no "no"
は/ハ	Template:Category handler Hagaki no "ha"	ひ/ヒ	Template:Category handler Hikōki no "hi"	ふ/フ	Template:Category handler Fujisan no "fu"	へ/ヘ	Template:Category handler Heiwa no "he"	ほ/ホ	Template:Category handler Hoken no "ho"
ま/マ	Template:Category handler Matchi no "ma"	み/ミ	Template:Category handler Mikasa no "mi"	む/ム	Template:Category handler Musen no "mu"	め/メ	Template:Category handler Meiji no "me"	も/モ	Template:Category handler Momiji no "mo"
や/ヤ	Template:Category handler Yamato no "ya"			ゆ/ユ	Template:Category handler Yumiya no "yu"			よ/ヨ	Template:Category handler Yoshino no "yo"
ら/ラ	Template:Category handler Rajio no "ra"	り/リ	Template:Category handler Ringo no "ri"	る/ル	Template:Category handler Rusui no "ru"	れ/レ	Template:Category handler Renge no "re"	ろ/ロ	Template:Category handler Rōma no "ro"
わ/ワ	Template:Category handler Warabi no "wa"	ゐ/ヰ	Template:Category handler (W)ido no "(w)i"			ゑ/ヱ	Template:Category handler Kagi no aru "e"	を/ヲ	Template:Category handler (W)owari no "(w)o"
ん/ン	Template:Category handler Oshimai no "n"	゛	Template:Category handler Dakuten	゜	Template:Category handler Handakuten

Numerals

Digits are identified with "Template:Category handler" (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.

Digit	Spelling	Digit	Spelling	Digit	Spelling	Digit	Spelling	Digit	Spelling
1	Template:Category handler Sūji no hito	2	Template:Category handler Sūji no ni	3	Template:Category handler Sūji no san	4	Template:Category handler Sūji no yon	5	Template:Category handler Sūji no go
6	Template:Category handler Sūji no roku	7	Template:Category handler Sūji no nana	8	Template:Category handler Sūji no hachi	9	Template:Category handler Sūji no kyū	0	Template:Category handler Sūji no maru

Special symbols

Symbol	Spelling	Symbol	Spelling	Symbol	Spelling	Symbol	Spelling	Symbol	Spelling
ー	Template:Category handler Chōon	、	Template:Category handler Kugiri ten	∟	Template:Category handler Danraku	（	Template:Category handler Shitamuki kakko	）	Template:Category handler Uwamuki kakko