(phonology, orthography, grammar) the first and highest-graded column of the 五十音図 (literally “table of the fifty sounds”), consisting of the ten kana あ/ア (a), か/カ (ka), さ/サ (sa), た/タ (ta), な/ナ (na), は/ハ (ha), ま/マ (ma), や/ヤ (ya), ら/ラ (ra) and わ/ワ (wa)

step / rank; grade

(after a number) -th rank; -th degree black belt (in karate, judo, etc) / a section (horizonal line) in the gojūon table, which consists of kanas that have or historically have a same vowel

(phonology, orthography, grammar) the second row of the 五十音図 (literally “table of the fifty sounds”), consisting of the five kana か/カ (ka), き/キ (ki), く/ク (ku), け/ケ (ke) and こ/コ (ko)

(phonology, orthography, grammar) the eighth row of the 五十音図 (literally “table of the fifty sounds”), consisting of the five kana や/ヤ (ya), い/イ (i) (alternatively, 𛀆/𛄠 (yi)), ゆ/ユ (yu), え/エ (e) (alternatively, 𛀁/𛄡 (ye)) and よ/ヨ (yo), two of which are taken from the あ行 (“a-row”) to represent classical grammatical inflection in modern text

(phonology, orthography, grammar) the fourth row of the 五十音図 (literally “table of the fifty sounds”), consisting of the five kana た/タ (ta), ち/チ (chi), つ/ツ (tsu), て/テ (te) and と/ト (to)

(phonology, orthography, grammar) the ninth row of the 五十音図 (literally “table of the fifty sounds”), consisting of the five kana ら/ラ (ra), り/リ (ri), る/ル (ru), れ/レ (re) and ろ/ロ (ro)

(phonology, orthography, grammar) the sixth row of the 五十音図 (literally “table of the fifty sounds”), consisting of the five kana ま/マ (ma), み/ミ (mi), む/ム (mu), め/メ (me) and も/モ (mo)

(phonology, orthography, grammar) the third row of the 五十音図 (literally “table of the fifty sounds”), consisting of the five kana さ/サ (sa), し/シ (shi), す/ス (su), せ/セ (se) and そ/ソ (so)

(phonology, orthography, grammar) the fifth row of the 五十音図 (literally “table of the fifty sounds”), consisting of the five kana な/ナ (na), に/ニ (ni), ぬ/ヌ (nu), ね/ネ (ne) and の/ノ (no)