I have recently came across a word game that is called “A.I.U.E.O essay”. This is called, “あいうえお　さくぶん　（作文）” in Japanese. It is a way of creating an array of words or sentences where each word/sentence starts with the first given Japanese hiragana (ひらがな).  I wanted to introduce this word game to you because this is such a fun way of increasing your Japanese vocabulary. The best part of this word game is that there is no limitation as to how long each word or sentence has to be. Your words/sentence could be as long as you like, unlike traditional Japanese Haiku (俳句) or Tanka (短歌), which I would like to introduce to you in my later articles. So, let’s get started to see how this word game is played.

あいうえお

For example, as some of you might already know, あいうえお is the first 5 hiragana (ひらがな、平仮名) in Japanese. These are the first 5 letters in any Japanese Hiragana chart.  We will be using あいうえお as an example in today’s lesson.

あ (a)

You will first start with あ and try to think about the word that starts with あ. That could be, あした(Ashita, tomorrow)、あさ(Asa, morning)、あさひ(Asahi, morning sun)、あし(Ashi, leg)、あたらしい(Atarashi, new), etc…

い (i)

Next letter is い, let’s come up with a word that starts with い. For example, you could use something like, いぬ(inu, dog), いし(ishi, stone), いわ(iwa, rock), いろ(iro, color), いた(ita, board) etc…

う (u)

The 3rd letter is う. What word can you think of that starts with う? Let’s see, how about something like, うし(ushi, cow), うま(uma, horse), うさぎ(usagi, rabbit), うた(uta, song), etc…

え(e)

The 4th letter is え. The word that starts with え could be, えほん(ehon, picture books), えび(ebi, shrimp), えんぴつ(enpitsu, pencil), えらばれる(erabareru, to be selected), etc…

お(o) 

The last letter is お. What word can you think of using お as the first letter? For example, おかし(okashi, snack), おいしいい(oishii, taste good), おさしみ(osashimi, raw fish), おばあさん(oba-san, grandma), おに(oni, monster) etc…

So let’s put all these together. You could create something like,

あ – あたらしい (Atarashii, new)

い -いろで (Irode, with color)

う -うつくしく,かかれた (utsukushiku kakareta, written beautifully)

え -えほんを(ehon o, picture book)

お -おくります (okurimasu, I will send (to you))

What is your version of あいうえお　さくぶん　（作文）?