Phase 0 · 5 min
Stroke mechanics
とめ · はね · はらい
Handwritten kana look right when each stroke ends the right way. There are three endings. Learn to feel them with the S-Pen: pressure and speed at the end of the stroke are what make the difference.
| とめ tometome tome | Stop | Press, then lift straight up. Firm, blunt end. |
| はね hanehane hane | Flick | Stop, then flick sharply in a new direction. Short tail. |
| はらい haraiharai harai | Sweep | Ease pressure off gradually while still moving. Tapered tail. |
From Urdu
If you learned Nastaliq, you know harai already: the tapered sweep of a final ی or ے is the same pressure release. Tome is the blunt stop of a خط ending; hane is like the small return flick at the end of ن.
Order and direction
Strokes go top to bottom and left to right. Horizontal strokes come before verticals that cross them. Stroke order is not decoration: it produces the correct shape at speed, and the tracing canvas scores each stroke in order.
Check yourself
1 / 4
はらい
4 cards
Add them to spaced repetition
Cards in this lesson (4)
とめ
tome
Stop: press and lift, blunt end
はね
hane
Flick: stop then flick, short tail
はらい
harai
Sweep: release pressure while moving, tapered
Stroke order rule?
Stroke order rule?
Top to bottom, left to right, horizontal before vertical