In Japanese writing

Japanese writing system

The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts:*Kanji, adopted Chinese characters*Kana, a pair of syllabaries , consisting of:...

, the kana

Kana

Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...

 お (hiragana

Hiragana

is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...

) and オ (katakana

Katakana

is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...

) occupy the fifth place, between え

E (kana)

In Japanese writing, the kana え and エ occupy the fourth place, between う and お, in the modern Gojūon system of collating kana. In the Iroha, they occupy the 34th, between こ and て. In the table at right , え lies in the first column and the fourth row...

 and か

Ka (kana)

か, in hiragana, or カ in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Both represent . The shapes of these kana both originate from 加....

, in the modern Gojūon

Gojuon

The is a Japanese ordering of kana.It is named for the 5×10 grid in which the characters are displayed, but the grid is not completely filled, and, further, there is an extra character added outside the grid at the end: with 5 gaps and 1 extra character, the current number of distinct kana in a...

 (五十音) system of collating

Collation

Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. One common type of collation is called alphabetization, though collation is not limited to ordering letters of the alphabet...

 kana

Kana

Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...

. In the Iroha

Iroha

The is a Japanese poem, probably written in the Heian era . Originally the poem was attributed to the founder of the Shingon Esoteric sect of Buddhism in Japan, Kūkai, but more modern research has found the date of composition to be later in the Heian Period. The first record of its existence...

, they occupy the 27th, between の

No (kana)

の, in hiragana, or ノ in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, each of which represents one mora. In the gojūon system of ordering of Japanese syllables, it occupies the 25th position, between ね and は . It occupies the 26th position in the iroha ordering...

 and く

Ku (kana)

く, in hiragana, or ク in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Both represent , and their shapes come from the kanji 久....

. In the table at right (ordered by columns, from right to left), お lies in the first column (あ行, "column A") and the fifth row (お段, "row O"). Both represent [o].

Form	Rōmaji	Hiragana Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...	Katakana Katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
Normal a/i/u/e/o (あ行 a-gyō)	o	お	オ
	ou oo, oh ō	おう, おぅ おお, おぉ おー	オウ, オゥ オオ, オォ オー

Variant forms

Scaled-down versions of the kana (ぉ, ォ) are used to express morae foreign to the Japanese language, such as フォ (fo).

Stroke order

The hiragana お is made with three strokes:

1. A horizontal line from left to right.
2. A stroke consisting of a vertical line, a small diagonal line going upwards and to the left, and an open curve heading right and downwards.
3. A small curved stroke on the right.

The katakana オ is made with three strokes:

1. At the top, a horizontal stroke from left to right.
2. A downward vertical stroke cutting through the first stroke, with a small hook at the end facing left.
3. At the intersection of the first two strokes, a diagonal line going downwards and to the left.

Other communicative representations

• Braille
  Japanese Braille
  Japanese braille is a braille code for writing the Japanese language. It is based on the original braille system. In Japanese it is known as , literally "dot characters". Below is a basic chart of Japanese braille with the Japanese hiragana character followed by the standard roman character reading...
  
  :

  －● ●－ －－

• Phonetic alphabet
  Japanese phonetic alphabet
  The is a radiotelephony spelling alphabet, similar in purpose to the NATO phonetic alphabet, but designed to communicate Japanese kana rather than Latin letters...
  
  : 「大阪のオ」 ("o as in Osaka
  Osaka
  is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
  
  ")
• Morse code: ・－・・・