sa shi su se so (サシスセソ)
サ
Imagine a saw cutting sideways across a piece of wood. This character sounds like the "sa" in "saw".
シ
This character looks like a woman's face, with the two short lines representing the eyes and the long line representing a smile. It sounds like "she".
ス
Imagine a woman named Sue running to the right, with her long hair trailing behind her. This character is spelled “su” and sounds like “Sue”.
セ
This looks like a sitting person stabbing themself, which in Japanese is called seppuku. It sounds like the "se" in "seppuku".
ソ
Imagine that the long line in this character looks like the soft side of a person’s belly, and the short line is the belly button. The character is spelled “so” like the first two letters of “soft”.
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