Hiragana: Lesson 29 - ‘へ’ [he], ‘べ’ [be] & ‘ぺ’ [pe]

Pronunciation:
‘へ’ is romanized (pronounced) ‘he’ as in 'hen'. But it can al

Words with ‘へ’:
‘へ’ at the beginning:

• 蛇 / へび (hebi -> snake)
• 部屋 / へや(heya -> room)
• 変な / へんな (hen na -> weird; strange)
• 平和 / へいわ (heiwa -> peacefulness)
• 壁画 / へきが (hekiga -> wall painting)

‘へ’ in the middle:

• 大変 / たいへん (taihen -> very; dreadful)
• 太平 / たいへい (taihei -> peace)
• 公平 / こうへい (kouhei -> fairness; justice)

Particle
へ (romaji e)
(particle)へ (e) indicates a destination or movement toward something. When used in this sense, it is pronounced "e" instead of "he".


Examples:

• 日本へようこそ!にほんへようこそ! (Nihon e yōkoso!) -> Welcome to Japan!
• 銀行へ行った。ぎんこうへいった。(Ginkō e itta.) -> [I] went to the bank.

Stroke order:





______________

Dakuten
The character ‘へ’ may also be combined with a dakuten, changing it into ‘べ’ in hiragana, and ‘be’ in Hepburn romanization. With the dakuten added the pronunciation is changed, to ‘be’. へ + " (dakuten) = べ (look below)



Pronunciation:
‘べ’ is romanized (pronounced) 'be' as in 'ben'.

Word with ‘べ’:
‘べ’ at the beginning:

• 別に / べつに (betsuni -> nothing in particular)
• 弁当 / べんとう (bentou -> lunch box)
• 勉強する / べんきょうする (benkyou suru -> study; learn)
• 別宴 / べつえん (betsuen -> farewell dinner)

‘べ’ in the middle:

• 勤勉な / きんべんな (kinben na -> dilligent)
• 食べる / たべる (taberu -> eat)
• せんべい (senbei -> crackers)
• 食べ物 / たべもの (tabemono -> food)
• 述べる / のべる (noberu -> state; express; mention)

‘べ’ at the end:

• 古部 / こべ (Kobe -> City name)
• 壁 / かべ (kabe -> wall)
• 鍋 / な べ (nabe -> pot; sauce pan)
• 延べ / のべ (nobe -> total; streching)

______________

Handakuten
The character ‘へ’ may also be combined with a handakuten, changing it into ‘ぺ’ in hiragana, and ‘pe’ in Hepburn romanization. Keep it in mind, with the dakuten added the pronunciation is changed, to ‘pe’. へ + o (handakuten) = ぺ (look below)



Pronunciation:
‘ぺ’ is romanized (pronounced) 'pe' as in pen'.

Word with ‘ぺ’:
‘ぺ’ at the beginning:

• ぺこぺこ (pekopeko -> starving)
• ぺらぺら (perapera -> fluent)
• ぺちゃぺちゃ (pechapecha -> chitchatting)

‘ぺ’ in the middle:

• いっぺん (ippen -> perfunctory)
• 完璧 / かんぺき (kanpeki -> perfectness)
• 番兵 / ばんぺい (banpei -> sentry)

_______________________________

Task: You shall write ‘へ’50 - 100 times in your textbook. Memorize the shape, the stroke order, the sound, the pronunciation (echo the sound of the character each time you write them down), etc.
And after you've done that, write ‘は’, ‘ひ’, ‘ふ’ and ‘へ’ one after each repetitively (は, ひ, ふ, へ, は, ひ, ふ, へ, etc.) 50 times (100 if you have time).

_______________________________

Character of Today's Lesson & OSAKA!

"O-konnichiwa! Ore wa Nishigawa no Koukousei Tantei, Hattori Heiji. As you may know that I'm Kudou's biggest rival!

"Kyou (today), we're not going to study at class because you're currently in one of incredibly beautiful city in Japan. Yes, Osaka!" he continued. "Let me show you the marvelous cherry blossoms which maybe don't grow in your country."

He and most DCW's Japanese Classroom members had a walk. Their first destination was looking at typical Japanese tree, which they used to call it 'Sakura'.

"Ja, kore wa Sakura no ki da. Sugoi darou?" 

"Wow, I usually watched them from television or newspaper. But this is marvelous!" cried Tna astonishingly.

"Yeah, naka naka kirei yo ne?" Kaoko implied, also with amazement.

"Ah, sou sou. You see, right? You will surprise more and more as I show you another hilarious place in Osaka...ARGH!" Heiji suddenly shouted as someone punched his right arm.

"Stop babbling around, Heiji!"

"Ka-Kazuha?" Heiji said in surprise. "Nan de omae koko ni...?"

"Any problem with that?" Kazuha gave him a cynical eyes. Looked like she was annoyed because Heiji left her alone.

"Shanaai yo (It can't be helped - Kansai dialect)... She'll mess up my role as a tour guide..." he said in a low voice, wishing the girl who glared at him with notorious eyes would not hear his speaking.

"Nani ga itta?"

"Ahaha- chau, chau..." 

"Sumimasen desu ga Hattori-kun, can we go to another destination please?" Tna interrupted those two childhood friends bickering. 

"Oh, wari wari- C'mon, ikuso!" 

They walked following that Osaka boy and Kazuha woman wandering around the city which literally means 'Large Hill'. Then finally arrived at a white round building which had unique rooftop.

"This is Osaka Dome!" Heiji proudly introduced. "It's a baseball stadium which became the home field of the Kintetsu Buffaloes (Nippon Professional Baseball Team) in 1997."

Not too long they were waking around the stadium because currently there was no match or something. Then they entered the bus and ready to leave Nishi-ku (One of regions in Osaka where Osaka Dome located) headed to Kita-ku. 

"This is another wondrous place in Osaka, Nakanoshima-kouen!" Kazuha suddenly replaced Heiji's role as a tour guide.

"It's the first public park opened by Osaka in 1891, after its foundation as a city," she then continued.

"Oi, why are you interrupting all of sudden?" Heiji protested annoyingly. 

"Betsuni," Kazuha shortly implied and asked the others entering that park.

"Maybe you're tired already, but be patient please since there are so many amazing place in Osaka," said Heiji when they entered Chuuoo-ku, the south side region from Kita-ku. 

"No matter. Just explain to us what's the name of that shrine-like?" Kaoko pointed out her finger to the shrine-like before them.

"Oh, that's Ozakajou or Osaka Castle, one of Japan's most famous castle and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period!" he immediately explained fiery in order to prevent Kazuha took his role again. 

"Sou desu ka. I once saw it on Detective Conan," Tna murmured. 

"Sou, sou." Heiji and Kazuha implied accordingly. They actually were an interesting couple because they loved arguing each other.

They went to the south from Chuuoo-ku, which was Tennoji-ku. Soon after they arrived, they wandered around this neat beautiful park. 

"Nah, kochira wa Tennoji-kouen or you usually call it Tennoji Park. It's a park with botanical garden," Heiji explained. "In this ward, you also can go to Tennoji Zoo,"

They walked again. Not so far from the park, the zoo which was called Tennoji Zoo, clearly seen.

"Minna! We're now at Tennoji Zoo. It's opened on January 1, 1915. The zoo features adjacent savannah zones for herbivorous and carnivorous animals which are arranged so that the animals appear to be sharing the same place."

Today's travelling seemed to be still long long way to go. After about forty minutes journey, they finally arrived at the southest side of Osaka, Sumiyoshi-ku.

"We arrive at Sumiyoshi Taisha (Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine) now. It's a Shinto shrine and the main shrine of all the Sumiyoshi shrines in Japan. "

"Wow, sugoooi. We're quite lucky able to see this great shrine!" said one of Japanese Classroom students.

"Ping pong!" Heiji laughed excitedly. "We're finished here. C'mon, we're going to Osaka Bay at Minato-ku!"

"Ara? Joudan da yo ne, Heiji?" Kazuha disagreed. Her face looked exhausted.

"Joudan ja nai sa..."

"Can we have a rest a little while? I'm tired...  " she wiped her sweats with a pink handkerchief.

 "Yeah, Kazuha-chan is right," Kaoko implied. "Yet we're hungry..."

Heiji was silent for a moment, but then, "Geez, shaanai... Let's have a lunch! Obento wo motteru? (Do you guys bring your lunch box)?"

"Mochiron!" they all said accordingly while opening their bento. 

Two hours later, they eventually arrived at the most western ward of Osaka, which was Minato-ku, side-to-side with Osaka Bay. 

"You're now at in front of Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, one of the largest public aquarium in the world!" Heiji asked them all entering the aquarium to see such a splendid view.

"Some popular fishes and marine mammals living here are...

... whale shark....

... ocean sunfish....

... sea otter...

....penguin....

.... Pacific White-sided Dolphin...

... Harbor Seal... and some others," Heiji ended his explanation at that place.

Wandering and looking around the whole Kaiyukan Aquarium, they finally ended their 'A-Day-Journey-in-Osaka".

"Ja, that's all from me!" Heiji said when they were already outside the aquarium. "So, what's your opinion guys about Osaka? Beautiful isn't?"

"Geez, you always brag about Osaka, here and everywhere..." Kazuha interrupted, her voice indicated that she was still indignant. 

"Hei, you also do the same, right?" Heiji annoyed. "Sore ni, doushite omae okoru mada?"

"Betsuni."

"AGH!" Heiji yelled suddenly soon as Kazuha stepped on his foot and left. "Ano onna..."

"Tonikaku, thanks so much for assisting us today, Hattori-kun," Tna said.

"Yeah, you showed us some magnificent places here," Kaoko added.

"Ahaha- nope. Glad to help," Heiji grinned.

"Oi, minna-san! Koko ni kudasai!" Kazuha yelled and waved her hand. "We're going to close this day by enjoying the ferris wheel!"

They immediately realized that right beside the Kaiyukan Aquarium, there was a big ferris wheel. 

"Subarashii!" they were all amazed unbelievably. 

"Ah yeah. Good idea, Kazuha. It's called Tempozan Ferris Wheel, opened to public on July 12, 1997. It has a height of 112.5 meters and diameter of 100 meters. This ferros wheel has colored lights that provide a weather forecast for the next day. Orange lights indicate a sunny day, green lights a cloudy day, and blue lights indicate rain."

"Wow, sugoi! C'mon guys, we'll ride that ferris wheel!" Kaoko shouted.

(Thanks to wikipedia.com for providing informations about Osaka xD ~ Tna Uchiha)