What are the Japanese names of the columns in a Kana chart? (Vowels, K, S, T...)


Here is a typical Kana chart presented in gojūon order:

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2Wus0.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2Wus0.png)

In English, I refer to the first column in the chart as the 'vowels' and I
refer to every other column in the chart with the first letter of each Kana in
English (K, S, T...).

How would I refer to a particular column of this chart in spoken Japanese?

If for example, I was struggling to remember a word such as 'りんご' but I could
only remember the consanant part from the final consonant + vowel pair
(ri,n,g—), how could I say...

> "I think the last kana was a 'g—' kana..."




The word you are looking for is 「行{ぎょう}」.

Therefore, the columns are named 「ア行」、「カ行」、「サ行」, etc.

> How could I say "I think the last kana was a 'g—' kana...'?

You could say:

> 「最後{さいご}の文字{もじ}は **ガ行のかな** だったと思{おも}う。」

In case someone is wondering what we call the horizontal rows of kana on that
chart, they are called 「段{だん}」. We say 「ア段」、「イ段」, etc.




The word you are looking for is 「行{ぎょう}」.

Therefore, the columns are named 「ア行」、「カ行」、「サ行」, etc.

> How could I say "I think the last kana was a 'g—' kana...'?

You could say:

> 「最後{さいご}の文字{もじ}は **ガ行のかな** だったと思{おも}う。」

In case someone is wondering what we call the horizontal rows of kana on that
chart, they are called 「段{だん}」. We say 「ア段」、「イ段」, etc.

