Free tool
Japanese mora counter
Paste kana to count morae (beats) and syllables line by line. Three lines are checked against haiku 5-7-5.
One verse per line, or separate verses with spaces. Kanji are not read automatically: type them in hiragana or katakana.
5-7-5: haiku rhythm ✓
- Line 15 / 5
- ふ
- る
- い
- け
- や
Syllables 5ふ | る | い | け | や
- Line 27 / 7
- か
- わ
- ず
- と
- び
- こ
- む
Syllables 7か | わ | ず | と | び | こ | む
- Line 35 / 5
- み
- ず
- の
- お
- と
Syllables 5み | ず | の | お | と
How Japanese morae are counted
Each kana is one mora: か, さ, ア.
A small ゃ, ゅ or ょ joins the kana before it: きゃ is one mora, not two.
Long vowel ー, small っ and ん each count as one mora.
A syllable groups ー, っ, ん and the second vowel of おう or えい with the beat before it.
Morae vs syllables
Syllables merge the special beats into the beat before them; morae count every beat.
| Example | Syllables | Morae |
|---|---|---|
| しんぶん | しん | ぶん2 | し・ん・ぶ・ん4 |
| とうきょう | とう | きょう2 | と・う・きょ・う4 |
| きって | きっ | て2 | き・っ・て3 |
| きゃく | きゃ | く2 | きゃ・く2 |
| ちょこれーと | ちょ | こ | れー | と4 | ちょ・こ・れ・ー・と5 |
| こんぴゅーたー | こん | ぴゅー | たー3 | こ・ん・ぴゅ・ー・た・ー6 |
Haiku count morae, not syllables
The 5-7-5 of a Japanese haiku counts on (音), which are morae. ふるいけや (furu-ike ya) is five: きゃ counts once, while ー, っ and ん each count.
Kana only: kanji are not converted. Syllables are estimated from spelling, so おう and えい are treated as long vowels even where they are not (おもう).