This is the description of the Japanese book 告白 by Kanae Minato. In the
picture, in red, are two instances of a character I suppose to be a hiragana.

But I have never seen it and can't find it anywhere on the internet.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JKC4S.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JKC4S.jpg)

Through context I think it might be a contracted form of ここ, but is there even
such a thing as contracting two hiragana in one? How do we call it so I can
find more info of that on the internet?

I will very much appreciate if you guys could enlighten me on the meaning of
it.
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2023-06-24T20:34:03.857
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question
hiragana contractions
Is it a hiragana or a kanji or something else entirely?
It's a cursive version of と like the one in the picture, but written more
stylistically

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/A7PEQ.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/A7PEQ.jpg)
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It is not a contraction but a design of と. It is supposed to represent the
beginning of the stroke written with a brush.

You can see the same style in し in 亡くした on the fourth line. On this, the
following contains more information.

  * [ひらがな書体の種類と移り変わり](https://crd.ndl.go.jp/reference/modules/d3ndlcrdentry/index.php?page=ref_view&id=1000141302)

* * *

The closest I can find is a font named [GL-
築地五号](https://www.fontmatome.com/gl-tsukiji-5/)

[![to](https://i.stack.imgur.com/e6pKi.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/e6pKi.png)

* * *

For a similar thing in Latin alphabets, you can think about the difference
between **a** and _**a**_ , or between modern scripts and [uncial
scripts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncial_script).
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2023-06-25T01:18:58.863
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answer
This style of と is found in fonts like 築地体初号仮名, an archaic looking font
developed by Morisawa. It's a reproduction of a particular set of movable
type, and other font makers might have similar looking ones, but Morisawa's
particularly looks similar to me.

Here is a sample [provided by
Morisawa](https://www.morisawa.co.jp/fonts/specimen/1861):
[![築地体初号仮名](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jkgJA.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jkgJA.png)

So what you have found is not an instance of hiragana contractions and
shorthands. If you are looking for them, they are called kana ligatures
(合略仮名). [ゟ for より](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%9F) is one of them.
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answer