6189
I've been learning my hiragana from here:

<http://yosida.com/en/hiragana.html>

For the characters fu, mu, mo, na, ra, yu, and ya, I see a discrepancy between
what's in the little box and what shows up when you click the character to see
it being drawn. For these characters, the little boxes show several strokes
seemingly connected in smooth lines, while the drawings will show strongly
separated marks.

Which "style" -- if that's the appropriate word -- is preferable?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-19T14:18:40.700
6186
2014-03-01T13:25:45.527
2014-03-01T13:25:45.527
1628
1515
question
hiragana handwriting
Is it standard practice, or acceptable, to connect strokes in certain characters of hiragana?
I'm not Japanese, but based on what I know it is up to you to choose which
style you would like to write in. However, as I commented previously, I
recommend that you stick with the "handwritten" style rather than the
"printed" one if you are using a pen or pencil. However, if you are using a
brush then perhaps the other is more appropriate.

There is a great article about the differences of Japanese scripts linked
[here](http://www.nihongoresources.com/language/writing/typefaces.html). The
article notes which styles of writing you might find more frequently in Japan
and the context. At the bottom, there is a large entry about handwriting which
compares many different "styles".

All are correct, but the criterion is whether Japanese can recognize that your
"ふ" looks like a "ふ". I might note that stroke order and stroke count are
really important. For example, if you choose to draw "ふ" in 2 strokes instead
of "4", you might just want to make sure that Japanese people can recognize
it.

Probably the two or three characters that end up being stylized are そ、ふ、and ゆ.

[Here](http://japanese.about.com/library/blqow42.htm) is another short article
that talks about the differences in writing style.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-19T19:22:46.757
6189
2012-07-19T19:44:38.930
2012-07-19T19:44:38.930
1328
1328
6186
answer
Either is fine, but in case of writing with pencils, these are mostly
separated (also separated for sa and ki). Those connections respect the
traditional writing style by fude (brushes), such like shodo, and you don't
need to care about it (see
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_calligraphy>)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-20T09:52:05.973
6194
2012-07-20T09:52:05.973
1534
6186
answer
Both are used and equally accepted. I suggest you learn to write both so that
you can understand what someone is writing and recognize that it is that
character and not some other character you didn't learn. (ie. ゐゑ, is that just
the full stroke of め?!?)

If you do decide to use the disjointed form (maybe the most common) you still
want to know the full stroke style because your stroke will peter out properly
if you allow your stroke to flow as if you are writing the full stroke as you
lift the pen off the paper. Do not abruptly stop then left the pen to the
start of the next stroke, keep your pen flowing.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-20T21:56:37.757
6204
2012-07-20T21:56:37.757
1523
6186
answer