b"\n_START_ARTICLE_\nHiragana\n_START_SECTION_\nGabay sa Pagbaybay\n_START_PARAGRAPH_\nWith a few exceptions for sentence particles \xe3\x81\xaf, \xe3\x82\x92, and \xe3\x81\xb8 (pronounced as wa, o, and e), and a few other arbitrary rules, Japanese is phonemically orthographic. This has not always been the case: a previous system of spelling, now referred to as historical kana usage, had many spelling rules; the exceptions in modern usage are the legacy of that system. The exact spelling rules are referred to as kanazukai (\xe4\xbb\xae\xe5\x90\x8d\xe9\x81\xa3\xe3\x81\x84).\n_START_SECTION_\nKasaysayan\n_START_PARAGRAPH_\nHiragana developed from man'y\xc5\x8dgana, Chinese characters used for their pronunciations, a practice which started in the 5th century. The oldest example of Man'y\xc5\x8dgana is Inariyama Sword which is an iron sword excavated at the Inariyama Kofun in 1968. This sword is thought to be made in year of \xe8\xbe\x9b\xe4\xba\xa5\xe5\xb9\xb4 (which is A.D. 471 in commonly accepted theory). The forms of the hiragana originate from the cursive script style of Chinese calligraphy. The figure below shows the derivation of hiragana from many\xc5\x8dgana via cursive script. The upper part shows the character in the regular script form, the center character in red shows the cursive script form of the character, and the bottom shows the equivalent hiragana. Note also that the cursive script forms are not strictly confined to those in the illustration.\n_START_SECTION_\nDireksiyon at Ayos ng Hagod\n_START_PARAGRAPH_\nThe following table shows the method for writing each hiragana character. It is arranged in the traditional way, beginning top right and reading columns down. The numbers and arrows indicate the stroke order and direction respectively."