Every Japanese word has a pitch pattern — a melody of high and low tones that changes its meaning. Master this and you'll sound native. Ignore it and you'll be misunderstood.
Same sound. Three meanings. Only pitch tells them apart.
The basics
Unlike English stress (louder/longer syllables), Japanese pitch accent is purely about tone height. Each mora — the basic rhythmic unit — is either High (H) or Low (L). There's no in-between.
Japanese counts morae, not syllables. Each kana character is one mora. So 東京 (Tokyo) is 4 morae: と・う・き・ょ. Long vowels and double consonants each count as their own mora.
There is only one drop per word — once the pitch falls from H to L, it never rises again within the same accent phrase. This makes the system learnable: you only need to know where the drop happens.
Each word has an accent number (0, 1, 2, 3…) that tells you where the drop occurs. 0 means no drop (flat). 1 means drop after mora 1. 2 means drop after mora 2 — and so on.
The four accent types
Every Standard Japanese word falls into one of four categories based on where — or whether — the pitch drops.
Starts low, rises on mora 2, and stays high with no drop. Particles and auxiliaries remain high.
L → H H H …Minimal pairs
These word pairs are pronounced identically except for pitch. Getting them wrong doesn't just sound unnatural — it says the wrong word entirely.
Tokyo Japanese
Japan has many regional pitch dialects — Kansai Japanese (Osaka/Kyoto) has a completely different pitch system. JPitch focuses on Standard Japanese (標準語), which is based on Tokyo dialect and used in broadcasting, education, and most formal contexts.
How to improve
Every dictionary entry has an accent number. Start looking it up for words you study. OJAD and Forvo are great resources.
Your ear can't always catch your own mistakes. Recording lets you see the pitch curve and compare it visually against the target.
Practice words like 橋/箸/端 back to back. The contrast forces your brain to internalize the pitch difference.
さあ、練習しましょう
JPitch listens to your recording, extracts your F0 curve, and grades each mora against the target pattern.
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