Make Japanese flashcards with Anki or Maho
In Anki, you enter the word, reading and example yourself, then let the app schedule reviews. In Maho, you can ask AI to make cards from Japanese you are reading and revisit them in your notebook. This guide walks through each workflow, followed by a comparison of features, platforms and costs.
In this article
Create Japanese flashcards in Anki
Anki gives you control over what appears on each side of a card and schedules spaced reviews. The instructions below use the standard desktop interface; button locations can differ on mobile. If you need to install it, choose your platform on the official Anki website.
1. Create a deck
Open Anki, choose Create Deck and name it, for example, “Japanese vocabulary”. A deck groups the cards you want to study together.
2. Add a Basic card
Choose Add. Set the note type to Basic and select your new deck. The Front field is the question you see first; Back contains the answer you reveal during review.
3. Enter the word and its answer
For a card about black tea, put the Japanese word on the front and its reading, meaning and example on the back. Use the entries below, placing each answer item on a separate line.
Scroll sideways to see the full comparison ↔
| Anki field | Text to enter |
|---|---|
| Front | 紅茶 |
| Back | Reading: こうちゃ Meaning: black tea Example: 紅茶を一杯ください。 Translation: One cup of black tea, please. |
4. Save the card and start reviewing
Choose Add at the bottom of the editing window to save your entry. You can enter another word straight away. To change a saved card, find it using Browse and edit its fields.
Return to your deck and choose Study Now. When you see 紅茶, recall its reading and meaning before choosing Show Answer. Rate your recall with Again, Hard, Good or Easy; Anki uses that rating to schedule later reviews.
Create Japanese flashcards with Maho AI
Maho analyses Japanese and lets you ask AI for vocabulary cards, including readings and examples. You can work with your own reading material or a photo. Here is the text-based workflow.
1. Paste Japanese and analyse it
Open Maho, select the text input option on the home screen, paste 窓の近くで紅茶を飲みます。 and start text analysis. The sentence means “I drink black tea near the window.” For a photo, choose the photo input option instead.
2. Ask Maho AI for flashcards
Open Maho AI on the analysis page. Specify the words and the information you want on each card. For example:
“Make three vocabulary cards for 紅茶, 窓 and 近く in this sentence. Include the kana reading, the meaning here and one simple example sentence for each.”
The assistant can refer to the sentence you are viewing. To work with a different passage, open that analysis before asking it to create cards.
3. Open the cards and check their content
Select a vocabulary row in the reply to open its card. Check the reading, meaning and example; select the Japanese text to hear it read aloud. If something does not fit your source text, explain the problem in the same conversation and ask AI to remake the cards.
The sample below uses fixed cards for this article. Switch between the three words to preview their content; create your own cards in the Maho app.
Source sentence
窓の近くで紅茶を飲みます。
I drink black tea near the window.
Select a word to view its card
Card content
紅茶
- Reading
- こうちゃ
- Meaning in this context
- black tea
A noun: the drink called black tea. Avoid guessing its English meaning character by character.
Example
紅茶を一杯ください。
One cup of black tea, please.
窓
- Reading
- まど
- Meaning in this context
- window
A noun. Recall the reading まど, then find the window in the original sentence.
Example
窓を開けます。
I open the window.
近く
- Reading
- ちかく
- Meaning in this context
- nearby / vicinity
Here 近く refers to a nearby location; の links it to the preceding noun.
Example
駅の近くに住んでいます。
I live near the station.
Read the examples, then try recalling the word.
An original sample lesson. These cards are not added to your Maho notebook.
4. Review the cards in your notebook
Cards returned by AI are automatically collected in the Maho assistant notebook. Open the notebook, select that set and choose Continue reading to resume. You can also choose a particular card.
For more practice, ask AI to “Make two gap-fill questions using these words, with answers and explanations.” The vocabulary cards and practice questions are stored as separate notes that you can return to later.
Anki and Maho: features, platforms and costs
Anki focuses on editable cards and scheduled reviews. Maho connects text analysis, AI card creation, follow-up questions and notebook study. Maho is our own product; the comparison below describes its current capabilities.
Scroll sideways to see the full comparison ↔
| Feature | Anki | Maho |
|---|---|---|
| Card creation | Enter your own content or import a file | Ask AI for cards based on Japanese source text |
| Readings, meanings and examples | Find and enter them yourself | AI prepares them from the context; you can ask follow-up questions |
| Images and audio | Attach your own images and audio | Select Japanese text for playback; images depend on the generated result |
| Review | Schedule spaced reviews using your recall ratings | Revisit notebook cards, listen or request AI practice |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS; AnkiWeb sync | Web and iOS |
| Cost | Desktop and AnkiDroid are free; AnkiMobile is paid | AI analysis and chat use points; check current plans in the app |
Optional sample files
Use these files if you want to try the article’s examples. They are supplementary to the steps above.
Anki sample file and import instructions
The file contains cards for 紅茶, 窓 and 近く, with readings, meanings and examples. It has no images or audio. This is a text file supplied with the article, not an export from the Maho app.
After downloading it, choose File → Import in Anki and select the text file. Choose Basic and your destination deck. Map column one to Front and column two to Back, check that the separator is Tab and allow HTML in fields. The preview should show three entries; confirm the import.
Basic produces three cards. Basic (and reversed card) produces six by adding reverse cards. For a repeat trial, ignore duplicates to avoid overwriting cards you have edited.
Printable vocabulary cards (PDF)
The two-page A4 worksheet contains these three words, two practice questions, answers and blank cards. It is a fixed printable lesson, not a full JLPT vocabulary list or a PDF export feature in Maho.