Hiragana "Nyo" Coloring Pages

"Nyo" as in "Nyokinyoki"

The character on this coloring page is the Hiragana "Nyo".
The word is "nyokinyoki"! This is a word that describes a state. It shows things growing or popping up fast, one after another.
The picture on the left shows 3 bamboo shoots popping up nyokinyoki out of the ground.
They are all different heights: big, medium, and small.
Can you see the vertical stripes on the bamboo shoot skins, too?

"Ni" and a small "yo" make 1 sound

You write Hiragana "Nyo" by adding a small "yo" after "ni".
Even though there are 2 characters, you do not split them into "ni" and "yo". You read them together as 1 sound: "nyo".
Sounds like this are called youon.
If you write "yo" big, it becomes "niyokiniyoki," and the way you read it changes!
"Ni" came from simplifying the kanji "仁", and "yo" came from the kanji "与".
Youon sounds that use small "ya," "yu," and "yo" come in groups of 3 on the hiragana chart, like "nya," "nyu," and "nyo."
Try reading them out loud to a nice rhythm: "nya, nyu, nyo!"

Tips for neat writing

"Ni" is written in 3 strokes.
The 1st stroke is the vertical line on the left. Draw it down, then make a tiny bounce up to the right.
The 2nd and 3rd strokes are the short horizontal lines on the right. Curve the bottom line slightly up toward the right.
The trick is not to leave too much space between the left and right sides!
The small "yo" has 2 strokes. Write it small in the next box, tucked into the bottom left.
A good size guide is about half as big as "ni".
When you finish, compare the sizes of "ni" and "yo" to make sure you can clearly see the difference!

Words with Hiragana "Nyo"

There are very few words that start with Hiragana "Nyo".
Most of them are words that describe a state, like "nyokinyoki" or "nyoronyoro" for a slithering snake.
Another expression is "nyoki", which means popping right out!
Try saying "nyokinyoki" and "nyoronyoro" while moving your body.
Have fun pretending to be a bamboo shoot or a snake with your family!

Color the big "にょ" in your favorite colors

First, try coloring the big outlined "にょ" in the top right with any colors you like.
If you match the bamboo shoots and color "に" brown and "ょ" yellow-green, they will match the colors of the bamboo shoot's skin and tip.
To stay inside the lines, color slowly near the edges, and color freely in the middle!

Color the bamboo shoots with brown skin

Color the skin of the bamboo shoots with light brown or ocher.
If you add thin lines of slightly darker brown along the stripes of the skin, they will look like real bamboo shoots.
Try using dark brown or yellow-green for the edges of the skin and the pointy tips!
The 3 bamboo shoots are all different sizes, so it makes a fun picture if you change the brightness of the colors a little bit for each one.
Color the ground brown, and color the fallen leaves around them green or yellow.

Tracing practice: 2 boxes make 1 set

In the bottom right boxes, there are 4 sets of light gray "にょ" lined up.
"に" is in the left box, and small "ょ" is in the right box. The 2 boxes make 1 set together.
Pencils in B or 2B are best because they are not too dark and not too light.
Use the up-and-down and side-to-side lines in the middle of the boxes as a guide. Check where the letter starts before you write!
Once you write 1 set, try saying "にょ" out loud.
When you trace all 4 sets carefully one by one, it is great to try writing Hiragana "Nyo" all by yourself in the white space outside the boxes!

Bamboo shoots are baby bamboo

A bamboo shoot is a baby plant that grows from the underground stem of a bamboo.
If you leave it alone, it sheds its skin and grows super fast. In just a few months, it turns into a giant bamboo tree that you have to look way up to see!
That is why it is written as "bamboo's child" in Japanese.

They grow a lot in just one day

Bamboo shoots are plants that grow super fast.
For some types of bamboo, there is a record of one growing about 1 meter in a single day!
It really pops right up, just like Hiragana "Nyo" suggests!
The bamboo shoots we eat are dug up while they are still soft, right after they peek out of the ground.

Bamboo is in the rice family

Bamboo is hard and looks like a tree, but it is actually a plant in the rice family.
It is actually related to the rice plants that make rice, and even to the grass in fields!
It is so cool how bamboo is hollow inside and split into sections by joints.

Let's eat bamboo shoots

Bamboo shoots are a delicious food to eat in spring.
When they are freshly dug up, people boil them with rice bran to take away the bitter taste before eating.
They are crunchy and yummy when cooked with rice or in a stew!
When you peel off the skin, a soft white bamboo shoot comes out from inside.