Henohenomoheji – Faces drawn with Hiragana characters

Again and again I encountered this face. Since I know the Japanese Hiragana characters, I soon realized that the face is composed of different Hiragana characters. So Henohenomoheji (へのへのもへじ) is a face that is drawn with hiragana characters.

The word Henohenomoheji breaks down into seven hiragana characters: he (へ), no (の), he (へ), no (の), mo (も), he (へ), and ji (じ). The first two he are the eyebrows, the two no are the eyes, the mo is a nose, and the last he is the mouth. The outline of the face is made by the character ji, its two short strokes (dakuten) forming the ear.

The face is mainly drawn by Japanese school children. It is often used to symbolize a generic face, such as faces of Kakashi (scarecrows) and Teru teru bōzu (weather figures). The face appears frequently in Japanese pop culture such as in Animes.

There are different variations of the face. By adding other hiragana characters, for example, a laughing Heheheheshihishi (へへへへしひし) is created.