Katakana is a syllabary composed of 46 characters, and is characterized by the use of straight lines and sharp corners. It is one of the three Japanese writing systems, along with hiragana and kanji.

 

Katakana are used mainly to write loan words (words borrowed from other languages) and non-Japanese names, as well as to denote the various sounds and cries of animals

 

Katakana were developed in the ninth century and are also derived from more complex kanji.