furigana

small katakana and/or hiragana placed over or next to kanji in Japanese writing, to allow people who don't know the kanji to read it syllabically.

Affectionately reffered to as "Hurry-gana" by students of Japanese language, as they allow you to read the Kanji without taking the time to look it up.

Children's manga usually have furigana, because little kids don't know very many kanji.

by NotAnOtaku August 13, 2004