The details
How Furikku works
What the keypad actually sends, what every key does, and what the hardware is. If you already have a keypad and just want it typing, the setup guide is the page you want.
How it works
Keypad in, Japanese out.
The keypad and the input method are two halves of one product. Neither is much use without the other.
You flick
Tap or drag on the keypad's touchscreen. The keypad decides which kana you meant.
USB-C carries it
The keypad sends it as a standard HID keystroke. No drivers, no daemon, no network.
The input method converts
The Furikku input method reads it as kana and runs it through Zenzai conversion.
Text lands
In whatever app you were already typing in — Mail, Slack, a terminal. Anywhere macOS accepts text input.
Furikku doesn't send romaji and hope an IME (input method editor) guesses right. It sends direct kana instructions that only the Furikku input method decodes — which is why setup installs both, and why the keypad won't type usefully against any other IME. See the setup guide →
Flick input
Twelve keys, four directions each.
Each kana key holds a whole row of the gojūon — the traditional kana grid. Drag left, up, right or down off the base kana to reach the rest of the row.
| Key | Left | Up | Right | Down |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| あ | い | う | え | お |
| か | き | く | け | こ |
| さ | し | す | せ | そ |
| た | ち | つ | て | と |
| な | に | ぬ | ね | の |
| は | ひ | ふ | へ | ほ |
| ま | み | む | め | も |
| や | 「 | ゆ | 」 | よ |
| ら | り | る | れ | ろ |
| ゛゜ | ◀ | ▲ | ▶ | ▼ |
| わ | を | ん | ー | 〜 |
| 、 | 。 | ？ | ！ | … |
や, わ and 、 fill their unused slots with punctuation and long-vowel marks. The ゛゜ key's four directions are cursor movement, not sound variants. The full chart, with romaji readings →
Specifications
What it is, honestly.
- Display
- 3.5″ 320×480 IPS with capacitive touch
- Processor
- ESP32-S3
- Connection
- USB-C, enumerates as a USB HID keyboard — bus powered, no battery
- Layout
- Hiragana flick, 3×5 — twelve kana keys plus dakuten, backspace and enter
- Host support
- macOS only — verified on macOS 15; macOS 14 and 26 untested. Windows and Linux are not supported.
- Status
- Alpha — the input method is pre-release and there is no ship date for hardware.
Still want one?
Now you know what it is and what it isn't. Tell us where to reach you when the hardware is real.