kanji

Also known as kanji characters, Japanese/Kanji

Kanji (; , hiragana: かんじ, Katakana: カンジ, , ) are logographic Chinese characters, historically adapted from Chinese writing scripts, used in the writing of Japanese. They comprised a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used today, along with the subsequently derived syllabic (phonographic) scripts of and . Most Kanji characters have two pronunciations: ''kun'yomi, based on the sounds of vernacular Japanese, where the Kanji is often phonetically transcribed with furigana; and on'yomi, based on the imitation of the original Middle Chinese sound

AI overview

Kanji are Chinese characters that were adapted for use in Japanese writing and remain a fundamental part of the Japanese writing system today, alongside two other syllabic scripts. Most kanji characters have two different pronunciations—one based on Japanese sounds and one based on the original Chinese pronunciation—which readers must learn to use them correctly.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Key facts

Writing system.name: Kanji
Writing system.sample: Kanji furigana.svg
Writing system.type: Logographic
Writing system.caption: Kanji written in kanji with
Writing system.languages: Old Japanese, , Japanese, Ryukyuan languages, Hachijō
Writing system.time: 5th century CE – present
Writing system.fam1: Oracle bone script
Writing system.fam2: Seal script
Writing system.fam3: Clerical script
Writing system.fam4: Regular script
Writing system.sisters: Hanja, zhuyin, traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, chữ Hán, chữ Nôm, Khitan script, Jurchen script, Tangut script, Yi script
Writing system.iso15924: Hani

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image: Kanji symbols.png

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start time: 0500-00-00
Commons category: Kanji
Commons gallery: Kanji
Stack Exchange tag: japanese.stackexchange.com/tags/kanji

Sources (2)

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~47 min read

Article

45 sections

Contents

History
Orthographic reform and lists of kanji
{{translit|ja|Kyōiku}} kanji
{{translit|ja|Jōyō}} kanji
{{translit|ja|Jinmeiyō}} kanji
{{translit|ja|Hyōgai}} kanji
Japanese Industrial Standards for kanji
Gaiji
Total number of kanji
Readings
{{translit|ja|On'yomi}} (Sino-Japanese reading)
{{translit|ja|Kun'yomi}} (native reading)
{{translit|ja|Ateji}}
Gairaigo
Mixed readings {{anchor|jūbako|juubako|jubako|yutō|yutou|yuto}}
Special readings
Single character gairaigo
{{translit|ja|Nanori}}
When to use which reading
Legalese
Ambiguous readings
Place names
Pronunciation assistance
Spelling words
Dictionaries
Local developments and divergences from Chinese
{{translit|ja|Kokuji}} {{anchor|Wasei kanji}}
{{translit|ja|Kokkun}}
Types of kanji by category
{{translit|ja|Shōkei moji}} ({{Nihongo2|象形文字}})
{{translit|ja|Shiji moji}} ({{Nihongo2|指事文字}})
{{translit|ja|Kaii moji}} ({{Nihongo2|会意文字}})
{{translit|ja|Keisei moji}} ({{Nihongo2|形声文字}})
{{translit|ja|Tenchū moji}} ({{Nihongo2|転注文字}})
{{translit|ja|Kasha moji}} ({{Nihongo2|仮借文字}})
Related symbols
Collation
Kanji education
See also
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Glyph conversion

After the Meiji Restoration, Japan made its own efforts to simplify the Kanji'' characters, now known as , by a process similar to China's simplification efforts, with the intention to increase literacy among the general public. Since the 1920s, the Japanese government has published character lists periodically to help direct the education of its citizenry through the myriad Chinese characters that exist. There are nearly 3,000 kanji used in Japanese names and in common communication.