Introduction to Japanese Writing Systems

1. The Japanese Writing Systems

Japanese uses three writing systems:

• Hiragana (ひらがな): Basic phonetic alphabet used for native Japanese words
• Katakana (カタカナ): Used for foreign words and emphasis
• Kanji (漢字): Chinese characters used for most vocabulary

2. Basic Hiragana Chart

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	ゐ	う	ゑ	を
ん

3. Basic Katakana Chart

ア	イ	ウ	エ	オ
カ	キ	ク	ケ	コ
サ	シ	ス	セ	ソ
タ	チ	ツ	テ	ト
ナ	ニ	ヌ	ネ	ノ
ハ	ヒ	フ	ヘ	ホ
マ	ミ	ム	メ	モ
ヤ	–	ユ	–	ヨ
ラ	リ	ル	レ	ロ
ワ	ヰ	ウ	ヱ	ヲ
ン

3. Kanji

漢字 (Kanji) is a logographic character. They are Chinese characters adapted from the Chinese script used in the writing of Japanese. They became a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese. They are still used along with the subsequently-derived syllabic scripts of hiragana and katakana. The characters have Japanese pronunciations; most have two, with one based on the Chinese sound. A few characters were invented in Japan by constructing character components derived from other Chinese characters. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan simplified the characters. These simplified characters are now known as shinjitai. This process was similar to China‘s simplification efforts. The intention was to increase literacy among the common folk. The Japanese government has published character lists periodically since the 1920s. This effort helps direct the education of its citizenry. It guides them through the myriad Chinese characters that exist. There are nearly 3,000 kanji used in Japanese names and in common communication and total of approximately 100,000 kanji.

Japanese uses 6 kanji types:

• Kyōiku kanji (教育漢字) – 1,026 basic kanji
• Jōyō kanji (常用漢字) – 2,136 kanji
• Jinmeiyō kanji (人名用漢字) – 2,999 kanji
• Hyōgai kanji (表外漢字) – 47,000 kanji
• Gaiji (外字) – 9,400 kanji
• Japanese Industrial Standards kanji (日本産業規格漢字 / 日本工業規格漢字) – 6,355 kanji
• Other kanji – Around 85,000 kanji