The is the guide to
kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...
characters and their readings, announced officially by the
Japanese Ministry of Education. Current ''jōyō kanji'' are those on a list of 2,136 characters issued in 2010. It is a slightly modified version of the ''
tōyō kanji'', which was the initial list of
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
-level kanji standardized after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. The list is not a comprehensive list of all characters and readings in regular use; rather, it is intended as a literacy baseline for those who have completed compulsory education, as well as a list of permitted characters and readings for use in official government documents. Due to the requirement that official government documents make use of only ''jōyō kanji'' and their readings, several rare characters are also included due to their use in the
Constitution of Japan
The Constitution of Japan (Shinjitai: , Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ) is the constitution of Japan and the supreme law in the state. Written primarily by American civilian officials working under the Allied occupation of Japa ...
, which was being written at the same time the original 1,850-character ''tōyō kanji'' list was compiled.
The 2,136 kanji in the ''jōyō kanji'' consist of:
* 1,026 kanji taught in primary school (Grade 1-6) (the ''
kyōiku kanji
, also known as is a list of 1,026 kanji and associated readings developed and maintained by the Japanese Ministry of Education that prescribes which kanji, and which readings of kanji, Japanese students should learn from first grade to the sixt ...
'')
* 1,110 additional kanji taught in secondary school (Grade 7-12)
Changes from the ''tōyō kanji''
In 1981, the ''jōyō kanji'' replaced the ''
tōyō kanji'' as the standardized list of common kanji. The differences between the two consisted of 95 additional characters, and the simplification of as .
The 95 additional characters are as follows:
:
History
*1923: The
Ministry of Education specified 1,962 kanji and 154 simplified characters.
*1931: The former ''jōyō kanji'' was revised and 1,858 characters were specified.
*1942: 1,134 characters as standard ''jōyō kanji'' and 1,320 characters as sub-''jōyō kanji'' were specified.
*1946: The 1,850 characters of ''
tōyō kanji'' were adopted by law "as those most essential for common use and everyday communication". This list included 881 'basic requirement' kanji for elementary school.
*1981: The 1,945 characters of ''jōyō kanji'' were adopted, replacing the list of ''tōyō kanji''.
["In 1981 the ''jōyō kanji'' list superseded the old ''tōyō kanji'' list — the list of Chinese characters which was announced in November 1946 and designated for daily use." -''Japan Times'' editorial]
"Revising the list of kanji"
, Nov. 16, 2008, retrieved 27 May 2009.
*2010: The list was revised on 30 November to include an additional 196 characters and remove 5 characters (, , , , and ), for a total of 2,136. The amendment also made changes to the readings of ''kanji'' present in the previous ''jōyō kanji'' list. Twenty-eight ''kanji'' gained new readings, three ''kanji'' lost obscure readings and the ''
kun'yomi'' of was changed from to .
The 196 additional characters are:
junior high school
A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...
students would be able to read them and high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
students would be able to write them. High schools and universities started using the characters in their entrance exams in the 2015 academic year.[http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/govt-to-announce-new-list-of-kanji-for-common-use-at-end-of-month]
See also
* List of jōyō kanji
The jōyō kanji system of representing written Japanese currently consists of 2,136 characters.
List of characters
* For brevity, only one English translation is given per kanji.
* The "Grade" column specifies the grade in which the kanji is tau ...
* Kyōiku kanji (List of kanji by school year)
* Jinmeiyō kanji
* Hyōgaiji
* Japanese script reform
* Kanji radicals
* Learning kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequent ...
References
External links
List of Jōyō Kanji (Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs)
Online jōyō kanji database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyo Kanji
Kanji
1981 documents
Japanese writing system