are the orthographic rules for spelling Japanese in

kana The term may refer to a number of syllabaries used to write Japanese phonological units, morae. Such syllabaries include (1) the original kana, or , which were Chinese characters (kanji) used phonetically to transcribe Japanese, the most p ...

. All

phonographic A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

systems (of which kana is an example) attempt to account accurately the

pronunciation Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct pronunciation") or simply the way a particular ...

in their

spelling Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is one ...

s. However, pronunciation and accents change over time and

phonemic In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west ...

distinctions are often lost. Various systems of ''kanazukai'' were introduced to deal with the disparity between the

written Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...

and spoken versions of Japanese.

Historical systems

The former mainstream kana usage, or the '' Kyū-Kanazukai'' (, ‘old kana usage’), is based on classical texts, especially ''

man'yōgana is an ancient writing system that uses Chinese characters to represent the Japanese language. It was the first known kana system to be developed as a means to represent the Japanese language phonetically. The date of the earliest usage of thi ...

''. Created by

Keichū (1640 – April 3, 1701) was a Buddhist priest and a scholar of Kokugaku in the mid Edo period. Keichū's grandfather was a personal retainer of Katō Kiyomasa but his father was a ''rōnin'' from the Amagasaki fief. When he was 13, Keichū left h ...

in the early

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, it is also known as the ''Keichū Kanazukai''. It was the mainstream ''kanazukai'' until the ''

Gendai Kanazukai is the present official ''kanazukai'' (system of spelling the Japanese syllabary). Also known as , it is derived from historical usage. History As long ago as the Meiji Restoration, there had been dissatisfaction regarding the growing discr ...

'' was introduced in 1946. There were other minor systems throughout history that are now defunct: * '' Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai'': a modified ''

Man'yōgana is an ancient writing system that uses Chinese characters to represent the Japanese language. It was the first known kana system to be developed as a means to represent the Japanese language phonetically. The date of the earliest usage of thi ...

'' where /e, je/ are distinct. * ''Teika Kanazukai'': created by

Fujiwara no Teika , better-known as Fujiwara no Teika"Sadaie" and "Teika" are both possible readings of ; "...there is the further problem, the rendition of the name in romanized form. Teika probably referred to himself as Sadaie, and his father probably called ...

, it distinguishes between /wo, o/, /i, hi, wi/, /e, we, he/, and also (to a lesser degree) /e, je/. /wo, o/ were used to express high and low accent, respectively. * ''Gyōa Kanazukai'' (''Kanamojizukai''): created by Minamoto no Chikayuki and Gyōa, which expanded on the ''Teika Kanazukai'' by distinguishing between /ho/, /wa, ha/, /u, hu/, and /mu/. /wo, o/ are still used to distinguish between high and low accent. However, the distinction between /e, je/ is obliterated.

''Gendai Kanazukai''

Derived from the ''Kyū-Kanazukai'', ''gendai kanazukai'' is a revision to more approximate modern pronunciation that is still used currently. As an adaption of the ''Kyū-Kanazukai'', it is still not entirely phonetic, especially in respect to long vowels and

particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from ...

Historical systems

''Gendai Kanazukai''

References

See also