Kanji
English
Japanese translation
character
translation
& kun reading
羊
sheep hitsuji
木
tree ki
米
rice kome
行
to go
iku
食
to eat
taberu
In some ways, rote learning is unavoidable with the kun readings. As you learn Japanese vocabulary, especial y nouns and verbs, you simply have to learn the kanji that goes with it. Over time, you will come to associate the word with that kanji character.
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The phonetic components that will be introduced in this book do not work for kun readings, because the native Japanese word existed before the kanji character was imported. Having developed in isolation and away from China, the relationship between a kanji character and its kun reading is therefore mostly random. The kun readings for each featured kanji can be found in its full entry in the index for you to study at your own pace, but the focus here is on the patterns of the ON readings.
The phonetics only help with words that use the ON or Chinese reading, because this system originated in China where it is still in use today.
Even though the readings often changed in the process of importation from China to Japan, the correspondence of a certain ON reading to a certain phonetic component has been maintained. For example, the Japanese phonetic 甬 is read TSUU in Japanese and TONG in Chinese.
Why do some kanji have more than one ON reading?
In order to understand why one kanji character can have multiple readings, we need to learn a bit of history.
Kanji didn’t arrive in Japan as a complete set in the 5th Century, but rather continued to trickle across the sea in dribs and drabs over hundreds of years. As the reigning powers in China changed, so did the language applied to certain kanji characters. This meant that some characters ended up with more than one ON reading. As a way of differentiating them, kanji dictionaries often list the era or Chinese Dynasty associated with a particular reading, although this is thankful y one thing you don’t need to memorise!
ON Type
Reading
Era or Dynasty
Period
呉音
GO ON
Wu Dynasty
6–7th Century
漢音
KAN ON
Han Dynasty
7–8th Century
唐音
TOU ON
Chinese reading
13th Edo period
(closest to modern
Chinese
readings)
Do any characters have only one ON reading?
Yes! The good news is that many kanji characters only have one ON reading.
In fact, many kanji only have one reading, full stop – and no kun reading.
Learning the readings for these characters is a much simpler process than for those with multiple readings. Just learn the meaning and one reading, and you’re done.
The kanji characters with multiple readings tend to be those that express fundamental concepts such as to go 行 and to live 生. Being fundamental concepts, a large number of words contain them, words that were imported 34
CHAPTER 1 – THE SCRIPTS AND THEIR SOUNDS
from China over hundreds of years. Also being fundamental, students tend to learn these characters when they start out, so it’s easy to get the impression that all kanji characters are going to have 5–10 readings. It’s enough to make you want to quit before your head explodes. Nevertheless, actual y, the further you go along in your study and the closer you get to the advanced level, the fewer readings there are per kanji character.
ON readings: the long and the short of it It’s worth familiarising yourself with the kind of sounds that appear as ON readings. Doing so will not only assist with your memorisation of the readings, it will also help you recognise kanji when you are listening to spoken Japanese. I have divided the ON readings into two sound types: 1. Short readings
These are ON readings that could be written with just one kana symbol.
Accordingly, an alternative name would be ‘kana readings’.
Character
Reading
Kana
No. kana
可
KA
か
1
士
SHI
し
1
皮
HI
ひ
1
2. Long readings
These are ON readings that are written using more than one kana symbol. Since Chinese readings tend to be long, the majority of ON readings fall under this category.
Character
Reading
Kana
No. kana
小
SHOU
しょう
3
干
KAN
かん
2
昔
SHAKU
しゃく
3
令
REI
れい
2
CHAPTER 1 – THE SCRIPTS AND THEIR SOUNDS
35
First sounds
One thing that stood out when I was highlighting the two page list of the Joyo Kanji was that I was well down the second page before I got to a character with an ON reading that started with T. That is to say, most of the first page was taken up with kanji with an ON reading that started with the letters K (KA, KI, KYUU, KAN, KIN, KON) or S (SA, SHI, SHIN, SE, SO, SON). On page 2 there were quite a few kanji with T readings, including those that started with D and CH. In contrast, there were only a few readings that started with H, N, M or R, and hardly any that started with Y.
Interestingly, this frequency pattern reflects the order of the kana – with the exception of the first kana row of vowel only sounds (a, i, u, e, o).
A (e, i, o, u, etc.) K S T H N M R Y
The kana order is said to be based on the order of the Sanskrit alphabet, the language of the first Buddhist writings. Whether this is connected to this frequency pattern is a matter of speculation. On a practical level, knowing which first letters are the most prevalent will help with your ability to guess the ON reading of new kanji. You will have about a 50% chance of getting the first letter right if you guess that it starts with K or S.
Last sounds
In English, the first letters of words are often the way we remember them.
You have probably found yourself searching for an English word and saying,
‘I know it starts with a P’. With kanji, the last sound seems to be useful to jog the memory. You might find yourself saying, ‘I know it ends with an N’.
I have divided the last sounds into four main types: 1. Long vowel ends in UU or OU – e.g. SHUU, SHOU
2. Inflected ends in AI or EI – e.g. AI, KEI, MEI 3. Rounded ends in N – e.g. KAN, SHIN, NIN
4. Double-barrelled contains two distinct syl ables – e.g. KAKU, SHITSU, RAKU.
The modification of H sounds
The reading of some characters that start with a sound from the H group (ha, hi, fu, he, ho) can harden if that character comes second in a compound.
This usual y occurs when it follows a character with the final sound N.
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CHAPTER 1 – THE SCRIPTS AND THEIR SOUNDS
Kanji
Incorrect
Correct
Compound
Reading Reading Meaning
昆布
KON FU
KON BU
konbu, kelp
添付
TEN FU
TEN PU
attach
多分
TA FUN
TA BUN
perhaps
寸法
SUN POU
measurement
The usual hiragana rules for hardening K to G, and S to Z can also apply. However, many readings contain these sounds already (GA, GI, ZAI, etc.).
CHAPTER 1 – THE SCRIPTS AND THEIR SOUNDS
37
CHAPTER 2 – THE KANA CODE
仮名
の
起源
CHAPTER 2 – THE KANA CODE
CHAPTER 2 – THE KANA CODE
THE GENESIS OF KANA
During the Heian period (794–1185 CE), certain kanji were selected for their phonetic features to create a purely phonetic script in order to write Japanese more fluently. This was the genesis of hiragana and katakana, and is one of the keys to understanding the language as a whole.
General y speaking, the katakana symbols were created by taking a fragment or component from a kanji character and using it to represent that kanji character’s sound. In contrast, the hiragana symbols are an artistic, impressionist version of a whole kanji character, based on the cursive script style of Chinese calligraphy.
These different approaches can be seen in the following examples.
Example 1
The katakana symbol カ (ka) was created by taking a component from the character 加 (to add) which had the ON reading KA.
加 カ
The hiragana symbol か (ka) is an artistic, impressionist reinterpretation of the same kanji character 加. The dash on the right represents the 口 on the right side of the kanji character 加.
加 か
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CHAPTER 2 – THE KANA CODE
Example 2
The katakana symbol テ (te) was created by taking a component from the character 天 (heaven) which had the ON reading TEN.
天 テ
The hiragana symbol て (te) is an artistic version of the same kanji character 天. In this case, an aesthetic decision was made to keep the right-curving stroke, and discard the left-curving one.
天 て
Example 3
The katakana symbol フ (fu) was created by taking a component from the character 不 (not/un-) which had the ON reading FU.
不 フ
The hiragana symbol ふ (fu) is an artistic version of the same kanji character ふ.
不 ふ
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41
Understanding the link between kana and kanji sparked an ‘aha’ moment for me. Until then, I’d been under the impression that hiragana was a native Japanese script, katakana was for recently imported English words, and kanji was Chinese. In other words, they were three disparate scripts that reflected three different languages and cultures. It was a revelation to realise that all three scripts are kanji-based, and that the whole written language is connected. Four useful takeaways from this knowledge are outlined below.
1. Kanji and kana are closely connected, and work together as a set.
Source
Fragment
Artistic version
Kanji
Katakana Hiragana
加
カ
か
天
テ
て
不
フ
ふ
2. You can sometimes ‘see’ the ON reading as a component within a kanji character, and use it as a mnemonic. For example, when you know that フ is based on 不 this can help you remember the character’s ON reading, FU.
3. You can sometimes ‘see’ the ON reading of a kanji character as an artistic impression of the whole character. For example, when you know that ふ is based on 不 this can help you remember the character’s ON reading, FU.
In this section I introduce 57 kanji characters that were either the basis for kana symbols, or look like a kana symbol. By learning these, you will be able to memorise the ON readings of 57 kanji characters relatively easily, by leveraging your existing kana reading knowledge.
4. Understanding how the two styles of kana were created helps us find two ways to approach learning kanji readings.
1. The Fragmenting Approach
In Chapter 3, The Phonetic Code, we will use the fragmenting approach, drawing out the phonetic components, fragments of kanji that indicate the ON reading.
2. The Artistic Approach
In Chapter 4, The Visual Code, we will use the artistic approach, grouping kanji by visual features, and using these groups as a way to learn the ON readings.
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CHAPTER 2 – THE KANA CODE
K1 安 AN
relax, cheap
Basis for: A
hiragana あ
安全
ANZEN safety
不安
FUAN
anxiety, unease
K2 以 I
by means of,
Basis for: I
hiragana い
includes
以上
IJOU
… or more,
that’s all,
above-mentioned
以後
IGO hereafter,
from now on
以内
INAI within
以下
IKA
… or less,
below-mentioned
K3 伊 I
Italy
Basis for: I
katakana イ
伊語
IGO
Italian (language)
K4 宇 U
universe
Basis for: U
hiragana う
katakana ウ
宇宙
UCHUU universe
宇佐
USA
city in Oita, Kyushu
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K5 加 KA
add
Basis for: KA
hiragana か
katakana カ
追加
TSUIKA add
参加
SANKA participate
K6 機 KI
mechanism,
Basis for: KI
hiragana き
katakana キ
chance
機会
KIKAI
opportunity, chance
機械
KIKAI machine
危機
KIKI
danger, crisis
K7 久 KU, KYUU
a long time
Basis for: KU
hiragana く
katakana ク
KU
久美
KUMI
girl’s name
KYUU
永久
EIKYUU
eternity, immortality
持久
JIKYUU endurance,
persistence
K8 計 KEI
plan
Basis for: KE hiragana け
計算
KEISAN calculation
計画
KEIKAKU plan
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CHAPTER 2 – THE KANA CODE
K9 己 KO
self, oneself
Basis for: KO hiragana こ
katakana コ
自己紹介
JIKO SHOUKAI
self-introduction
K10 左
SA
left, progressive Basis for: SA hiragana さ
左右
SAYUU
left and right
左翼
SAYOKU
left-wing (politics),
left flank
K11 散 SAN
scatter
Basis for: SA
katakana サ
散歩
SANPO stroll
散文
SANBUN prose
解散
KAISAN
dissolve, break up
K12 寸 SUN
unit of
Basis for: SU
h
iragana す
measurement,
寸法
SUNPOU measurement
small
寸暇
SUNKA
a moment’s leisure,
free minute
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K13 世 SE
world, generation Basis for: SE hiragana せ
katakana セ
世界
SEKAI world
世代
SEDAI generation
世間
SEKEN
world, society
出世
SHUSSE
successful career
K14 曽 SOU
great-
Basis for: SO
katakana ソ
(grandmother etc), 曽祖母
SOUSOBO great-grandmother
formerly
K15 太 TA, TAI
thick, plump
Basis for: TA
hiragana た
TA
丸太
MARUTA log
新太郎
SHINTAROU
The Kanji Code Page 4