The contemporary Japanese script was derived from Chinese characters which since then have evolved into a logographic writing technique. The kanji script today as we understand stands for Japanese writing style which originally has been adopted from Chinese symbols. If you translate the kanji script you will find Hans character from which it was developed.
It is important to understand how the kanji script originally developed in China ultimately came to be regarded as Japanese script. The articles which were imported by Japan from China in ancient times had the Hans characters on them from which kanji were developed.
An example of such an article includes the gold seal that was handed over by the then emperor of the Han dynasty to the Japanese. How and when the Japanese began to achieve command over the application of the Chinese characters remains a mystery.
It could be quite likely that the Chinese themselves had started using the Chinese Kanji script in Japan when some of them migrated to China. There was no way that Japanese could have had an occasion to comprehend and then learn the language by themselves.
With the passage of time the bonding between the two countries became stronger. There was a constant need of written record that was to be transferred between both the countries. therefore a formal body of people known as the fuhito was set up which was trained to handle the documents written in the Chinese script. This paved the way for the acceptance of the Chinese Kanji script in Japan.
When Chinese Kanji script came to Japan there was nothing like formal writing system existing in the country. originally the Japanese started writing with the Chinese script itself but gradually they started developing a script of their own with the aid of the Kanji script which would be compatible with Japanese grammar.
What the Japanese did was that they started to write Japanese words with Chinese characters. This was an advancement made in Japanese writing method and was named as Kana syllables. The Japanese further developed the script and introduced phonetics to the Chinese symbols they were using whereas in China the symbols did not have any kind of phonetic.
Where the Kanji script is concerned it is used more extensively in China than in Japan. But one fact that should be kept in mind is the style of both the scripts are quite different. On the surface they may look alike but they are structurally quite dissimilar.
The dissimilarity between the Chinese and Japanese script also extends into the way that they are read. As mentioned above the Chinese would treat the kanji characters as entire symbols whereas the Japanese would read them according to their phonetic value.
It is important to understand how the kanji script originally developed in China ultimately came to be regarded as Japanese script. The articles which were imported by Japan from China in ancient times had the Hans characters on them from which kanji were developed.
An example of such an article includes the gold seal that was handed over by the then emperor of the Han dynasty to the Japanese. How and when the Japanese began to achieve command over the application of the Chinese characters remains a mystery.
It could be quite likely that the Chinese themselves had started using the Chinese Kanji script in Japan when some of them migrated to China. There was no way that Japanese could have had an occasion to comprehend and then learn the language by themselves.
With the passage of time the bonding between the two countries became stronger. There was a constant need of written record that was to be transferred between both the countries. therefore a formal body of people known as the fuhito was set up which was trained to handle the documents written in the Chinese script. This paved the way for the acceptance of the Chinese Kanji script in Japan.
When Chinese Kanji script came to Japan there was nothing like formal writing system existing in the country. originally the Japanese started writing with the Chinese script itself but gradually they started developing a script of their own with the aid of the Kanji script which would be compatible with Japanese grammar.
What the Japanese did was that they started to write Japanese words with Chinese characters. This was an advancement made in Japanese writing method and was named as Kana syllables. The Japanese further developed the script and introduced phonetics to the Chinese symbols they were using whereas in China the symbols did not have any kind of phonetic.
Where the Kanji script is concerned it is used more extensively in China than in Japan. But one fact that should be kept in mind is the style of both the scripts are quite different. On the surface they may look alike but they are structurally quite dissimilar.
The dissimilarity between the Chinese and Japanese script also extends into the way that they are read. As mentioned above the Chinese would treat the kanji characters as entire symbols whereas the Japanese would read them according to their phonetic value.
About the Author:
Chinese kanji characters are an ancient form of script that is highly artistic. If you want to read more on Chinese animal characters click the links.
0 comments:
Post a Comment