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 actually 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.
You may find number of examples such as the then Han dynasty monarch had presented a gold seal to the Japanese with Hans inscription. What we still don't know is that how and when the Hans script was adopted and controlled by the Japanese.
The most believable account is that the first people to make use of the Chinese Kanji script symbols in Japan were actually Chinese immigrants. Otherwise the Japanese had no real means of understanding or comprehending and even learning the Chinese script.
As time passed the China and Japan developed friendly relations in trade and otherwise which required written documents going from one country to the other. In such conditions it was a requirement that the Chinese language should be understood by Japanese and a council of people called Fuhito was taught to handle the paper work from China. This could be the most plausible reason how Chinese Kanji script landed up in Japan and later evolved.
Chinese Kanji script carried the idea of formal writing script in Japan which did not have one at that time. They began to use Chinese script for writing initially and slowly shaped their own writing system with matter taken from the Chinese script and then reshaping them to fit the 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 additionally 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.
Kanji script though taken more or less as Japanese is used more regularly in China than in Japan. People also believe that the Kanji script of both the countries look almost the same. In reality the Japanese and Chinese Kanji script has lot of difference as Chinese Kanji symbols are shaped differently.
There is one more difference in Chinese and Japanese Kanji script when we apply it to the reading part. As discussed the Chinese treat the Kanji characters as symbols without any phonetic connotation but in Japanese script every syllable has 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.
You may find number of examples such as the then Han dynasty monarch had presented a gold seal to the Japanese with Hans inscription. What we still don't know is that how and when the Hans script was adopted and controlled by the Japanese.
The most believable account is that the first people to make use of the Chinese Kanji script symbols in Japan were actually Chinese immigrants. Otherwise the Japanese had no real means of understanding or comprehending and even learning the Chinese script.
As time passed the China and Japan developed friendly relations in trade and otherwise which required written documents going from one country to the other. In such conditions it was a requirement that the Chinese language should be understood by Japanese and a council of people called Fuhito was taught to handle the paper work from China. This could be the most plausible reason how Chinese Kanji script landed up in Japan and later evolved.
Chinese Kanji script carried the idea of formal writing script in Japan which did not have one at that time. They began to use Chinese script for writing initially and slowly shaped their own writing system with matter taken from the Chinese script and then reshaping them to fit the 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 additionally 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.
Kanji script though taken more or less as Japanese is used more regularly in China than in Japan. People also believe that the Kanji script of both the countries look almost the same. In reality the Japanese and Chinese Kanji script has lot of difference as Chinese Kanji symbols are shaped differently.
There is one more difference in Chinese and Japanese Kanji script when we apply it to the reading part. As discussed the Chinese treat the Kanji characters as symbols without any phonetic connotation but in Japanese script every syllable has phonetic value.
About the Author:
Chinese symbols can be a good means of learning more about Chinese culture. If you want to know more about Chinese dragon drawings follow the links herein.
No comments:
Post a Comment