The Kanji script is today associated more so with the country of Japan rather than China although the script was initially developed in China. The modern Japanese logographic writing system was derived by the help of Chinese characters which they adopted into their system. The term kanji translates as Han characters which are Chinese in origin.
So what is the real story behind Chinese kanji symbols and how come they are credited to Japan today? Well, it all started out when Chinese articles started coming into Japan as imports with Han character inscriptions on them.
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.
It could be quite possible 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 opportunity to comprehend and then learn the language by themselves.
With the passage of time the bonding between the two countries became firmer. There was a constant need of written record that was to be transferred between both the countries. Hence 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.
At the time when the Chinese Kanji script was introduced in Japan, the country lacked any writing system of its own. Starting out with the Chinese system the country slowly gave shape to its own writing system which involved making use of Chinese text with some restructuring according to Japanese grammar.
The Japanese adopted the Chinese symbol characters in their script and wrote the Japanese language with Chinese symbol naming it as Kana syllable. It was a distinct achievement as far as Japanese script was concerned. To further the easy acceptance of their script the Japanese introduced phonetics in their script where as in China Chinese symbols had no phonetics whatsoever.
The use of Kanji symbols is still far greater in China as compared to in Japan. Contrary to popular belief the kanji script used in both the countries are not precisely the same. Although they may look quite similar the Chinese kanji symbols are quite different with regards to their structure.
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 suggestion but in Japanese script every syllable has phonetic value.
So what is the real story behind Chinese kanji symbols and how come they are credited to Japan today? Well, it all started out when Chinese articles started coming into Japan as imports with Han character inscriptions on them.
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.
It could be quite possible 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 opportunity to comprehend and then learn the language by themselves.
With the passage of time the bonding between the two countries became firmer. There was a constant need of written record that was to be transferred between both the countries. Hence 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.
At the time when the Chinese Kanji script was introduced in Japan, the country lacked any writing system of its own. Starting out with the Chinese system the country slowly gave shape to its own writing system which involved making use of Chinese text with some restructuring according to Japanese grammar.
The Japanese adopted the Chinese symbol characters in their script and wrote the Japanese language with Chinese symbol naming it as Kana syllable. It was a distinct achievement as far as Japanese script was concerned. To further the easy acceptance of their script the Japanese introduced phonetics in their script where as in China Chinese symbols had no phonetics whatsoever.
The use of Kanji symbols is still far greater in China as compared to in Japan. Contrary to popular belief the kanji script used in both the countries are not precisely the same. Although they may look quite similar the Chinese kanji symbols are quite different with regards to their structure.
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 suggestion but in Japanese script every syllable has phonetic value.
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Chinese dragon signs are are thought to bring good luck in Chinese culture. To learn more about Chinese kanji symbols click on the hyperlinks.
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