Japanese language

==Writing system==
{{Main|Japanese writing system|Japanese Braille}}
{{Calligraphy}}

===History===
Literacy was introduced to Japan in the form of the [[Chinese writing system]], by way of [[Baekje]] before the 5th century AD.<ref>"[http://www.asiasocietymuseum.org/buddhist_trade/koreajapan.html Buddhist Art of Korea & Japan]", {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233011/http://www.asiasocietymuseum.org/buddhist_trade/koreajapan.html |date=2016-03-03 }} Asia Society Museum.</ref><ref>"[http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2046.html Kanji]", {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510085157/http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2046.html |date=2012-05-10 }} JapanGuide.com.</ref><ref>"[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761568150_4/Pottery.html Pottery]", {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501132835/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761568150_4/Pottery.html|date=2009-05-01}} MSN Encarta.</ref><ref>"[http://www.japanvisitor.com/index.php?cID=359&pID=334&cName=Japanese History of Japan]", {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304031432/http://www.japanvisitor.com/index.php?cID=359&pID=334&cName=Japanese |date=2016-03-04 }} JapanVisitor.com.</ref> Using this script, the Japanese king [[Five kings of Wa|Bu]] presented a petition to [[Emperor Shun of Liu Song]] in AD 478.{{efn|[[Book of Song]] {{lang|zh-Hant|順帝昇明二年，倭王武遣使上表曰：封國偏遠，作藩于外，自昔祖禰，躬擐甲冑，跋渉山川，不遑寧處。東征毛人五十國，西服衆夷六十六國，渡平海北九十五國，王道融泰，廓土遐畿，累葉朝宗，不愆于歳。臣雖下愚，忝胤先緒，驅率所統，歸崇天極，道逕百濟，裝治船舫，而句驪無道，圖欲見吞，掠抄邊隸，虔劉不已，毎致稽滯，以失良風。雖曰進路，或通或不。臣亡考濟實忿寇讎，壅塞天路，控弦百萬，義聲感激，方欲大舉，奄喪父兄，使垂成之功，不獲一簣。居在諒闇，不動兵甲，是以偃息未捷。至今欲練甲治兵，申父兄之志，義士虎賁，文武效功，白刃交前，亦所不顧。若以帝德覆載，摧此強敵，克靖方難，無替前功。竊自假開府儀同三司，其餘咸各假授，以勸忠節。詔除武使持節督倭、新羅、任那、加羅、秦韓六國諸軍事、安東大將軍、倭國王。至齊建元中，及梁武帝時，并來朝貢。}}}} After the ruin of Baekje, Japan invited scholars from China to learn more of the Chinese writing system. Japanese emperors gave an official rank to Chinese scholars ({{Lang|ja|続守言/薩弘恪}}/{{efn|[[Nihon shoki]] Chapter 30:{{lang|ja|持統五年 九月己巳朔壬申。賜音博士大唐続守言。薩弘恪。書博士百済末士善信、銀人二十両。}}}}{{efn|[[Nihon shoki]] Chapter 30:{{lang|ja|持統六年 十二月辛酉朔甲戌。賜音博士続守言。薩弘恪水田人四町}}}}{{Lang|ja|袁晋卿}}{{efn|[[Shoku Nihongi]] {{lang|ja|宝亀九年 十二月庚寅。玄蕃頭従五位上袁晋卿賜姓清村宿禰。晋卿唐人也。天平七年随我朝使帰朝。時年十八九。学得文選爾雅音。為大学音博士。於後。歴大学頭安房守。}}}}) and spread the use of Chinese characters during the 7th and 8th centuries.

[[File:Nihongo ichiran 01-converted.svg|thumb|Table of Kana (including [[Yōon|Youon]]): [[Hiragana]] top, [[Katakana]] in the center and Romanized equivalents at the bottom]]

At first, the Japanese wrote in [[Classical Chinese]], with Japanese names represented by characters used for their meanings and not their sounds. Later, during the 7th century AD, the Chinese-sounding phoneme principle was used to write pure Japanese poetry and prose, but some Japanese words were still written with characters for their meaning and not the original Chinese sound. This was the beginning of Japanese as a written language in its own right. By this time, the Japanese language was already very distinct from the [[Ryukyuan languages]].<ref>Heinrich, Patrick. [http://www.sicri-network.org/ISIC1/j.%20ISIC1P%20Heinrich.pdf "What leaves a mark should no longer stain: Progressive erasure and reversing language shift activities in the Ryukyu Islands"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516043839/http://www.sicri-network.org/ISIC1/j.%20ISIC1P%20Heinrich.pdf |date=2011-05-16 }} First International Small Island Cultures Conference at [[Kagoshima University]], Centre for the Pacific Islands, 7–10 February 2005; citing [[Shiro Hattori]]. (1954) ''Gengo nendaigaku sunawachi goi tokeigaku no hoho ni tsuite'' ("Concerning the Method of Glottochronology and Lexicostatistics"), ''Gengo kenkyu'' (''Journal of the Linguistic Society of Japan''), Vols. 26/27.</ref>

An example of this mixed style is the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kojiki]]}}, which was written in AD 712. Japanese writers then started to use Chinese characters to write Japanese in a style known as ''man'yōgana'', a syllabic script which used Chinese characters for their sounds in order to transcribe the words of Japanese speech syllable by syllable.

Over time, a writing system evolved. [[Chinese characters]] ([[kanji]]) were used to write either words borrowed from Chinese, or Japanese words with the same or similar meanings. Chinese characters were also used to write grammatical elements; these were simplified, and eventually became two syllabic scripts: [[hiragana]] and [[katakana]] which were developed based on [[Manyogana]]. Some scholars claim that Manyogana originated from Baekje, but this hypothesis is denied by mainstream Japanese scholars.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_MMbNwAACAAJ |publisher=Shogakukan |year=2002 |isbn=978-4-09-402716-7 |editor-last=Shunpei Mizuno |language=ja |script-title=ja:韓国人の日本偽史―日本人はビックリ! |access-date=2020-08-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209153804/https://books.google.com/books?id=_MMbNwAACAAJ |archive-date=2020-12-09 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qwBgGQAACAAJ |publisher=Shogakukan |year=2007 |isbn=978-4-09-387703-9 |editor-last=Shunpei Mizuno |language=ja |script-title=ja:韓vs日「偽史ワールド」 |access-date=2020-08-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415005814/https://books.google.com/books?id=qwBgGQAACAAJ |archive-date=2021-04-15 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Hiragana and katakana were first simplified from kanji, and hiragana, emerging somewhere around the 9th century,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Burlock |first=Ben |date=2017 |title=How did katakana and hiragana originate? |url=http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/originofkana.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705164214/http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/originofkana.html |archive-date=5 July 2017 |access-date=26 July 2017 |website=sci.lang.japan}}</ref> was mainly used by women. Hiragana was seen as an informal language, whereas katakana and kanji were considered more formal and were typically used by men and in official settings. However, because of hiragana's accessibility, more and more people began using it. Eventually, by the 10th century, hiragana was used by everyone.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ager |first=Simon |date=2017 |title=Japanese Hiragana |url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/japanese_hiragana.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161119110207/http://www.omniglot.com/writing/japanese_hiragana.htm |archive-date=19 November 2016 |access-date=26 July 2017 |website=Omniglot}}</ref>

Modern Japanese is written in a mixture of three main systems: kanji, characters of Chinese origin used to represent both Chinese [[loanword]]s into Japanese and a number of native Japanese [[morpheme]]s; and two [[syllabary|syllabaries]]: hiragana and katakana. The [[Latin script]] (or ''rōmaji'' in Japanese) is used to a certain extent, such as for imported acronyms and to transcribe Japanese names and in other instances where non-Japanese speakers need to know how to pronounce a word (such as "ramen" at a restaurant). Arabic numerals are much more common than the kanji numerals when used in counting, but kanji numerals are still used in compounds, such as {{Nihongo2|統一}} ''tōitsu'' ("unification").

Historically, attempts to limit the number of kanji in use commenced in the mid-19th century, but government did not intervene until after Japan's defeat in the Second World War. During the post-war occupation (and influenced by the views of some U.S. officials), various schemes including the complete abolition of kanji and exclusive use of rōmaji were considered. The ''[[jōyō kanji]]'' ("common use kanji"), originally called ''[[tōyō kanji]]'' (kanji for general use) scheme arose as a compromise solution.

Japanese students begin to learn kanji from their first year at elementary school. A guideline created by the Japanese Ministry of Education, the list of ''[[kyōiku kanji]]'' ("education kanji", a subset of ''[[jōyō kanji]]''), specifies the 1,006 simple characters a child is to learn by the end of sixth grade. Children continue to study another 1,130 characters in junior high school, covering in total 2,136 ''jōyō kanji''. The official list of ''jōyō kanji'' has been revised several times, but the total number of officially sanctioned characters has remained largely unchanged.

As for kanji for personal names, the circumstances are somewhat complicated. ''Jōyō kanji'' and ''[[jinmeiyō kanji]]'' (an appendix of additional characters for names) are approved for registering personal names. Names containing unapproved characters are denied registration. However, as with the list of ''jōyō kanji'', criteria for inclusion were often arbitrary and led to many common and popular characters being disapproved for use. Under popular pressure and following a court decision holding the exclusion of common characters unlawful, the list of ''jinmeiyō kanji'' was substantially extended from 92 in 1951 (the year it was first decreed) to 983 in 2004. Furthermore, families whose names are not on these lists were permitted to continue using the older forms.

===Hiragana===
''[[Hiragana]]'' are used for words without kanji representation, for words no longer written in kanji, for replacement of rare kanji that may be unfamiliar to intended readers, and also following kanji to show conjugational endings. Because of the way verbs (and adjectives) in Japanese are [[Japanese verb conjugations|conjugated]], kanji alone cannot fully convey Japanese tense and mood, as kanji cannot be subject to variation when written without losing their meaning. For this reason, hiragana are appended to kanji to show verb and adjective conjugations. Hiragana used in this way are called [[okurigana]]. Hiragana can also be written in a superscript called [[furigana]] above or beside a kanji to show the proper reading. This is done to facilitate learning, as well as to clarify particularly old or obscure (or sometimes invented) readings.

===Katakana===
''[[Katakana]]'', like hiragana, constitute a [[syllabary]]; katakana are primarily used to write foreign words, plant and animal names, and for emphasis. For example, "Australia" has been adapted as ''Ōsutoraria'' ({{Nihongo2|オーストラリア}}), and "supermarket" has been adapted and shortened into ''sūpā'' ({{Nihongo2|スーパー}}).