Pseudonym - Kana

Japanese: 仮名 - かな

A type of phonetic character. A general term for the unique usage of kanji that was invented to write Japanese, and new characters created based on kanji. The former is called "Manyo Kana" (or "Shin Kana"), and is a usage that discards the meaning of kanji and adopts pronunciation. The latter is divided into two types: "Hiragana", in which all the strokes of kanji are extremely cursive and simplified, and "Katakana", in which only some of the strokes of kanji are omitted. "Kana" was anciently pronounced "Kanna". It is a phonetic change of "karina", with "kari" meaning "temporary" and "na" meaning "character", and can be understood as a counter term to the use of kanji as "mana" (shinji).

[Yutaka Tsukishima]

Manyo Kana

Originally in China, the terms "Hindu" and "Amitabha" were used to write foreign place names and personal names in India, Central Asia, and other places, and this method was already being used in Japan to write personal names in documents from around the 5th century. In the 8th century (Nara period), it was used not only to write personal and place names, but also words such as verbs and adjectives, and even short sentences, and many works that wrote songs using this method appeared. Examples include the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki from the early 8th century. The Manyoshu, compiled in the mid-8th century, is a collection of over 4,500 waka poems, and Manyogana is the most widely used of them. This can be said in terms of both the volume and the variety of content. Many 8th century documents, such as the Fudoki, Kakyo Hyoshiki, and Butsokuseki Kahi, use Man'yōgana, but in documents from the same period that are primarily for oral recitation, such as Norito and Senmyo, the so-called "Senmyo-tai" style developed, in which Man'yōgana are written in small letters alongside the correct kanji. Furthermore, in the writings of Buddhist monks of the time, annotations of Japanese readings in Man'yōgana are often found. This style was traditionally continued into the following Heian period and beyond, and continued into the early modern period. However, with the invention and development of hiragana and katakana, its usage became more limited.

The usage of Man'yōgana can be broadly divided into "Onkana" and "Kunkana". The former is based on the sounds of Chinese characters, such as "Ame" (A rice) and "Wo" (Crow) and "Me" (Crow), while the latter is based on the sounds of Japanese, such as "Yamato" (Yamato). The annotations and songs of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki all used Onkana, but the songs of the Man'yōshū used both Onkana and Kunkana, and the Kunkana in particular include unique usages such as "Tsurukamo" (crane and duck), "Kuku" (eighty-one), "Sasa" (the voice of kagura), and "Ide" (mountain is full of mountains). "I, Bu, Se, Kumo, Aruka" (fifty, bee, sound, stone, flower, spider, deer) is an example of a deliberate combination of animal names, known as Gisho, but this is also considered a type of Kunkana. Kunkana can also be found in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, as well as in the names of gods and people in ancient documents, but for general words, onogana were the more common. Depending on the type of Chinese character sounds that were the basis, onogana could be classified into archaic sounds such as "to" (stop), "ga" (ga), "so" (lantern), and "ya" (moving), go-on sounds such as "nu" (slave) and "mi" (beauty), and kan-on sounds such as "da" (na) and "ba" (polishing), but of these, go-on sounds were used the most. There are also cases where the end of a go-on word is omitted, such as "te" (heaven) (omitting the n from tien), "ra" (ra) (omitting the ng from lang), "ne" (omitting the i from niei), and "ma" (omitting the t from muât).

[Yutaka Tsukishima]

hiragana

Hiragana is a uniquely Japanese syllabary that was created by making all the strokes of Manyo-gana extremely cursive. There are 47 characters in common use today, and 48 characters including "n". The style and Manyo-gana that are thought to be the origin of the characters are as follows:

I (I) RO (Ro) HA (Wave) NI (Jin) HO (Protect) HE (Part) TO (Stop)
Chi (thousands) Ri (profit) Nu (slave) Ru (remain) Wo (far) Wa (harmony) Ka (add)
Yo (Yo) Ta (Ta) Re (Rei) So (So) Tsu (Kawa) Ne (Nene)
NA (Na) RA (Ryo) MU (Take) U (U) WI (Wise) NO (No)
O (at) KU (long) YA (even) MA (end) KE (plan) FU (not) KO (self) E (clothing) TE (heaven)
A (cheap) S (left) K (how many) Y (why) ME (woman) MI (beautiful) SHI (this)
E (blessing) Hi (comparison) Mo (hair) Se (world) Su (inch)
No (none)
* "He" is the abbreviated cursive form of "bu"
*"yo" is the ancient abbreviated form of "yo"
The above characters were standardized by the "Elementary School Act Enforcement Regulations" of 1900 (Meiji 33), but other "variant kana" were also used, and many variant characters were used before the standardization. The 20 characters "ka kaki ku ke ko sa shi su se so ta chi tsu te ha hi fu he ho" are written as "ga gi...bo" by adding voiced consonants, and the five characters "ha hi fu he ho" are written as "pa pi pu pe po" by adding semi-voiced consonants. The two characters "wi" and "we" are not used in "modern kana writing."

There has long been a theory that the creator of hiragana was Kobo Daishi Kukai, but there is no solid evidence. The earliest examples of hiragana date back to the end of the 9th century, in the early Heian period, but this was several decades after Kukai's death. It is difficult to pinpoint the creator of hiragana, but it is likely that it was created by someone among the literate class of the time, and was not necessarily written by women at first, but rather by male scribes or educated people. From around the end of the 8th century, letters and other documents were written in cursive Man'yōgana, with each character consisting of one sound. Gradually, the style of writing became more simplified, and by the end of the 9th century, the current hiragana style of writing was established. The fact that the imperially commissioned Kokin Wakashū, compiled in the early 10th century, was written in hiragana is seen as evidence that the characters were already perfected and were qualified to appear in public situations. Then, at the end of the 10th century, the Wakan Roeishu was created, which included both Chinese poetry and waka poetry, and it shows the use of both kanji and hiragana. It is said that the development of hiragana was one of the factors that led to the rise of kana literature for women, such as The Pillow Book and The Tale of Genji, in the mid-Heian period. Looking at materials on hiragana handwriting from that time, we can see that until around the end of the 10th century, relatively simple characters were used and there were a relatively small number of letters, but from the 11th century onwards, complex characters increased and the number of types of letters increased. This is thought to be the result of the demand for changes in hiragana characters due to the rise of calligraphy at that time. This trend was passed down for a long time into the Middle Ages and beyond, and the characters have remained almost unchanged since the Heian period to the present day. The scope of use also continued to be the world of women and children, with the tradition of being mainly used by women during the Heian period continuing into the future. After the Kamakura period, there were Japanese translations of Chinese classics written in hiragana, such as the Lotus Sutra and the Analects of Confucius, but these were probably intended for women and children. In the past, hiragana texts were almost entirely written in hiragana, with few kanji characters mixed in, but from the Middle Ages onwards, the number of works that mixed in kanji gradually increased.

[Yutaka Tsukishima]

Katakana

A syllabary made by discarding some of the strokes of Manyo-gana and leaving some behind. Currently there are 47 types of Katakana characters, with the addition of "n" bringing the total to 48. The usage of the voiced mark "゛" and the semi-voiced mark "゜" is the same as for Hiragana. In the past it was called "Kata-kanna," with "Kata" likely meaning that the character shape is incomplete. The current style and its origin are shown below.

A (the radical of the cursive writing of A)
I (I radical)
U (crown of U)
E (side of the river)
O (the old radical for 'o')
Ka (the kanji for "add")
ki (the first stroke of the hiragana "ki" in the cursive form of "iku")
Ku (Hisa's first drawing)
Ke (part of the Kai illustration)
Ko (my first drawing)
Sa (the first stroke of the character San)
Shi (a variation of the cursive form of this character)
Su (the final stroke of the cursive writing of the ancient character "湏" for "Su")
Se (the cursive form of the character 世 or the final stroke of の, a variation of せ)
So (So's first drawing)
Ta (the final stroke of ta. It is probably not the first stroke.)
Chi (Thousand Transformations)
ツ (a variation of . There are many theories about the origin of the character, but it may be the first stroke of "shu" (state))
Te (a variation of the first stroke of the character for heaven)
To (the first stroke of the stop)
Na (First drawing of Na)
Ni (full stroke of the character for two)
Nu (synonym of he)
Ne (the radical for ne)
No (No's first drawing)
Ha (the full stroke of eight)
Hi (common part of 'comparison', not a radical)
Fu (the first stroke of the character for "fu")
ヘ (a variant of the cursive abbreviated form of the character 部)
Ho (the final stroke of the character "ho")
Ma (a variation of the first stroke of the last character)
Mi (a variation of the full stroke of 三)
Mu (Mu's first drawing)
Me (a variation of the first stroke of the character for woman)
Mo (possibly a variation of the cursive script of 毛)
YA (a variation of the cursive script of 也)
Yu (a variation of the final stroke of 由)
Yo (the final stroke of the abbreviated form of 與)
Ra (Ryo's first drawing)
Ri (side of profit)
Ru (the final stroke of the flow)
Re (a variation of the final stroke of the character for "rei")
Ro (the first drawing of Ro)
Wa (ancient form of the side character for "wa")
ヰ (Full stroke of the character for well)
ヱ (the final stroke of the cursive form of the character 'Mei')
ヲ (a variation of the first stroke of 乎)
N (a variation of the bouncing sign)
The popular belief that the creator of katakana was Kibi no Makibi (Kibi no Makibi) of the Nara period is hard to believe. The oldest examples of katakana appear slightly later than that. The omission of some strokes from Chinese characters was already seen in China, but in Japan, examples such as the overlapping of the grass crowns of the two characters for 'Bosatsu' (bosatsu) were also seen. In the case of Man'yōgana, examples of the omission of 'mu' (mu) as in 'm' can be seen from ancient times, but this technique expanded and developed to the point where katakana completely lost the ideographic character that the original Chinese characters had. Katakana was first developed as a character for adding reading marks to Chinese classics, and its oldest examples can be found in reading marks books (documents in which Chinese classics are added with reading marks and characters) from the early 9th century, during the early Heian period. It is difficult to identify its creator, but it is likely to be found among the scholars of Buddhist temples in Nara. At first, it was often used in conjunction with 'o', 'ko', and 'to' marks, and was not yet distinguished between Man'yōgana and hiragana, but eventually Man'yōgana and hiragana declined and katakana came to be used exclusively. Until around the 11th century, various forms of characters were widely used. However, by the 12th century, there was a trend toward social unification, and it became closer to the current form, and it was only in the early modern period that it finally took on its current form. From the beginning, katakana had a strong phonetic character and lacked aesthetic elements, but in this respect, it contrasts with hiragana, and there is a marked change in the shape of the characters over time. On the other hand, 'mixed katakana writing', which uses both kanji and katakana, can be seen as early as the beginning of the 9th century in the writing with kunten marks, but from around the middle of the Heian period onwards, as the katakana characters were simplified, it gradually became more common, and even writing using only katakana began to appear. At first, waka poetry was the main form of writing, but later records of sermons and stories began to be written, and occasionally a style of writing using a combination of kanji, hiragana, and katakana even appeared. Initially, katakana only served as a supplement to kanji, and was only used temporarily for writing, but along with the fixation of reading marks, katakana's social status improved, and from the mid-Heian period onwards, it began to be used in conjunction with classical Chinese texts with Japanese readings in dictionaries, and eventually writings were also written using katakana. Furthermore, from the beginning, katakana was often used by scholars and monks (soryo), and the tradition of using it in academic and religious writings and records continued into later generations for a long time.

[Yutaka Tsukishima]

"Reprint of 'Historical Materials on the Development of Kana Script and Kana Character Style' by Oya Toru (1970, Benseisha)" ▽ "'A Study of the History of the Development of Kana'" (included in 'Kasuga Seiji Collected Works 1', 1982, Benseisha)" ▽ "'A Linguistic Study of Ancient Japanese Texts: General Discussion' by Nakata Norio (1954, Kodansha)" ▽ "'Kana' by Tsukishima Yutaka ('The World of Japanese Language 5', 1981, Chuokoron-Shinsha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

表音文字の一種。日本語を書き表すために、漢字について創案された独自の用法、および漢字を基にしてつくりだされた新しい文字の総称。前者は「万葉(まんよう)仮名」（または「真(ま)仮名」）といわれ、漢字の意味を捨て発音を採用した用法であり、後者については、漢字の全画を極度に草体化、簡略化した「平仮名」、および漢字の字画の一部だけを省略した「片仮名」の2種がある。「かな」は古く「かんな」と発音した。「かりな」の音転で、「かり」は「仮」、「な」は「字」の意で、漢字を「まな」（真字）といったのに対する語と解せられる。

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万葉仮名

もと中国で、インドや中央アジアなどの外国の地名・人名などを表すのに「身毒」Hindu、「阿弥陀」Amitaのような用法があったが、本邦でもこの方式は、5世紀ごろの文献のなかにすでに人名などの表記に使用されている。8世紀（奈良時代）になると、人名、地名はもとより、動詞や形容詞などの単語や、さらに進んで短い文の表記にも使用され、歌謡をこの方式で記したものも多く出現した。8世紀初頭の『古事記』や『日本書紀』はその例である。8世紀中葉に成立した『万葉集』は、和歌4500余首を集録するが、そのなかで万葉仮名はもっとも盛んに使用されている。それは分量のうえからも、内容上のバラエティーからもいえることである。8世紀の文献には「風土記(ふどき)」『歌経(かきょう)標式』「仏足石歌碑」など、万葉仮名を用いたものが多いが、同じ時期の「祝詞(のりと)」「宣命(せんみょう)」などの口誦(こうしょう)を主とした文献では、正用の漢字に添えて万葉仮名を小書きにした、いわゆる「宣命体」が発達した。さらにまた、当時の仏僧の著述のなかにも、万葉仮名による和訓の注記が往々にしてみられる。このような状態は、次の平安時代以降にも伝統的に継承され、脈々として近世にまで及んだ。しかし、平仮名、片仮名の創案・発達に伴い、その用法は限定されていった。

　万葉仮名の用法には大別して「音(おん)仮名」と「訓仮名」とがある。前者は漢字の字音に基づいたもので、「阿（ア）米（メ）」「烏（ヲ）等（ト）咩（メ）」などがそれであり、後者は国語の音に基づいたもので、「八間跡（ヤマト）」などがそれである。『古事記』『日本書紀』などの訓注や歌謡はすべて音仮名を用いたが、『万葉集』の歌では音仮名、訓仮名を併用し、ことに訓仮名のなかには、「鶴鴨(ツルカモ)」「八十一」（クク）、「神楽声」（ササ）、「山上復有山」（イデ）のような特異な用法のものまで含んでいる。「五十(イ)蜂音(ブ)石花(セ)蜘蛛(クモ)荒鹿(アルカ)」などは、故意に動物の名を連ねた例で、戯書(ぎしょ)とよばれるが、これも訓仮名の一種とみられる。訓仮名はこのほか『古事記』や『日本書紀』、古文書の神名・人名などに用例があるが、一般の語の場合は音仮名が多かった。その音仮名も、もとになった漢字音の種類によって、「止(ト)」「冝(ガ)」「巷(ソ)」「移(ヤ)」などの古音、「奴(ヌ)」「美(ミ)」などの呉(ご)音、「娜(ダ)」「磨(バ)」などの漢音の別があったが、そのうち呉音関係のものがもっとも多く用いられた。また、呉音の語尾を省略したものがあり、「天(テ)」（tienのnを省略）、「良(ラ)」（langのngを省略）、「禰(ネ)」（nieiのiを省略）、「末(マ)」（muâtのtを省略）など、その例である。

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平仮名

平仮名は万葉仮名の全画を極度に草書化して生じた、日本独特の音節文字である。現在一般に用いられる字数は47字で、ほかに「ん」を含めて48字となる。その字体と、字源と考えられる万葉仮名は次のとおりである。

い（以）　ろ（呂）　は（波）　に（仁）　ほ（保）　へ（部）　と（止）
ち（千）　り（利）　ぬ（奴）　る（留）　を（遠）　わ（和）　か（加）
よ（與）　た（太）　れ（礼）　そ（曽）　つ（川か）　ね（祢）
な（奈）　ら（良）　む（武）　う（宇）　ゐ（為）　の（乃）
お（於）　く（久）　や（也）　ま（末）　け（計）　ふ（不）　こ（己）　え（衣）　て（天）
あ（安）　さ（左）　き（幾）　ゆ（由）　め（女）　み（美）　し（之）
ゑ（恵）　ひ（比）　も（毛）　せ（世）　す（寸）
ん（无）
＊「へ」は「部の草体の略字体」
＊「よ」は「與の略字体の古体」
　上の字体は、1900年（明治33）の「小学校令施行規則」によって統一されたものであるが、このほかにも、「変体仮名」が用いられることがあり、ことに前記の統一以前には多くの異体字が行われていた。なお、「かきくけこさしすせそたちつてとはひふへほ」の20字については濁点を加えて「がぎ……ぼ」とし、「はひふへほ」の5字については半濁点を加えて「ぱぴぷぺぽ」とする。また、「ゐ」「ゑ」の2字は「現代かなづかい」では使用しない。

　平仮名の作者は、弘法(こうぼう)大師空海とする説が古くからあるが、確かな根拠はない。平仮名の古例は平安初期の9世紀末ごろまでさかのぼるが、それは空海没後数十年を経ている。平仮名の作者を特定することはむずかしいが、おそらく当時の識字階級のなかに求むべきであり、当初はかならずしも女性とは限らず、むしろ男性の書記や教養人の手によって発達したのではないかと思われる。8世紀末ごろ以後、書簡文などに、1字1音の万葉仮名を草体化して連ね書いたことがあったが、しだいにその字体の簡略化が進み、9世紀末には、現行のような平仮名字体が成立していたらしい。10世紀初頭の勅撰(ちょくせん)の『古今和歌集』が平仮名によって記されたのは、この文字がすでに完成して、公的場面に登場するにふさわしい資格を備えていた証(あかし)と認められる。ついで10世紀末には、漢詩と和歌を併載した『和漢朗詠集』がつくられたが、そこには漢字と平仮名との併用がみられる。平安中期における『枕草子(まくらのそうし)』『源氏物語』などの女性仮名文学の隆盛は、平仮名の発達が一因をなすといわれる。平仮名の当時書写の資料をみると、10世紀末ごろまでは比較的単純な字体が多く、字母もわりあい少数なのに、11世紀以後にはかえって複雑な字体が増加し、字母の種類も多くなる。これは、当時の書道の隆盛により、平仮名の字体に変化が求められた結果と思われる。その傾向は中世以後にも長く伝えられ、字体も平安時代以来ほとんど変わらぬままに現在に及んでいる。その使用範囲も、平安時代に女性が中心であった伝統が後まで続き、女性や子女の世界に主として行われた。鎌倉時代以後、「法華経(ほけきょう)」や『論語』など、漢文の和訳本が平仮名で書かれたものがあるが、おそらく婦女子の読者を対象としたものであったと思われる。また、古くは平仮名文はほとんど平仮名ばかりで、漢字を交えることが少なかったが、中世以後にはしだいに漢字を混じたものが増加した。

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片仮名

万葉仮名の字画の一部を捨て、一部を残してつくった音節文字。現行の片仮名の字数は47種で、ほかに「ン」を加えて48種となる。濁点「゛」、半濁点「゜」の用法は平仮名と同様である。古く「かたかんな」と称したが、「かた」は字形が不完全との意であろう。現行の字体とその字源を次に示す。

ア（阿の行書体の偏(へん)）
イ（伊の偏）
ウ（宇の冠）
エ（江の旁(つくり)）
オ（於の古体の偏）
カ（加の偏）
キ（幾の草体である平仮名「き」の初画）
ク（久の初画）
ケ（介の一部省画）
コ（己の初画）
サ（散の初画）
シ（之の草体の変形）
ス（須の古体「湏」の行書の終画）
セ（世の草体またはの終画である「せ」の変形）
ソ（曽の初画）
タ（多の終画。初画ではないであろう）
チ（千の変形）
ツ（の変形。の字源は諸説あって定めがたいが、「州」の初画か）
テ（天の初画　の変形）
ト（止の初画）
ナ（奈の初画）
ニ（二の全画）
ヌ（奴の旁）
ネ（祢の偏）
ノ（乃の初画）
ハ（八の全画）
ヒ（比の旁。偏ではない）
フ（不の初画）
ヘ（部の草体の略字体の変形）
ホ（保の終画）
マ（末の初画の変形）
ミ（三の全画の変形）
ム（牟の初画）
メ（女の初画の変形）
モ（毛の行書体の変形か）
ヤ（也の行書体の変形）
ユ（由の終画の変形）
ヨ（與の略体の終画）
ラ（良の初画）
リ（利の旁）
ル（流の終画）
レ（礼の終画の変形）
ロ（呂の初画）
ワ（和の旁の古体の変形）
ヰ（井の全画）
ヱ（恵の草体の終画）
ヲ（乎の初画の変形）
ン（撥(は)ねる符号の変形）
　片仮名の作者を奈良時代の吉備真備(きびのまきび)とする俗説は信じられない。最古の片仮名の例はそれよりも若干下った時代から現れる。漢字の字画を一部省略して記すことは、すでに中国にも例があったが、日本でも「菩薩(ぼさつ)」の2字の草冠を重ねて書いた「」のような例が行われた。万葉仮名の場合も、「牟」を「厶」のように省記した例が上代からみえるが、この手法が拡大発達して、原漢字のもっていた表意性をまったく失ったのが片仮名である。片仮名は最初、漢文の訓点記入のために発達した文字で、その最古例は平安初期の9世紀初頭の訓点本（漢文に訓読の符号や文字を記入した文献）のなかにみいだされる。その作者を特定することは困難であるが、たぶん奈良の仏寺の学僧のなかに求められよう。当初はヲコト点などと併用されることが多く、万葉仮名、平仮名と未分の状態であったが、やがて万葉仮名や平仮名が退潮して、片仮名が専用されるに至った。11世紀ごろまでは異体の字体が多く用いられた。しかし、それも12世紀のころには社会的に統一の傾向に進み、現行のものに近くなり、近世に至ってようやく現在の形を示すに至った。片仮名は最初から発音符号的な性格が強く、美的要素が乏しかったが、この点、平仮名と対照的であって、時代にしたがっての字形の変化が顕著にみられる。一方、漢字と片仮名とを併用した「片仮名交り文」は、9世紀初頭の訓点書き入れのなかに早くもみられるが、平安なかばごろ以降、片仮名の字体の簡略化に伴ってしだいに盛んになり、片仮名のみの文までも出現するに至った。最初は和歌などが主であったが、のちには説教の記録や説話なども記されるようになり、まれには漢字・平仮名・片仮名併用の文体さえも出現した。当初、片仮名は漢字に対する補助的な働きしかもたず、当座一時的な記入用にすぎなかったが、訓点の固定化と相まって、片仮名の社会的地位も向上し、平安時代なかば以降には辞書類のなかに和訓の漢文と併用されるに至り、進んでは片仮名を用いて記した著述も行われるようになった。また、片仮名は当初から学者・僧侶(そうりょ)の手になったことが多く、学術・宗教上の述作や記録に使用される伝統が長く後世まで継続した。