If you have heard of Japanese script called Kanji you have to understand that it has its roots in China. The characters from Chinese symbol are throughout evident in the Japanese script as we see it now in their logographic style of writing. In fact once you translate the Kanji script you will find characters from Chinese Hans symbols.
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 instances 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 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 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 documentation 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 gradually gave shape to its own writing system which involved making use of Chinese text with some restructuring according to Japanese grammar.
Yet another improvement made was that the Japanese were now using the Chinese characters to write Japanese words. This is what gave birth to modern kana syllables. The difference was that whereas the Chinese used their characters as symbols that lacked any phonetic value, the Japanese introduced a phonetic value to the Chinese script.
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 reading practices of the Kanji script in both China and Japan are also different. In China this script is treated exclusively as symbols and as such has no phonetic value where as in Japan it is read according to their phonetics as we have already discussed.
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 instances 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 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 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 documentation 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 gradually gave shape to its own writing system which involved making use of Chinese text with some restructuring according to Japanese grammar.
Yet another improvement made was that the Japanese were now using the Chinese characters to write Japanese words. This is what gave birth to modern kana syllables. The difference was that whereas the Chinese used their characters as symbols that lacked any phonetic value, the Japanese introduced a phonetic value to the Chinese script.
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 reading practices of the Kanji script in both China and Japan are also different. In China this script is treated exclusively as symbols and as such has no phonetic value where as in Japan it is read according to their phonetics as we have already discussed.
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Chinese kanji characters are an ancient form of script that is highly artistic. If you want to read more on Chinese animal symbols click the links.
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