Editing Furigana (section)

==Appearance==
Furigana may be added by character, in which case the furigana character(s) that correspond to a kanji are centered over that kanji; or by word or phrase, in which case the entire furigana text is centered over several kanji characters, even if the kanji do not represent equal shares of the kana needed to write them. The latter method is more common, especially since some words in Japanese have unique pronunciations (''[[jukujikun]]'') that are not related to readings of any of the characters the word is written with.

Furigana fonts are generally sized so that two kana characters fit naturally over one kanji; when more kana are required, this is resolved either by adjusting the furigana by using a [[condensed font]] (narrowing the kana), or by adjusting the kanji by [[intercharacter spacing]] (adding spaces around the kanji). In case an isolated kanji character has a long reading—for example {{lang|ja|〜に携わる}} (where {{lang|ja|携}} reads {{lang|ja|たずさ}}, ''tazusa'')—the furigana may instead spill over into the space next to the neighboring kana characters, without condensing or changing spacing. Three-kana readings are not uncommon, particularly due to ''[[yōon]]'' with a long vowel, such as {{Nihongo||りょう|ryō}}; five kana are required for {{Nihongo||志、こころざし|kokorozashi}} and six for {{Nihongo||承る、うけたまわる|uketamawaru}}, the longest of any character in the [[Joyo kanji]]. Very long readings also occur for certain kanji or symbols which have a ''[[gairaigo]]'' (loan word) reading; the word "centimeter" is generally written as "cm" (with two half-width characters, so occupying one space) and has the seven-kana reading {{lang|ja|センチメートル}} (''senchimētoru'') (it can also be written as the kanji {{lang|ja|糎}}, though this is very rare); another common example is "%" (the percent sign), which has the five kana reading {{lang|ja|パーセント}} (''pāsento''). These cause severe spacing problems due to length and these words being used as units (hence closely associated with the preceding figure).

When it is necessary to distinguish between native Japanese ''[[Kanji#Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)|kun'yomi]]''  pronunciations and [[Chinese language|Chinese]]-derived ''[[Kanji#On'yomi (Chinese reading)|on'yomi]]'' pronunciations, for example in [[Japanese dictionary|kanji dictionaries]], the kun'yomi pronunciations are written in [[hiragana]], and the on'yomi pronunciations are written in [[katakana]]. However, this distinction is really only important in dictionaries and other reference works. In ordinary prose, the script chosen will usually be [[hiragana]]. The one general exception to this is ''modern'' Chinese place names, personal names, and (occasionally) food names—these will often be written with kanji, and katakana used for the furigana; in more casual writing these are simply written in katakana, as borrowed words. Occasionally this style is also used for loanwords from other languages (especially English). For example, the kanji {{lang|ja|一角獣}} (literally "one horn beast") might be glossed with katakana {{lang|ja|ユニコーン}}, ''yunikōn'', to show the pronunciation of the loanword "unicorn", which is unrelated to the normal reading of the kanji. Generally, though, such loanwords are just written in straight katakana.

The distinction between regular kana and the smaller character forms ([[yōon]] and [[sokuon]]), which are used in regular orthography to mark such things as [[gemination]] and [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalization]], is often not made in furigana: for example, the usual [[hiragana]] spelling of the word {{lang|ja|却下}} (''kyakka'') is {{lang|ja|きゃっか}}, but in furigana it might be written {{lang|ja|きやつか}}. This was especially common in old-fashioned [[printing press|movable type]] printing when smaller fonts were not available. Nowadays, with computer-based printing systems, this occurs less frequently.