Editing Kana (section)

==Etymology==
'Kana' is a compound of {{nihongo|''kari''|仮|extra='borrowed; assumed; false'}} and {{nihongo|''na''|名|extra='name'}}, which eventually collapsed into ''kanna'' and ultimately 'kana'.<ref name=daijirin />

Today it is generally assumed that 'kana' were considered "false" kanji due to their purely phonetic nature, as opposed to {{nihongo|''mana''|[[wikt:真名|真名]]}} which were "true" kanji used for their meanings. Yet originally, ''mana'' and ''kana'' were purely calligraphic terms with ''mana'' referring to Chinese characters written in the [[regular script]] (''kaisho'') and ''kana'' referring to those written in the [[Cursive script (East Asia)|cursive]] (''sōsho'') style (see ''[[hiragana]]''). It was not until the 18th century that the early-nationalist {{Lang|ja-latn|[[kokugaku]]}} movement which wanted to move away from [[Sinocentrism|Sinocentric]] academia began to reanalyze the script from a phonological point of view.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tawada |first=Yoko |title=On Writing and Rewriting |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-4985-9004-4 |location=London |pages=43}}</ref> In the following centuries, contrary to the traditional Sinocentric view, ''kana'' began to be considered a national Japanese writing system that was distinct from Chinese characters, which is the dominant view today.