Editing Kanji (section)

==History==
[[File:Nihonshoki tanaka version.jpg|thumb|300px|{{Lang|ja-latn|[[Nihon Shoki]]}} (720 AD), considered by historians and archaeologists as the most complete extant historical record of ancient Japan, was written entirely in kanji.]]
[[Chinese character]]s first came to [[Japan]] on official seals, letters, swords, coins, mirrors, and other decorative items imported from [[History of China|China]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mathieu|date=2017-11-19|title=The History of Kanji 漢字の歴史|url=https://itsjapantime.com/the-history-of-kanji-%E6%BC%A2%E5%AD%97%E3%81%AE%E6%AD%B4%E5%8F%B2/|access-date=2021-09-12|website=It's Japan Time|language=en-US|archive-date=September 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912015057/https://itsjapantime.com/the-history-of-kanji-%E6%BC%A2%E5%AD%97%E3%81%AE%E6%AD%B4%E5%8F%B2/|url-status=live}}</ref> The earliest known instance of such an import was the [[King of Na gold seal]] given by [[Emperor Guangwu of Han]] to a [[Wa (name of Japan)|Wa]] emissary in 57 AD.<ref name="Ki">{{Cite web| title =Gold Seal (Kin-in)| url =http://museum.city.fukuoka.jp/en/exhibition.html| publisher =Fukuoka City Museum| access-date =September 1, 2014| archive-date =February 26, 2017| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20170226175442/http://museum.city.fukuoka.jp/en/exhibition.html| url-status =live}}</ref> Chinese coins as well as [[inkstone]]s from the first century AD have also been found in [[Yayoi period]] archaeological sites.{{Sfn|Miyake|2003|p=8}}<ref name="KT"/> However, the Japanese people of that era probably had little to no comprehension of the script, and they would remain relatively illiterate until the fifth century AD, when writing in Japan became more widespread.{{Sfn|Miyake|2003|p=8}} According to the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Nihon Shoki]]}} and {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kojiki]]}}, a semi-legendary scholar called [[Wani (scholar)|Wani]] was dispatched to Japan by the [[Baekje|Kingdom of Baekje]] during the reign of [[Emperor Ōjin]] in the early fifth century, bringing with him knowledge of [[Confucianism]] and Chinese characters.{{Sfn|Miyake|2003|p=9}} 

The earliest Japanese documents were probably written by bilingual Chinese or Korean officials employed at the [[Yamato period|Yamato]] court.{{Sfn|Miyake|2003|p=8}} For example, the diplomatic correspondence from [[Five kings of Wa|King Bu of Wa]] to [[Emperor Shun of Liu Song]] in 478 AD has been praised for its skillful use of [[allusion]]. Later, groups of people called {{translit|ja|fuhito}} were organized under the monarch to read and write [[Classical Chinese]]. During the reign of [[Empress Suiko]] (593–628), the Yamato court began sending full-scale diplomatic missions to China, which resulted in a large increase in Chinese literacy at the Japanese court.{{Sfn|Miyake|2003|p=9}} 

In ancient times, paper was so rare that people wrote kanji onto thin, rectangular strips of wood, called {{translit|ja|[[mokkan]]}} ({{linktext|lang=ja|木簡}}). These wooden boards were used for communication between government offices, tags for goods transported between various countries, and the practice of writing. The oldest written kanji in Japan discovered so far were written in ink on wood as a wooden strip dated to the 7th century, a record of trading for cloth and salt.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kumamoto Montana Natural Science Museum Association |url=https://mifunemuseum.jp/kmnsma_en/ |access-date=2025-03-21 |language=ja}}</ref>

The Japanese language had no written form at the time Chinese characters were introduced, and texts were written and read only in Chinese. Later, during the [[Heian period]] (794–1185), a system known as {{translit|ja|[[kanbun]]}} emerged, which involved using Chinese text with [[diacritical mark]]s to allow Japanese speakers to read Chinese sentences and restructure them into Japanese on the fly, by changing word order and adding particles and verb endings, in accordance with the rules of [[Japanese grammar]]. This was essentially a kind of codified [[translation|sight translation]].{{Cn|date=May 2024}}

Chinese characters also came to be used to write texts in the vernacular [[Japanese language]], resulting in the modern {{translit|ja|[[kana]]}} syllabaries. Around 650 AD, a writing system called {{translit|ja|[[man'yōgana]]}} (used in the ancient poetry [[anthology]] {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Man'yōshū]]}}) evolved that used a number of Chinese characters for their sound, rather than for their meaning. {{translit|ja|Man'yōgana}} written in [[Grass script|cursive style]] evolved into {{translit|ja|[[hiragana]]}} (literally "fluttering {{translit|ja|kana}}" in reference to the motion of the brush during cursive writing), or {{translit|ja|onna-de}}, that is, "ladies' hand",<ref>Hadamitzky, Wolfgang and Spahn, Mark (2012), ''Kanji and Kana:  A Complete Guide to the Japanese Writing System'',  Third Edition, Rutland, VT:  Tuttle Publishing. {{ISBN|4805311169}}. p. 14.</ref> a writing system that was accessible to women (who were denied [[higher education]]). Major works of [[Heian-era]] [[literature]] by women were written in {{translit|ja|hiragana}}. {{translit|ja|[[Katakana]]}} (literally "partial {{translit|ja|kana}}", in reference to the practice of using a part of a kanji character) emerged via a parallel path: [[monastery]] students simplified {{translit|ja|man'yōgana}} to a single constituent element. Thus the two other writing systems, {{translit|ja|hiragana}} and {{translit|ja|katakana}}, referred to collectively as {{translit|ja|kana}}, are descended from kanji. In contrast with {{translit|ja|kana}} ({{linktext|lang=ja|仮名}}, literally "borrowed name", in reference to the character being "borrowed" as a label for its sound), kanji are also called {{translit|ja|mana}} ({{linktext|lang=ja|真名}}, literally "true name", in reference to the character being used as a label for its meaning).{{Cn|date=May 2024}}

In modern Japanese, kanji are used to write certain words or parts of words (usually [[content word]]s such as [[noun]]s, [[adjective]] [[word stem|stems]], and [[verb]] [[word stem|stems]]), while {{translit|ja|hiragana}} are used to write [[inflection|inflected]] verb and adjective endings, [[phonetic complement]]s to disambiguate readings ({{translit|ja|[[okurigana]]}}), [[grammatical particle|particles]], and miscellaneous words which have no kanji or whose kanji are considered obscure or too difficult to read or remember. {{translit|ja|[[Katakana]]}} are mostly used for representing [[onomatopoeia]], [[gairaigo|non-Japanese loanwords]] (except those borrowed from [[Old Chinese|ancient Chinese]]), the names of plants and animals (with exceptions), and for emphasis on certain words.{{Cn|date=May 2024}}