The contemporary Japanese script was derived from Chinese characters which since then have evolved into a logographic writing style. The kanji script today as we understand stands for Japanese writing style which originally has been adopted from Chinese symbols. If you translate the kanji script you will find Hans character from which it was developed.
It is important to understand how the kanji script originally developed in China ultimately came to be regarded as Japanese script. The articles which were imported by Japan from China in ancient times had the Hans characters on them from which kanji were developed.
An example of such an article includes the gold seal that was handed over by the then emperor of the Han dynasty to the Japanese. How and when the Japanese began to achieve command over the use of the Chinese characters remains a mystery.
What possibly may have happened was that the Chinese immigrants in Japan must have been the first people to be using the Kanji script. It would have been absolutely impossible for the Japanese themselves to understand it and learn the script on their own.
With the passage of time the bonding between the two countries became stronger. There was a constant need of written record that was to be transferred between both the countries. therefore 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.
When Chinese Kanji script came to Japan there was nothing like formal writing system existing in the country. originally the Japanese started writing with the Chinese script itself but gradually they started developing a script of their own with the help of the Kanji script which would be compatible with Japanese grammar.
The Japanese adopted the Chinese symbol characters in their script and wrote the Japanese language with Chinese symbol naming it as Kana syllable. It was a definite achievement as far as Japanese script was concerned. To further the easy acceptance of their script the Japanese introduced phonetics in their script where as in China Chinese symbols had no phonetics whatsoever.
The use of Kanji symbols is still far greater in China as compared to in Japan. Contrary to popular belief the kanji script used in both the countries are not exactly the same. Although they may seem quite similar the Chinese kanji symbols are quite different with regards to their structure.
The reading method of the Kanji script in both China and Japan are also different. In China this script is treated entirely 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.
It is important to understand how the kanji script originally developed in China ultimately came to be regarded as Japanese script. The articles which were imported by Japan from China in ancient times had the Hans characters on them from which kanji were developed.
An example of such an article includes the gold seal that was handed over by the then emperor of the Han dynasty to the Japanese. How and when the Japanese began to achieve command over the use of the Chinese characters remains a mystery.
What possibly may have happened was that the Chinese immigrants in Japan must have been the first people to be using the Kanji script. It would have been absolutely impossible for the Japanese themselves to understand it and learn the script on their own.
With the passage of time the bonding between the two countries became stronger. There was a constant need of written record that was to be transferred between both the countries. therefore 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.
When Chinese Kanji script came to Japan there was nothing like formal writing system existing in the country. originally the Japanese started writing with the Chinese script itself but gradually they started developing a script of their own with the help of the Kanji script which would be compatible with Japanese grammar.
The Japanese adopted the Chinese symbol characters in their script and wrote the Japanese language with Chinese symbol naming it as Kana syllable. It was a definite achievement as far as Japanese script was concerned. To further the easy acceptance of their script the Japanese introduced phonetics in their script where as in China Chinese symbols had no phonetics whatsoever.
The use of Kanji symbols is still far greater in China as compared to in Japan. Contrary to popular belief the kanji script used in both the countries are not exactly the same. Although they may seem quite similar the Chinese kanji symbols are quite different with regards to their structure.
The reading method of the Kanji script in both China and Japan are also different. In China this script is treated entirely 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 old form of script that is very artistic. If you want to read more on Chinese animal characters click the links.
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