The Japanese language utilizes three types of characters: "kanji," "hiragana," and "katakana." Of these, kanji are ideograms, while hiragana and katakana are phonograms.
Ideograms are characters that carry meaning within themselves. Well-known examples include kanji, and ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform.
Phonograms, on the other hand, are characters that represent sounds and do not carry inherent meaning on their own. Alphabets and Arabic scripts are phonograms, and those whose native language is English might be more familiar with these.
Japanese is a highly complex language that uses one type of ideogram and two types of phonograms to express itself. Even native speakers often make mistakes. Why has the language evolved in such a way?
The number of languages currently spoken on Earth is estimated to be anywhere between 3,000 and 8,000, depending on the source.
However, the number of languages that possess a writing system drops dramatically to around 400. This stark contrast highlights just how challenging it is for a language to develop its own script.
There are two primary ways in which a language can acquire a writing system.
One is by creating new characters from scratch. The other is by borrowing characters from another language. In the case of Japanese, the latter approach was taken, borrowing characters from other languages.
Although Japanese uses three types of characters, none of them are original to the language.
It is thought that writing first came to Japan around the 3rd century AD, when Chinese characters, known as kanji, were introduced through diplomatic exchanges with China. By the 7th century, literacy in kanji began to spread rapidly among the ruling class in Japan. 
However, kanji were originally designed to represent the Chinese language, which posed challenges when trying to use them to express the Japanese language.
To address this issue, the Japanese developed a system known as "kana" .
This method involved breaking down certain kanji into their meaning and sound, and then using only the sound. Thus, a writing style emerged that retained kanji while supplementing it with kana (kanji used solely for their sounds) to fill in the gaps where kanji alone was insufficient.
(The texts written during that time are so complex that only specially trained experts can read them today.)
But why did this kana (kanji used solely for their sounds) eventually split into two distinct forms: hiragana and katakana?
It is said that "hiragana" and "katakana" began to be used around the 9th century.
Both originated from "kana," which were kanji used solely for their sounds. "Hiragana" was created by further simplifying the kanji used as kana.
"Hiragana" became recognized as the script used primarily by women. While kanji were predominantly used by men for official documents and scholarly purposes, "hiragana" was regarded as a script for personal use or as the script women would use.
So, why was "katakana" created? Was "hiragana" not sufficient on its own?
The creation of "katakana" has a deep connection with religion in Japan.
Buddhism, which was introduced to Japan around the 6th century, had already become highly influential by the 9th century. In order to master their religious studies, monks needed to learn from sutras, all of which were written in Chinese characters since they were brought over from China.
To aid their studies, monks would write notes and annotations in the margins of the scriptures.
However, the complex shapes of the kana (kanji used solely for their sounds) made it difficult to fit these notes into the narrow spaces between the lines of text. As a solution, monks began to write only parts of the kana in the margins.
Thus, "katakana" was created by extracting portions of the kanji used as kana.
When hiragana and katakana emerged around the 9th century, they were used in different contexts even then. Hiragana was primarily employed for writing beautiful and artistic works such as poetry and stories, while katakana was used in practical settings such as official documents and scholarly works.
This distinction continued until the end of World War II in 1945.
In post-war Japan, the combination of kanji and hiragana became the predominant form of written expression.
The reasons for this shift after the war remain somewhat unclear, but it appears that the roles of hiragana and katakana changed significantly during the overhaul of the pre-war education system.
Today, katakana is mainly used for foreign loanwords, technical terms, onomatopoeia, and to emphasize the sound of certain words.
[↓Click here↓]
Delivering unparalleled "iimono(quality products)" of JAPAN.
[↓Click here. What is Nippondo?↓]
ABOUT US