Title

Previously, we learned about the seven kinds of radicals that compose Kanji and how Kanji inherently represent units of meaning as opposed to sound, in other words, logograms rather than alphabet symbols. In this lesson, we will learn about what kinds of Kanji there are and how that relates to reading individual kanji.

In ancient China, Kanji began as pictographic representations, which over time morphed into a complex system of thousands of glyphs to write any morpheme (unit of meaning) in Chinese languages. Then, over several more centuries, these same characters were adopted to write Japanese. In doing so, Kanji have changed in sound and occasionally appearance, but little has changed to their composition. Any individual character is though to fall under one of the following four types:

1. Pictograms  
2. Ideograms
3. Compound Ideograms
4. Semasio-Phonetic Characters 

Pictographic Kanji are the direct descendants of ancient depictions. Although now highly stylized when compared with their initial forms, many still greatly resemble what they represent. Below are some examples.

The previous types of characters only make up about 20% of Kanji. For the remaining 80%, not all of the radicals used in their composition contribute to its meaning. Usually, one or more parts contribute to the meaning while the rest of the character indicates its “sound.” These phonetic elements are deeply tied to Chinese, the language for which Kanji were originally developed. 

To demonstrate what is meant by a phonetic element, let’s consider the kanji 官 meaning “bureaucracy.” It is a compound ideogram composed of a pictograph of a roof over meat for ceremonial purposes. Eventually, this led to it being interpreted as “a building where military dwell.” From this, the meaning of “bureaucracy” is derived. Its “sound” is カン and when 官 is seen in other kanji, its meaning is usually irrelevant, but the pronunciation of those other Kanji is カン.

※ 館 can also be viewed as a compound ideogram.

■Phonetic elements tend to have the same or similar pronunciation in the Kanji they appear. If pronunciation does differ, the difference is usually minor with a consonant or vowel being somewhat different. 

The phonetic elements (音符・オンプ) which represent the sound of Kanji (字音・ジオン) found in semasio-phonetic characters refer to what are called ON readings—on’yomi おんよみ. These readings are inherited from Sino-Japanese vocabulary, which are words derived from Chinese roots. Minus a few Kanji that were created in Japan, almost all Kanji possess ON readings. 

ON readings were borrowed along with waves of Kanji several times in Japanese history. Each time, new Kanji as well as new readings and meanings of old Kanji were introduced. Just as Japanese evolved over time, so did Chinese, which explains why the introduction of multiple pronunciations occurred. 

In other languages influenced by Chinese, older readings were replaced by new ones over time, but this prolonged contact didn't occur between Japan and China. Consequently, even among the most basic Kanji, different meanings and readings from various points in time coexist with each other.

■The Kinds of ON Readings　　音読みの種類について

First, let's look at the character 行 meaning "going/conduct." It has three ON readings: ギョウ, コウ, and アン. The first is a Wu reading (呉音・ゴオン), the second is a Han reading (漢音・カンオン), and the is a Tang reading (唐音・トウオン). 

• Wu readings were introduced from the 5th to 6th centuries, in some cases much earlier, and are the oldest ON readings in Japanese. They were and remain deeply tied to Buddhist texts. This is so much so that some speakers mistakenly believe that they are only used in old/religious texts, but there are many commonplace words that utilize them. 
• Han readings were introduced during the Tang dynasty. They were brought back to Japan by monks and emissaries throughout the 7th and 8th centuries. Most ON readings are Han readings and all Kanji made in China possess one, which is not always the case for Wu or Tang readings. 
• Tang readings refer to any readings that were introduced after the 8th century. Although the name would suggest that they were introduced during the Tang dynasty, they were mostly introduced during the Song dynasty. Although "Tang" in Japanese is 唐・トウ, it can also refer to non-modern China rather than any particular dynasty. In totality, only approximately 100 words utilize these readings, but some such words are, in fact, commonly used. 
• Traditional readings (慣用音・カンヨウオン) are popularized readings that came about from mispronunciations. At times, these mispronunciations have completely replaced their actual 'traditional' ON readings. Although 行 doesn't have such a reading, quite a few Kanji do. 

Of these readings, Han readings are the most common, and they account for around 80% of all words which utilize ON readings. 19.99% are made with Wu readings and the remaining 0.01% are made with Tang readings.

※美男 is typically read as ビナン, but dictionaries also list the reading ビダン. Although the use of the Han reading is not commonplace for this word, there was a time in which intellectuals attempted to purge the language of all other readings in favor of Han readings, and the effect of this can still be seen. 

※男女 is an example of such a word. It was already coined before Han readings were introduced, and thus, it may alternatively be read with Wu readings as ナンニョ. However, this is usually only seen in the set phrase 老若男女 meaning "men and women of all ages." With a different meaning altogether, 男女 may also be read with KUN readings as おとこおんな, which is a derogatory word referring to effeminate men. 
※ダメ男 may also be read as だめおとこ. 

※The KUN reading お is actually most commonly used in male names such as Yasuo. Note that names can be spelled in various ways and parents have the right to determine how each Kanji is supposed to be read. 

One would imagine that if only 20% of words utilize a non-Han ON reading, and if different KUN readings are usually assigned to different meanings that there wouldn't be so much overlap, but as this small chart shows, overlap does exist and it causes significant nuancing. Even a versed reader may have doubts on how to read a word from time to time.  

※銀 is an example of word replacement by Sino-Japanese influence. しろがね is the native word for silver, but in everyday speech ギン is the preferred reading.

※剣 is read as ケン or つるぎ. Both readings are essentially interchangeable with the meaning "sword."

※都 means "capital." The native word for this is みやこ, which traditionally refers to Kyoto. When referring to Tokyo, it is read as ト.

In this small sampling of words, you can see that at times, the meanings are so different that there is no way a reader could ever confuse then. On the other hand, there are other times when you would need much more knowledge about word choice, and that might not always be enough. In fact, when more than one reading is possible, writers will even indicate which one is intended. 

Traditionally, each Kanji stood for a single morpheme in Chinese. Over time, complex words were coined by conjoining two morphemes/Kanji together, creating what are called 熟語・ジュクゴ. This word, in essence, is the Sinitic equivalent of a compound word. These words are read with ON readings. 

熟語 come in various types and are usually composed of two to five Kanji, and the etymologies behind these compounds are varied. 

1. Some are created by combining Kanji of opposite meanings together such as 進退・シンタイ (moving forwards [進] or backwards [退]). 
2. Many are created by combining Kanji of similar meanings such as 救助・キュウジョ (relief). 救 means "to save" and 助 means "to help." 
3. In many examples, the second Kanji describes the first such as in 牛肉・ギュウニク (beef). 牛 means "cow" and 肉 means "meat." 
4. Some are based on Chinese grammar such as 登山・トザン (mountain climbing). 登 means "to climb" and 山 means "mountain." The Chinese word order used here is "verb-object," but this same word would be rephrased in native vocabulary as 山(やま)に登(のぼ)る (to climb a mountain) with the word order "object-verb." There are also words like 頭痛・ズツウ with a "subject-predicate" word order, which is not unlike basic Japanese grammar.

1. Most three-Kanji jukugo are made by affixing prefixes and suffixes to two-Kanji jukugo. For example, 責任感・セキニンカン means "sense of responsibility" and is a combination of 責任 [responsibility] and the suffix 感 [sense/feeling].
2. Some are created from Chinese expressions with the word order "subject + predicate." For instance, 心停止・シンテイシ means "cardiac arrest" and is composed of 心 [heart] and 停止 [stopping]. 
3. Some are created from Chinese expressions with the word order "verb + object." For instance, 省資源・ショウシゲン means "saving resources" and is composed of the verb 省 [to conserve] and 資源 [resources].
4. Sometimes other elements of Chinese grammar such as adverbs find their way into three-Kanji jukugo such as in 未曾有・ミゾウ meaning "unprecedented." 未 is an adverb meaning "not," 曾 is an adverb meaning "yet," and 有 is used as a verb meaning "to have." 
5. Others are made by stringing nouns together such as 天地人 meaning "heaven, earth, and man."

※過不足 is an example of a word which is frequently mispronounced, so much so that its mispronunciation is just as common as the correct pronunciation. Its 'mispronunciation' is カブソク.

There is no need to learn all the words in this chart, nor is it necessary to learn the readings and meanings of the Kanji used. The purpose of this chart is to demonstrate how Sino-Japanese compound words are constructed.

Of course, native words may also be combined to create compounds. These compounds are called 複合語・フクゴウゴ. As to be expected, they are read with KUN readings. 

Native compound words are usually around two to three Kanji long, and many examples can be found in place names and personal names. These words tend to be more basic in meaning, and so even though there aren't as many of them as jukugo, they are used just as often in the spoken language. 

As mentioned slightly when learning about five-Kanji jukugo, there are also compounds that are made by mixing native and Sino-Japanese words. There are words read in the order of ON-KUN as well as KUN-ON.

■ON-KUN Readings　重箱読み

There is a multi-tiered food box used in Japan called ジュウばこ, and from this word derives the Japanese term for ON-KUN readings. 

Japanese etymology is separate from Chinese etymology. As such, some words in Japanese are not made with the same morphemes as in Chinese, but because Kanji are still used to write words based on their meaning, this results in irregular words being assigned to them. These irregular words are thus irregular readings, and those readings are treated as special KUN readings called 熟字訓・ジュクジクン. Below are some common examples.

※煙草 is an example of loanwords being attributed to Kanji. Whenever this happens, the reading is treated as a special KUN reading. 

A situation in which KUN readings are solely used is when there is what is called "okurigana" following a root of a word written in Kanji. These special kana aren't truly special at all. Rather, they are merely writing out grammatical inflections that don't exist in the traditional scope of Chinese character use. After all, Japanese grammar is completely alien to Chinese grammar. 

Take for instance the word 受付 we saw earlier. It is a noun created by joining the nominal forms of two verbs. As such, it may also be spelled as 受け付け, but when it's spelled like this, it usually functions as a verbal phrase.

Unfortunately, the use or lack thereof of okurigana is not so straightforward. There are many situations in which parts of the okurigana to a phrase may be omitted, and there are some instances when okurigana is obligatory. For instance, 思（おも）う means "to think," and it is impossible to read 思 as おもう. 思（おも）い, on the other hand, can be used as the nominal form "thought" and may potentially also be written solely as 思, although in this case that's unlikely. Point being, okurigana is necessary in writing out Japanese conjugations. 

Reading Japanese is difficult, and to verify this, you need look no further than any book on a Japanese reader's bookshelf to find pages strewn with little bitty Kana on the side of Kanji. These small Kana to the top, to the side, or to the right (depending on the direction of the text) indicate the intended pronunciation of Kanji. This is called "furigana." In this lesson, because we have been learning the differences between ON and KUN readings, furigana has been mixed with Katakana and Hiragana, but in actual practice, furigana is usually seen in Hiragana. Katakana is only seldom used when the next best spelling would happen to be Katakana. 

Furigana will only occasionally be used in our studies as it is more advantageous for you as the learner to familiarize yourself with the dictionary tools found online. Of course, when clarification is necessary, readings will be given. 

Though Kanji inherently have meaning, sometimes Kanji are in fact only used for their sound. The 'sound' could be an ON or a KUN reading depending on the word. The reasons behind these so-called 'ateji' spellings are varied. At times they are uniquely coined spellings to emphasize a word in a unique way, and for other instances there wasn't a suitable Kanji spelling that was possible. Below are some common examples.

※One definition of 'ateji' has it that non-standard use of Kanji are also a form of ateji. Loanwords being attributed to Kanji like 煙草, thus, may also be viewed as ateji. 

Although Kanji are indeed 'Chinese' characters, not all of them were made in China. Several hundred Kanji were created in Japanese. These characters are called "kokuji." It is almost safe to say that they are indigenous to Japan, but some of these characters actually got introduced into Chinese. With that being said, naturally, most kokuji have KUN readings, some have ON readings, and depending on how and why the kokuji was made, there is a small amount that possess only ON readings. 

※瓩 and 粁 were created to represent Western measurements. They are examples of 'new' KUN readings made from loanwords. 

※The reading ヘイ of 塀 is listed as an ON reading because of the phonetic element used in the Kanji, but the word itself is actually native in origin.  

Over these last five lessons, you were given a detailed walkthrough for the Japanese writing system. Although it is the most complex in the world, it does have its own sense of order, and with time and effort, you can learn how to read it efficiently. Up next, we'll begin learning about Japanese grammar.