sci.lang.japan FAQ / 1. Writing / 1.2. (漢字)

1.2.5. Which were created in Japan?

Most of the were invented by the Chinese, but some characters were invented by the Japanese. These are known in Japan as kokuji (国字), literally "national characters". These often have only a or native Japanese reading, and no , or Chinese-derived, reading. For example, the used to write the verbs and are both Japanese inventions. The character for meaning "mountain pass" is a Japanese invention. Some of these characters, such as , were even re-absorbed back into Chinese and thus gained an .

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sci.lang.japan FAQ / 1. Writing / 1.2. (漢字)

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