Category romanization

Kunrei-shiki

Long vowels

Long vowels in Kunrei-shiki are indicated by circumflexes rather than macrons. For example, Tokyo is romanized as Tôkyô rather than Tōkyō.

Syllabic n

Syllabic n (kana ン) before a vowel or non-yōon y has an appostrophe, to distinguish it from a nagyō kana.

With n	Kana	Rômazi	Without n	Kana	Rômazi
かんおう	観桜	kan'ô	可能	かのう	kanô
金融	きんゆう	kin'yû	記入	きにゅう	kinyû

Legal status

The Kunrei system became the official system of romanization in Japan in 1937. This official status was overturned in 1954.

Kunrei in education

Romaji table from a recent kokugo

textbook for fourth year primary school pupils Kunrei-shiki is also known as the Monbusho system of romanization since it is the one which is taught to fourth-year primary school students in Japan.

Table

	A	I	U	E	O	Yōon
	a	i	u	e	o	rowspan=2 colspan = 3 |
	あ	い	う	え	お
K	ka	ki	ku	ke	ko	kya	kyu	kyo
	か	き	く	け	こ	きゃ	きゅ	きょ
S	sa	si	su	se	so	sya	syu	syo
	さ	し	す	せ	そ	しゃ	しゅ	しょ
T	ta	ti	tu	te	to	tya	tyu	tyo
	た	ち	つ	て	と	ちゃ	ちゅ	ちょ
N	na	ni	nu	ne	no	nya	nyu	nyo
	な	に	ぬ	ね	の	にゃ	にゅ	にょ
H	ha	hi	hu	he	ho	hya	hyu	hyo
	は	ひ	ふ	へ	ほ	ひゃ	ひゅ	ひょ
M	ma	mi	mu	me	mo	mya	myu	myo
	ま	み	む	め	も	みゃ	みゅ	みょ
Y	ya	*	yu	*	yo	rowspan=2 colspan = 3 |
	や		ゆ		よ
R	ra	ri	ru	re	ro	rya	ryu	ryo
	ら	り	る	れ	ろ	りゃ	りゅ	りょ
W	wa	wi		we	wo	rowspan=2 colspan = 3 |
	わ	ゐ		ゑ	を
N	n	rowspan=2 colspan = 7 |
	ん
G	ga	gi	gu	ge	go	gya	gyu	gyo
	が	ぎ	ぐ	げ	ご	ぎゃ	ぎゅ	ぎょ
Z	za	zi	zu	ze	zo	zya	zyu	zyo
	ざ	じ	ず	ぜ	ぞ	じゃ	じゅ	じょ
D	da	zi	zu	de	do	zya	zyu	zyo
	だ	ぢ	づ	で	ど	ぢゃ	ぢゅ	ぢょ
B	ba	bi	bu	be	bo	bya	byu	byo
	ば	び	ぶ	べ	ぼ	びゃ	びゅ	びょ
P	pa	pi	pu	pe	po	pya	pyu	pyo
	ぱ	ぴ	ぷ	ぺ	ぽ	ぴゃ	ぴゅ	ぴょ

Standardization

Kunrei-shiki was standardized as ISO 3602 for the romanization of Japanese.

References

ISO 3602 国際規格公文書―日本語（仮名書き）のローマ字表記