Nippon-shiki (日本式) is one of the systems of romanizing Japanese. It was invented by physicist Aikitsu Tanakadate (田中館 愛橘) in 1885, and postdates the Hepburn system of romanization. Tanakadate's intention was to completely replace the traditional kanji and kana system of writing Japanese with a romanized system, which he felt would make it easier for Japanese people to compete with Western countries. Since the system was intended for Japanese people to use to write their own language, it is much more regular than Hepburn romanization, and, unlike Hepburn's system, it makes no effort to make itself easier to pronounce for English speakers.
Nippon-shiki was followed by another, similar system, Kunrei-shiki. The difference between Nippon-shiki and Kunrei-shiki is the difference between the kana syllabary and modern pronunciation. In modern standard Japanese, the sounds of the pairs di/zi ぢ/じ, du/zu づ/ず, dya/zya ぢゃ/じゃ, dyu/zyu ぢゅ/じゅ, dyo/zyo ぢょ/じょ, wi/i ゐ/い, we/e ゑ/え, kwa/ka くゎ/か, and gwa/ga ぐゎ/が have become identical. For example, the word kanadukai (かなづかい) is pronounced as kanazukai in modern Japanese.
Nippon-shiki is the most regular romanization systems, because it maintains a strict "one kana, two letters" form. Because it has unique forms for all of the kana homophones, it allows one to go back and forth between kana and romaji unambiguously.
A | I | U | E | O | Yōon | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
a | i | u | e | o | ||||
あ | い | う | え | お | ||||
kagyō | ka | ki | ku | ke | ko | kya | kyu | kyo |
か | き | く | け | こ | きゃ | きゅ | きょ | |
sagyō | sa | si | su | se | so | sya | syu | syo |
さ | し | す | せ | そ | しゃ | しゅ | しょ | |
tagyō | ta | ti | tu | te | to | tya | tyu | tyo |
た | ち | つ | て | と | ちゃ | ちゅ | ちょ | |
nagyō | na | ni | nu | ne | no | nya | nyu | nyo |
な | に | ぬ | ね | の | にゃ | にゅ | にょ | |
hagyō | ha | hi | hu | he | ho | hya | hyu | hyo |
は | ひ | ふ | へ | ほ | ひゃ | ひゅ | ひょ | |
magyō | ma | mi | mu | me | mo | mya | myu | myo |
ま | み | む | め | も | みゃ | みゅ | みょ | |
yagyō | ya | yu | yo | |||||
や | ゆ | よ | ||||||
ragyō | ra | ri | ru | re | ro | rya | ryu | ryo |
ら | り | る | れ | ろ | りゃ | りゅ | りょ | |
wagyō | wa | wi | we | wo | ||||
わ | ゐ | ゑ | を | |||||
N | n | |||||||
ん | ||||||||
gagyō | ga | gi | gu | ge | go | gya | gyu | gyo |
が | ぎ | ぐ | げ | ご | ぎゃ | ぎゅ | ぎょ | |
zagyō | za | zi | zu | ze | zo | zya | zyu | zyo |
ざ | じ | ず | ぜ | ぞ | じゃ | じゅ | じょ | |
dagyō | da | di | du | de | do | dya | dyu | dyo |
だ | ぢ | づ | で | ど | ぢゃ | ぢゅ | ぢょ | |
bagyō | ba | bi | bu | be | bo | bya | byu | byo |
ば | び | ぶ | べ | ぼ | びゃ | びゅ | びょ | |
pagyō | pa | pi | pu | pe | po | pya | pyu | pyo |
ぱ | ぴ | ぷ | ぺ | ぽ | ぴゃ | ぴゅ | ぴょ |
See A table of romanizations for a full table of the differences between the three main romanization systems.
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