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What is Nippon-shiki romanization?

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.

Table of Nippon-shiki romanization

	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
kagyō	か	き	く	け	こ	きゃ	きゅ	きょ
sagyō	sa	si	su	se	so	sya	syu	syo
sagyō	さ	し	す	せ	そ	しゃ	しゅ	しょ
tagyō	ta	ti	tu	te	to	tya	tyu	tyo
tagyō	た	ち	つ	て	と	ちゃ	ちゅ	ちょ
nagyō	na	ni	nu	ne	no	nya	nyu	nyo
nagyō	な	に	ぬ	ね	の	にゃ	にゅ	にょ
hagyō	ha	hi	hu	he	ho	hya	hyu	hyo
hagyō	は	ひ	ふ	へ	ほ	ひゃ	ひゅ	ひょ
magyō	ma	mi	mu	me	mo	mya	myu	myo
magyō	ま	み	む	め	も	みゃ	みゅ	みょ
yagyō	ya		yu		yo
yagyō	や		ゆ		よ
ragyō	ra	ri	ru	re	ro	rya	ryu	ryo
ragyō	ら	り	る	れ	ろ	りゃ	りゅ	りょ
wagyō	wa	wi		we	wo
wagyō	わ	ゐ		ゑ	を
N	n
N	ん
gagyō	ga	gi	gu	ge	go	gya	gyu	gyo
gagyō	が	ぎ	ぐ	げ	ご	ぎゃ	ぎゅ	ぎょ
zagyō	za	zi	zu	ze	zo	zya	zyu	zyo
zagyō	ざ	じ	ず	ぜ	ぞ	じゃ	じゅ	じょ
dagyō	da	di	du	de	do	dya	dyu	dyo
dagyō	だ	ぢ	づ	で	ど	ぢゃ	ぢゅ	ぢょ
bagyō	ba	bi	bu	be	bo	bya	byu	byo
bagyō	ば	び	ぶ	べ	ぼ	びゃ	びゅ	びょ
pagyō	pa	pi	pu	pe	po	pya	pyu	pyo
pagyō	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.

References

Jiten Nihon no moji (事典日本の文字), p. 134

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