{"id":674,"date":"2019-12-11T11:32:04","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T18:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learnjapanese.best\/?p=674"},"modified":"2020-12-18T05:09:22","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T05:09:22","slug":"the-four-types-of-kanji-and-approximate-distribution-in-the-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/japanesecomplete.com\/articles\/?p=674","title":{"rendered":"The Four Types of Kanji"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u8c61\u5f62\u30fb\u6307\u4e8b\u30fb\u4f1a\u610f\u30fb\u5f62\u58f0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanji, ideograms that constitute a bulk of the Japanese written language, come in four rough types. Pictographs, Indicators, Combographs, <\/em><\/strong>and Meaning-and-Sound Borrowers<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first type is pictographs<\/strong> which stand in for the actual thing they represent. Some researchers claim fewer than 4% are actually pictographs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u8c61\u5f62\u6587\u5b57<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

\u3057\u3087\u3046\u3051\u3044\u3082\u3058<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u4eba biped (human)
\u5973 woman
\u624b hand
\u7530 ricefield
\u5b50 child
\u65e5 sun
\u6708 moon
\u9580 gate
\u5c71 mountain
\u5ddd river
\u5f13 bow (as in “bow and arrow”)
\u706b fire
\u6238 Japanese style door
\u53e3 mouth, entranceway
\u6c34 water
\u96e8 rain
\u7af9 bamboo
\u6728 tree, wood, timber
\u672c roots (origins)
\u9ea6 wheat, barley, oats
\u76ee eye
\u725b cow
\u7f8a sheep
\u99ac horse
\u9ce5 bird
\u8db3 Leg\/foot
\u6bcd Mother
All these are nouns which really limits their applicability in the realm of human affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u6307\u4e8b\u6587\u5b57
\u3057\u3058\u3082\u3058<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Indicators<\/strong>. Visual stand-in or pointer for a concept. Here are some examples<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u4e0a Up\/above
\u4e0b Down\/below
\u4e2d Middle\/between
\u4e00 One
\u4e8c Two
\u4e09 Three
\u4e43 \u300c\u306e\u300d
\u97f3 Sound
\u5929 Heaven
\u7acb Stand up
\u5f15 Pull
\u516c Public
\u4eca Now
\u4e16 Society
\u9762 Face, facet
\u5171 Together
\u4ef2 Relationship
\u672b Top end, tip
\u7247 one of a pair<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u4f1a\u610f\u6587\u5b57
\u304b\u3044\u3044\u3082\u3058<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Combographs<\/strong>, kanji composed of two or more kanji to create a third meaning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A meeting of meanings” to forge a new alloy with different properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u6b66 is composed of \u6208 and \u6b62
Military arts = Spear + Stop<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u300c\u4fe1\u300d\u306f\u300c\u4eba\u300d\u3068\u300c\u8a00\u300d
Trust (Person + Speak) … Word is bond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u300c\u76f8\u300d\u306f\u3000\u300c\u6728\u300d\u3068\u300c\u76ee\u300d
Physiognomy (tree + eye)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u300c\u4f11\u300d\u306f\u300c\u4eba\u300d\u3068\u300c\u6728\u300d
Rest\/Take Off\/Take break = Person + Tree<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u300c\u7537\u300d\u306f\u300c\u7530\u300d\u3068\u300c\u529b\u300d
Man = Field + Power<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u300c\u5373\u300d\u306f\u300c\u7680\u300d\u3068\u300c\u5369\u300d
Namely = Fragrant + Seal<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u300c\u8d64\u300d\u306f\u300c\u5927\u300d\u3068\u300c\u706b\u300d
Red (Big + Fire)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u300c\u9999\u300d\u306f\u300c\u9ecd\u300d\u3068\u300c\u7518\u300d
Fragrance (Millet + Sweet)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u300c\u9adf\u300d\u306f\u300c\u9577\u300d\u3068\u300c\u5f61\u300d
Hair hanging long (Long + hair)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u5f62\u58f0\u6587\u5b57
\u3051\u3044\u305b\u3044\u3082\u3058<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Semantics and Sound Borrowers, meaning and sound borrowers, soundalikes<\/strong> inherit a phonetic value (pronunciation \/ reading) from one of their subkanji, and inherit meaning from another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Meaning inherited on the left, Reading on the right.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Meaning and Sound Borrowers make up 90% of Japanese Kanji.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u300c\u6f22\u5b57\u306e\u7d04\uff19\u5272\u304c\u5f62\u58f0\u6587\u5b57\u3067\u3042\u308b\u3068\u3044\u308f\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\u300d<\/p>Roughly 90% of Kanji glyphs used in Japanese are classifiable as Meaning and Sound Borrower kanji.
[Reference 3: shinyuzemi-niigata.wixsite ]<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This amazing fact, that 90% of kanji inherit their sound value (phonetic value \/ reading) from a subkanji has been explored in great detail in the book The Kanji Code<\/a>. Likely inspired by a dictionary of kanji from Ancient China that contained 6 groups, although the sixth group only has 1 kanji in it, and many scholars prefer to stick to 4 groups for comprehension rather than divide one of the remaining groups in two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Natalie Hamilton’s Kanji Code superimposes katakana and kanji to make recall of their meanings easy, and she breaks them into helpful meaning-categories according to subkanji [“radicals”]<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Natalie Hamilton’s The Kanji Code<\/a> is a great resource in learning the phonetic readings constituting over 90% of the kanji.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u5f62\u58f0\u6587\u5b57\u306f\u3001\u97f3\u3092\u8868\u308f\u3059\u6587\u5b57\uff08\u97f3\u7b26\uff09\u3068\u3001\u610f\u5473\u3092\u8868\u308f\u3059\u90e8\u5206\uff08\u610f\u7b26\uff09\u3067\u69cb\u6210\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002<\/p>Sound and Meaning Borrower Kanji have a phonetic helper subkanji and a meaning helper subkanji.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

An exhaustive list of these “Soundalike” kanji, that usurp meaning from one and phonetic reading from another, can be found in Reference 4<\/a> where they also show derivations like the image above. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u7d19\uff08\u30b7\uff09
\uff1d \u7cf8\uff0b\u6c0f\uff08\u30b7\uff09<\/td>		\u753a\uff08\u30c1\u30e7\u30a6\uff09
\uff1d \u7530\uff0b\u4e01\uff08\u30c1\u30e7\u30a6\uff09<\/td><\/tr>
\u59c9\uff08\u30b7\uff09
\uff1d\u5973\uff0b\u5e02\uff08\u30b7\uff09<\/td>		\u7406\uff08\u30ea\uff09
\uff1d\u738b\uff0b\u91cc\uff08\u30ea\uff09<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the kanji characters above we can see that the phonetic reading is inherited from the right-hand side (Reference 5<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u5f62\u58f0\u6587\u5b57 do they mean what they say, or say what they mean?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a graphical synopsis of the four kinds:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Roughly speaking, we can put a coarse approximation to the number of kanji in each category:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Pictographs (3-4%)<\/li>
  2. Indicators (1%)<\/li>
  3. Combographs (5-6%)<\/li>
  4. Meaning-and-Sound-Borrowers (90%)
    also called Shape-and-Sound-Borrowers.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Thanks for reading, we hope that you’ll use this new knowledge to master the kanji swiftly! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Master kanji like never before with the lessons specially crafted for long-term retention at Japanese Complete<\/a>. Join the online course today<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n
    1. https:\/\/www.weblio.jp\/wkpja\/content\/%E4%BC%9A%E6%84%8F_%E4%BC%9A%E6%84%8F%E3%81%AE%E6%A6%82%E8%A6%81<\/a><\/li>
    2. https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kanji#Types_of_kanji_by_category<\/a><\/li>
    3. https:\/\/shinyuzemi-niigata.wixsite.com\/index\/single-post\/2017\/12\/06\/%E3%80%90%E6%BC%A2%E5%AD%97%E3%80%91%E2%91%A0%E8%B1%A1%E5%BD%A2%E3%83%BB%E6%8C%87%E4%BA%8B%E3%83%BB%E4%BC%9A%E6%84%8F%E3%83%BB%E5%BD%A2%E5%A3%B0%E6%96%87%E5%AD%97<\/a><\/li>
    4. https:\/\/okjiten.jp\/19-keiseimoji.html<\/a><\/li>
    5. https:\/\/katekyo.mynavi.jp\/juken\/9182<\/a><\/li>
    6. Types of Kanji (Originally 6) are largely derived from Xu Shen’s work from 100 CE, presented in 121 CE.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      \u8c61\u5f62\u30fb\u6307\u4e8b\u30fb\u4f1a\u610f\u30fb\u5f62\u58f0 Kanji, ideograms that constitute a bulk of the Japanese written language, come in four rough types. Pictographs, Indicators, Combographs, and Meaning-and-Sound Borrowers. The first type is pictographs which stand in for the actual thing they represent. Some researchers claim fewer than 4% are actually pictographs. 1 \u8c61\u5f62\u6587\u5b57 \u3057\u3087\u3046\u3051\u3044\u3082\u3058 \u4eba biped (human)\u5973 woman\u624b hand\u7530 ricefield\u5b50Continue reading “The Four Types of Kanji”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38,42,121,238,285,313,303,304,314,71],"yoast_head":"\nThe Four Types of Kanji<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Four types of kanji: pictographs, indicators, combographs, sound-and-meaning borrowers. 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