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HOW TO READ JAPANESE KANJI

The Japanese language relies on three different alphabets – Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana. 

Among the three, “Kanji” was the first alphabet to be used, and it began to be used around the end of the 4th century from China. Until then, the Japanese people had been communicating various things verbally, and did not have unique characters.

 

There are two ways to read in Kanji.

One is called “On-yomi” which is based on the Chinese pronunciation that came with the Kanji. For example, the Chinese pronunciation of the Chinese character “Yama” isshān, so it became the basis for on-yomi and then became “San”.

 

The other way to read Kanji is called “Kun-yomi” , a word that was originally used in Japan, it is another way of reading that was applied to Kanji with the same meaning.

In Japan, the word “Yama” which means mountain, was originally called “Yama”, and so it was added as “Kun-yomi” to the Kanji that has the same meaning as “mountain” that came from Chinese alphabet. Other examples for “Kun-yomi” would be KAMI which means “paper” 水 MIZU which means “water” andYORU which means “night”

 

In addition, Japanese Kanji may have multiple “On-yomi” readings which can get a little bit confusing and that’s because they have added readings that originate from different times and regions in China to the Japanese alphabet. If one kanji has more than one meaning, “Kun-yomi” readings will also be more than just one. It is said that the kanji that has the most readings is “生“, and not only foreigners but Japanese people may get confused with it.