Indicative kanji were created as symbolic representations of abstract concepts using points and lines. For example:
| Meaning | Original Sign | Modern Kanji |
| One |  | 一 |
| Two |  | 二 |
| Three |  | 三 |
| Top |  | 上 |
| Bottom |  | 下 |
Compound ideographic kanji were formed by combining two or more pictorial or indicative kanji to bring out a new but simple idea. For example:
| Meaning | Combining Multiple Kanji | Resulting Kanji |
| Woods | 木 + 木 tree + tree | 林 |
| Forest | 木 + 木 + 木 tree + tree + tree | 森 |
| Bright | 日 + 月 sun + moon | 明 |
Finally, phonetic-ideographic kanji were formed by combining an element that expressed meaning and an element that carried the sound. For example, the following characters all stand for some body of water:
| Meaning | Combining Elements | Kanji |
| Inlet | 氵+ 工 water + KŌ | 江 |
| Ocean | 氵+ 羊 water + YŌ | 洋 |
| River | 氵+ 可 water + KA | 河 |
The left side of each character above, 氵, contributes the meaning, showing that each kanji’s meaning is related to water. The right side of each character 工, 羊, or 可, contributes the sound, showing how the kanji should be pronounced.
Kanji characters were brought to Japan from China between the fourth and the fifth centuries A.D. Until then, there were no written symbols in Japanese. The Japanese initially developed a hybrid system where kanji were given Japanese pronunciations and were used for writing Japanese. This system proved unwieldy, since Japanese and Chinese grammar and structure are so different. Then, they developed a system, man’yōgana, in which a limited set of kanji was used to write Japanese words with their sounds. Hiragana and katakana were developed in the Heian Period (794-1185) from some of the kanji characters included in man’yōgana. About 2,000 kanji as well as hiragana and katakana are still used in modern Japanese. Interestingly, there are some kanji characters that were created in Japan. For example, the kanji 峠 (mountain pass), 畑 (field of crops), and 働 (work) were all created in Japan by combining multiple existing kanji components.
How are kanji pronounced?
The Japanese language is very different from the Chinese language, having very distinct grammar and sounds. Many Chinese words consist of one syllable, but most Japanese words have more than one syllable. So, the assignment of a Japanese pronunciation to each kanji required both flexibility and creativity.
On-readings and kun-readings
There are two different ways of reading kanji in Japanese: on-readings (or on-yomi) and kun-readings (or kun-yomi). When kanji characters were first introduced to Japan, the original Chinese pronunciations were also adapted with only minor modifications. Such Chinese ways of reading kanji are called on-readings and are still used, especially when a character appears as a part of a compound where two or more kanji are combined to form a word.
At the same time, many kanji characters were assigned the pronunciation of the existing native Japanese word whose meaning was closest to that of the character. Such Japanese readings are called kun-readings, and are used especially when a character occurs independently in a sentence. For example, the character 母 is pronounced bo (on-reading) when used as a part of the compound word 母国, bokoku (mother country), but is pronounced haha (kun-reading) when used by itself. This is illustrated in the following sentence.
私の母の母国はフランスです。
Watashi no haha no bokoku wa Furansu desu.
My mother’s mother country is France.
In this workbook, on-readings are shown in katakana and, when Romanized, in upper-case letters. Conversely, kun-readings are shown in hiragana and in lower-case letters when Romanized.
Some kanji characters have more than one on-reading or kun-reading, and different readings are used in different contexts. Also note that there are special cases where it is not possible to clearly divide a kanji compound into components that can be pronounced separately.
Okurigana
As noted above, many Chinese words consist of a single syllable, expressed by only one Chinese character, but the corresponding Japanese words often have more than one syllable. In order to use kanji in the Japanese language, some kanji characters needed to be accompanied by kana. Such kana are called okurigana. Okurigana are particularly important for verbs and adjectives, which need inflectional elements, although they may also be used for other types of words, including nouns and adverbs. For example, in the following words, the kanji 高, meaning expensive or high, and the kana that follow jointly represent the pronunciation of the whole word, successfully representing its complete meaning:
| 高い | takai | expensive(plain present affirmative) |
| 高くない | takakunai | not expensive(plain present negative) |
| 高かった | takakatta | was expensive(plain past affirmative) |
In this book, the okurigana are preceded by “-” when first presented in kun-readings.
Furigana
Kanji characters are occasionally provided with kana that shows how they are intended to be read in the given context. Such kana used as a pronunciation guide are called furigana. For example, the hiragana characters placed right above the kanji in the following word are furigana:
高い
Furigana is often used for children or learners of Japanese. This can be a great help for you at the beginning! It is also used in newspapers for unusual readings and for characters not included in the officially recognized set of essential kanji. Japanese comic books use furigana generously!
How are kanji used in compounds?
Some Japanese words are represented by only one kanji (e.g., 赤, aka, red), but many Japanese words are represented by a kanji with okurigana (e.g., 高い, takai, expensive) or by a kanji compound. Kanji compounds constitute a large proportion of Japanese vocabulary. For example, 先生, written sensei in Roman letters, is a compound meaning teacher. It consists of two characters, 先 (ahead) and 生 (live). In general, on-readings are used for compounds, but occasionally, kun-readings are also used.
By the way, when you write a compound, there is no need to add a space between the kanji characters in it, but don’t try to squeeze the characters together to fit in one-character space. Each character in a compound should take one-character space. For example, notice the difference between 女子(girl) and 好(to like). The first item (女子) is a kanji compound that consists of two kanji characters, 女(woman) and 子(child). By contrast, the second item (好) is a single kanji character that consists of two kanji components, 女and 子.
Some kanji compounds were created in Japan and have been brought back to China and are now being used there. Examples include 電話 denwa (telephone), 化学 kagaku (science), and 社会 shakai (society). Many kanji compounds