Southeast Review of Asian Studies
Volume 31 (2009), pp. 262–71
Japanese Simplication of
Chinese Characters in Perspective
XUEXIN LIU
Spelman College
In this scholarly note, Xuexin Liu explains simplication as a Japanese linguistic strategy, focusing on motivations for simplifying certain Chinese characters borrowed into
Japanese and the resultant orthographic effects on Japanese kanji.
Beyond Linguistic Borrowing
Although numerous studies of lexical borrowing involving various borrowing languages and source languages have been carried out (e.g., Haugen
1972; Poplack, Sankoff, and Miller 1988; Weinreich 1979), few studies have
investigated and explored the idiosyncratic nature of Japanese in relation to
its borrowing of Chinese characters. This scholarly note specically describes and explains the effects of Chinese characters that were borrowed
into Japanese after morphological change (that is, a change in word form)
or semantic shift or modication (that is, a change in word meaning). To
do so, this piece introduces a comparative study of simplication of Chinese
characters in Japan and China with a focus on the Japanese linguistic and
sociolinguistic motivations for simplication. Accordingly, this paper considers several specic questions: What makes Japanese lexical borrowing of
Chinese characters different from the traditional notion of lexical borrowing? What
are the particular motivations for simplifying Chinese characters in Japan and
China? What are the orthographic effects of simplied traditional Chinese characters in contemporary Japanese? What are the most important implications of the
Japanese simplication of Chinese characters for understanding linguistic borrowing, in general, and lexical borrowing, in particular? Here, representative orthographic records are cited as linguistic evidence, assumptions behind and
ndings from a comparative study are presented, and some tentative implications are offered.
Some Chinese characters once borrowed into the Japanese language—
that is, Japanese kanji—show semantic shifts or semantic changes. Certain
borrowed Chinese characters, therefore, no longer contain their original
© 2009 Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies
Scholarly Note: Japanese Simplication of Chinese Characters
263
lexical content but carry different meaning in Japanese. These differences
evince the relationship between lexical borrowing and semantic shifts or
semantic changes. In addition, a few kanji, such as 峠 (tōge, a mountain
pass), 働 (dō/hatara, work), 榊 (sakaki, a type of camellia), 畑 (hata/hatake,
eld or farm), and 辻 (tsuji, a crossroads), though they look like Chinese
characters, actually originated in Japan. These kanji are known as wasei
kanji 和製漢字 (Japanese-made kanji, also known as kokuji 国字). Furthermore, since the Meiji 明治 period (1868–1912), many Japanese kango 漢語
(Chinese words) were created domestically through word combinations,
such as 衛星 (eisei, satellite), 科学 (kagaku, science), 銀行 (ginkō, bank), 弁当
(bentō, lunchbox), 寿司 (sushi), 人気 (ninki, popularity), 写真 (shashin, photograph), and 物語 (monogatari, story); these characters may or may not represent the same concepts in Chinese. Also, some words were created from
translation of Western concepts to t Japanese culture and modernization
needs; such newly formulated phrases now appear in Chinese as recently
borrowed lexical items (Chen 1999; Zhou 2003). Such linguistic phenomena involving lexical borrowing, lexical shift or creation, and new word
formation need to be explored and described systematically (Myers-Scotton
2002; Romaine 1995), but these topics are beyond the scope of this piece.
Kanji as a Component of the Japanese Linguistic System
Different from most languages in the world, Japanese has its own peculiar
componential linguistic system. Different from most types of and motivations for linguistic borrowing, Japanese borrows linguistic elements from
other languages for its own set of special reasons, which are determined by
the componential nature of the Japanese language itself. Japanese consists of
three distinctive but related components: hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名),
and kanji, each of which plays a special role in the Japanese linguistic system (Kindaichi 1978). Below I focus on the role of kanji in structuring the
Japanese language.
Kanji, which literally means “Han characters” (漢字), are Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system
along with hiragana, katakana, and Arabic numerals. Unlike the most commonly observed phenomena of lexical borrowing, Chinese characters were
actually “introduced” to Japan: classical Chinese characters rst came to
Japan on material articles imported from China. One instance of such an
import was a gold seal given by the emperor of the Eastern Han 東漢 (25–
220 C.E.) dynasty in 57 C.E. At the time, the Japanese language itself had no
written form. It has not been documented when Japanese people started to
command classical Chinese by themselves. What is known is that approximately from the sixth century onward, Chinese documents written in Japan
264
X. Liu
tended to show interferences from Japanese. This phenomenon suggests the
wide acceptance of Chinese characters in Japan (Makino, Hasata, and Hasata 1998; Tohsaku 1994). In modern Japanese, kanji are a signicant component of the Japanese linguistic system. Essentially Chinese hanzi 漢字
used to write Japanese, kanji have gone through some signicant Japanese
local developments.
The three components of the Japanese language are distinctive but related, yet each plays a designated role in the Japanese writing system. Hiragana are used to write inected verb and adjective endings, particles, native
Japanese words, and words where the kanji is too difcult to read or remember; katakana are used for representing certain onomatopoeia and most
if not all foreign loanwords; and kanji are used to write key parts of the language such as nouns, adjective stems, and verb stems. Different from the
traditional notion of lexical borrowing, Chinese characters “borrowed” into
Japanese are not simply for the so-called lexical-conceptual purpose but for
the linguistic needs of the Japanese language itself. In other words, Chinese
characters, whether they have gone through Japanese local developments or
not, have become a fundamental component of the language (Seeley 1995).
Motivations for Simplifying Chinese Characters in Japan
Any language reform in a society is driven by particular motivations of a
speech community, and such motivations may be linguistic, social, cultural,
or educational. Characteristically, various factors are involved in any widescale language reform. One of the most important factors must be the government’s language policy and planning. It is in this sense that we say all
language reforms are intentional, well planned, and highly regulated in order for societies to establish relatively standard and stable linguistic systems. For particular purposes and needs, language reform in a society can
be gradual or drastic. Both Japan and China have witnessed some signicant language reforms for some similar—but not the same—purposes. The
simplication of traditional Chinese characters (often also called “Classical,” “complex,” or “non-simplied” Chinese characters) in Japan and
China, to whatever extent it may be (partial or complete), can be recognized
as a typical example of highly motivated and drastic language reform. In
China, the main purpose of the large-scale script reform after the founding
of socialist China in 1949 was to create equal educational opportunities for
all by making reading and writing Chinese characters easier and more accessible than before. Another purpose was to establish and standardize the
new writing system as part of the government’s language policy and planning. In the case of Japanese simplication of Chinese characters, the purpose was beyond making reading and writing easier. In what follows, I offer
Scholarly Note: Japanese Simplication of Chinese Characters
265
a brief review of the motivations for simplifying Chinese characters in Japan.
Although hiragana and katakana are based on the Japanese phonetic alphabet, kanji embody a very complex orthographic system. The complexity
of kanji writing is obviously created by the peculiar nature of Chinese
scripts, especially classical Chinese scripts. Chinese characters introduced
to the Japanese language ultimately turned out to be too difcult to read
and write or remember. In order to read and write anything other than the
simplest and most basic text, one needed sufcient knowledge of thousands
of Chinese characters. In order to make the writing system of kanji less complicated in Japanese everyday life, especially in popular education, publication, and documentation, the Japanese government instituted a series of
orthographic reforms following World War II (in 1946) that were carried
out in several targeted areas. First, the Chinese characters in Japanese were
selectively given simplied glyphs called shinjitai 新字体 (new character
form). Second, the number of characters in circulation was reduced, and
formal lists of characters to be learned during each grade of school were
established. Third, many variant forms of characters and obscure alternatives for common characters were ofcially discouraged. These changes
were made with the goal of facilitating learning for children and simplifying kanji use in literature and periodicals. Compared to Chinese, the Japanese reform was more directed, affecting only a few hundred characters and
replacing them with simplied forms, most of which were already in use in
Japanese cursive script. In 1946, according to a publication of the Japanese
Ministry of Education, 131 Chinese characters were simplied; and in 1949,
to help the simplication process further, another 96 Chinese characters
were simplied, which brought the total number of simplied characters to
227 as reformed from kyūjitai 旧字体 (old character form). These characters
were part of the “daily use” kanji known as tōyō-kanji 当用漢字 until 1981.
In 1981, the tōyō-kanji were reclassied as jōyō-kanji 常用漢字 (also “daily
use” kanji), of which there are 1,945. At that time, the total number of simplied Chinese characters—kanji that were the result of Japan’s orthographic simplication of traditional Chinese characters—reached 357 (Kindaichi 1978; Mitamura and Mitamura 1997; Seeley 1995; Takebe 1979).
Orthographic Effects of Simplied Kanji
Unlike most phenomena of lexical borrowing as evidenced in other languages, Japanese lexical borrowing took place not only because of so-called
lexical-conceptual gaps between the borrowing or receiving language and
the source language but also because of the compositional nature of the
Japanese language itself. To develop and establish its own writing system,
Japanese needed to borrow or “import” certain characters (lexical items)
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X. Liu
from China to serve its own linguistic purposes. Also, unlike the traditional
notion of “adaptation” of borrowed items to the existing linguistic structure
of the borrowing language (for example, at the levels of syntax, morphology,
and phonology), a good number of borrowed Chinese characters went
through some orthographic reforms such as simplication to become kanji
of their own orthographic features (Morohashi, Watanabe, Kamata, and
Yoneyama 1967).
Again, such “reformed” lexical forms through simplication were intentional and selective. In addition to making kanji writing and reading
easier or more accessible to the general public, the simplication of certain
Chinese characters resulted in particular orthographic effects in Japanese
lexical composition. In comparison with the orthographic effects of simplied characters in Modern Chinese, the orthographic effects of some simplied kanji can be categorized into the following four groups: (a) simplied
kanji with the same simplied form in Modern Chinese (table 1); (b) simplied kanji with different simplied forms in Modern Chinese (table 2);
(c) simplied kanji with variant forms of traditional Chinese characters that
are different from the simplied forms in Modern Chinese (table 3); (d) simplied kanji with forms that vary from forms of traditional Chinese characters (table 4); (e) simplied kanji with right-side components simplied
like simplied forms in Modern Chinese (table 5); and (f ) simplied kanji
with right-side components simplied differently than simplied forms in
Modern Chinese (table 6). For the current study, the categorization and
categories are based on the 1,945 jōyō-kanji and are intended to be representative rather than exhaustive (see Amanuma and Katō 1982; Kindaichi,
Kindaichi, Kenbō, and Shibata 1982; Yoshida, Takeuchi, and Harris 1982).
Table 1 lists a sample of simplied Japanese kanji that share the form of
simplied characters in Modern Chinese. These were formed either by coincidence or by a simple adoption of the simplied characters without further simplication or modication for convenience. As indicated most vividly by the reduction in the number of strokes in each character, simplied
kanji clearly reduce the complexity of the traditional Chinese characters.
(In this table and the ve that follow, English glosses of the traditional
Chinese characters are based on the most commonly recognized meanings
of individual words in Modern Chinese, without considering combinations
with other words. Also, these glosses do not indicate the parts of speech for
individual words.)
Table 2 lists a sample of simplied Japanese kanji that are different
from the simplied characters in Modern Chinese. Such characters indicate
that orthographic simplication, in some cases, followed Japanese preferences, resulting in special “Japanese-only” forms of simplied kanji.
Table 3 shows a sample of simplied kanji with variant forms of traditional Chinese characters that are different from the simplied forms in
Scholarly Note: Japanese Simplication of Chinese Characters
TABLE 1
Simplied Japanese Kanji with the Same Form as Modern Chinese
Simplied Kanji
医
欧
画
学
会
旧
献
恋
声
国
辞
寿
党
尽
台
TABLE 2
267
Traditional Chinese Characters
(and Meanings)
醫
歐
畫
學
會
舊
獻
戀
聲
國
辭
壽
黨
盡
臺
(medicine/medical science)
(Europe)
(draw/paint; picture)
(study/learn)
(meet; meeting)
(old)
(dedicate)
(love)
(sound/voice)
(country)
(diction)
(longevity/life)
(political party)
(utmost)
(table/desk, platform)
Simplied Chinese
Characters
医
欧
画
学
会
旧
献
恋
声
国
辞
寿
党
尽
台
Simplied Japanese Kanji with Different Forms from Modern Chinese
Simplied Kanji
Traditional Chinese Characters
(and Meanings)
Simplied Chinese
Characters
円
応
圓 (round; money)
應 (agree; answer; should)
圆
应
歓
価
歡 (happy/pleased; like)
價 (price; value)
欢
价
芸
気
藝 (skill/craftsmanship; art)
氣 (air; smell; spirit)
艺
气
剣
薬
劍 (sword; saber)
藥 (medicine/drug)
剑
药
剤
渋
劑 (chemical preparation; dose)
澁 (astringent; rough; difcult)
剂
涩
従
畳
從 (from; follow)
疊 (pile up; fold)
从
叠
焼
図
燒 (burn; cook; fever)
圖 (picture; chart; map)
烧
图
摂
攝 (absorb; take a photograph)
摄
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X. Liu
TABLE 3
Simplied Japanese Kanji with Different Simplied Variants from
Those Used in Modern Chinese
Simplied Kanji
囲
塩
関
処
粛
並
廃
獣
荘
戯
暁
覧
Traditional Chinese Characters
(and Meanings)
圍
鹽
關
處
肅
竝
廢
獸
莊
戲
曉
覽
(surround/enclose)
(salt)
(close; turn off; lock up)
(get along; deal with; place)
(respectful; solemn)
(equally; simultaneously)
(waste; useless; give up)
(beast/wild animal)
(village; manor)
(drama; play)
(dawn/daybreak; know)
(look at; display/exhibit)
Simplied Chinese
Characters
围
盐
关
处
肃
并
废
兽
庄
戏
晓
览
Modern Chinese. The purpose for engaging in an alternative form of simplication might have been to make the traditional Chinese characters less
complex yet still retain important features of the characters.
In table 4 are simplied kanji with forms that vary from forms of traditional Chinese characters. These are either partially created forms or partially variant forms of certain traditional Chinese characters that are not
simplied in Modern Chinese. Naturally, the Japanese created certain forms
or exploited some existing variant forms during the process of selectively
simplifying the traditional Chinese characters.
Table 5 shows some simplied kanji where the right-side components,
or radicals, are simplied like the simplied forms in Modern Chinese.
Here, the left-side radicals retain the features of the traditional Chinese
characters.
Finally, in table 6 are some simplied kanji where the left-side radicals
retain the features of the traditional Chinese characters, but the right-side
radicals are simplied differently than the simplied forms in Modern
Chinese. In these cases, the Japanese simplications retain more features of
the traditional Chinese characters than do the Modern Chinese simplications.
These six categories of simplied Japanese kanji make clear that Japanese simplication of traditional Chinese characters has undertaken various
forms. In addition to the same simplied forms as those in Modern Chinese,
a good number of simplied traditional Chinese characters in the Japanese
language contain in their own particular forms—different simplied forms,
Scholarly Note: Japanese Simplication of Chinese Characters
269
TABLE 4
Simplied Japanese Kanji with Partially Created or Partially Variant
forms of Traditional Chinese Characters
Simplied Kanji
Traditional Chinese Characters (and Meanings)
Partially Created Forms
圧
壱
仮
恵
黒
剰
巣
粋
蔵
兎
稲
压
壹
假
惠
黑
剩
巢
粹
藏
兔
稻
(press; push; control)
(one)
(false/fake; supposing)
(kind; benevolent; benet)
(black)
(be left; remain)
(nest; lair)
(pure/unadulterated)
(hide/conceal; store)
(rabbit/hare)
(paddy/rice)
收
乘
醉
妒
(receive; accept)
(ride; take advantage of)
(drunk/tipsy)
(jealous; envy)
Partially Variant Forms
収
乗
酔
妬
TABLE 5
Simplied Japanese Kanji with Right-side Radicals Matching the Simplications Used in Modern Chinese
Simplied Kanji
Traditional Chinese Characters
(and Meanings)
(paint/draw)
(drive; expel; run)
(continue; follow)
(prove; testify; evidence)
(call; say)
Simplied Chinese
Characters
絵
駆
継
証
称
繪
驅
繼
證
稱
绘
驱
继
证
称
鉄
鐵 (iron)
铁
独
獨 (alone; in solitude; only)
独
partially simplied forms, partially variant forms, or a combination of simplied components with traditional ones. These changes seem to indicate
that the traditional Chinese characters borrowed into the Japanese language
270
X. Liu
TABLE 6
Simplied Japanese Kanji with Right-side Radicals Different from the
Simplications Used in Modern Chinese
Simplied Kanji
駅
犠
拡
験
軽
譲
読
Traditional Chinese Characters
(and Meanings)
驛
犧
擴
驗
輕
讓
讀
(post; courier station)
(sacricial animal)
(expand/enlarge; extend)
(examine/test; check)
(light; easy)
(yield; allow)
(read)
Simplied Chinese
Characters
驿
牺
扩
验
轻
让
读
have become a signicant component of the Japanese writing system. That
is, the borrowed Chinese characters—even when they remained unchanged
from the traditional Chinese characters—have become appropriated by the
Japanese and transformed into Japanese kanji to serve the purpose of the
Japanese language itself.
Implications of Japanese Simplication of Chinese Characters
The above categorization of some typical orthographic effects of simplied
Chinese characters in Japanese offers the following important implications
for understanding the nature and process of Japanese simplication of Chinese characters and the notion of lexical borrowing: First, unlike most
phenomena of lexical borrowing caused by lexical-conceptual gaps, Japan
borrowed Chinese characters mainly to develop its own writing system. Because kanji play a special and independent role in the Japanese writing system vis-à-vis hiragana and katakana, the linguistic motivation of Japanese
lexical borrowing from Chinese is fundamentally different from that of
lexical borrowing as observed in other languages. Second, unlike the established linguistic principle of “adaptation,” which governs the structural
congurations of borrowed items in the borrowing language (e.g., borrowed
items must be adapted to the syntactic, morphological, phonological, and
semantic structure of the borrowing language), some Chinese characters
borrowed into Japanese were orthographically reformed by means of simplication or creation to make borrowed Chinese characters into Japanese
“kanji” as part of the Japanese lexicon. Third, all language reforms must be
driven by particular motivations in a particular society, whether such motivations are sociopolitical, socioeconomic, linguistic, or educational. The
orthographic reform of Chinese characters in Japan offers no exception.
Like the simplication of traditional Chinese characters in China, modernday simplication of Chinese characters in Japan was carried out to reduce
Scholarly Note: Japanese Simplication of Chinese Characters
271
the complexity and difculty of Chinese characters in order to make reading, writing, and learning easier and more accessible to the general public.
Unlike the large-scale, nationwide language reforms in China, especially
after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, orthographic
language reform in Japan was selectively conducted. Only those characters
which seemed to be too difcult were simplied. Lexical borrowing—together with highly motivated and well-planned language reforms, as evidenced by the Japanese language—provides a new window into not only the
phenomenon of linguistic borrowing itself but also the nature of particular
languages, language conceptualization, linguistic identity, and language use.
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