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About Kanji (= Chinese characters)

Overview and Features of Chinese characters

 Kanji are the characters that have originated in ancient China. Kanji are the characters that have originated in ancient China. It is a character to represent the Chinese in particular. In ancient times, was also transmitted to the neighboring countries of Japan, Korea, and Vietnam from China. Using the forms and functions that are used, such as Japanese, in the description of language throughout.
 Human history, Chinese characters are the characters most often alphabet. That number has been overwhelmed by the alphabet other far more than 100 000 characters.
 Represented by the Latin alphabet is the letter referred to the sound of a single phoneme. Kanji represents the meaning of one and one syllable. Originally, it came in and ideographic emphasize only that one letter represents a disambiguation. This is because the ancient Chinese one syllable, a word derived from the structure of language representing the meaning of a single isolated. However, to be precise, it is a logogram be expressed both sound and meaning. In other words, Chinese characters, one character is in one word they represent.
 In some cases, however, the sound of the words that have one meaning derived breeds. Therefore, one character or may have multiple meanings, or have more than one reading. (Or, the exact opposite, you can imagine from the meaning of one independent in some cases that can not be) There is also a kanji made simply to represent sound, for example, to the title foreign language may not have a literal. Kanji is in close relationship with the Japanese kana syllabary is in terms or without literal, and one character representing a syllable.


History of Chinese characters

 According to tradition, the origin of the characters in China is the era of the Yellow Emperor(2448 years BC - 2510 years BC). There is a character Souketu is made with reference to the footprints of birds that walk on the beach. In addition, the "Ekikyo" China is a historical document, it is marked with the saint made the kanji.
 Kanji of the oldest archaeological, existing is a character that was used to write the results of the forecast in the country of In. Today, we call Kokotsumoji (statement turtle animal bones) this character. Prior to that symbol, etc. that are found in the ruins of the New Stone Age there was. However, that can be used as a Kanji character was completed, I have thought to be about 3300 years ago at this time. Kokotsumoji is a hieroglyph drawing while looking at things. Its characters, there were many things that have a shape close to the picture.
 Then, go down with the times, the number of Chinese characters has increases dramatically. Also, being invented as well as a variety of typefaces, to the present.