Historical kana orthography

The historical kana orthography (歴史的仮名遣 rekishi-teki kana-zukai, or "rekishi-teki kana-dukahi" in the old system), or old orthography (旧仮名遣 kyū kana-zukai, or "kiu
kana-dukahi" in the old system), refers to the kana orthography (正仮名遣 sei kana-zukai) in general use until orthographic reforms after World War II; the current orthography was
adopted by Cabinet order in 1946. By that point the historical orthography was no longer in accord with Japanese pronunciation. It differs from modern usage (Gendai kana-zukai) in
the number of characters and the way those characters are used. There was considerable opposition to the official adoption of the current orthography, on the grounds that the historical
orthography conveys meanings better, and some writers continued to use it for many years since.

The historical orthography is found in mostJapanese dictionaries, such as Kōjien. In the current edition of the Kōjien, if the historical orthography is different from the modern spelling,
the old spelling is printed in tiny katakana between the modern kana and kanji transcriptions of the word. Ellipses are used to save space when the historical and modern spellings are
identical. Older editions of theKōjien gave priority to the historical orthography.

The historical orthography should not be confused withhentaigana, alternate kana that were declared obsolete with the orthographic reforms of 1900.

Contents
General differences
Examples
Current usage
Complete tables of differences
Table references
Notes
Romanization
References
External links

General differences
This section uses Nihon-shiki romanization for づ, ず, ぢ, じ, ゐ, and ゑ.

In historical kana usage:

Two kana are used that are obsolete today:ゐ/ヰ wi and ゑ/ヱ we. These are today read asi and e. Words that formerly contained those characters are now
written using い/イ i and え/エ e respectively.
Outside of its use as aparticle, the を wo kana is used to represent theo sound in some, but not all, words.
Yōon sounds, such as しょう shō or きょう kyō, are not written with a small kana(ゃ, ゅ, ょ); depending on the word, they are written with either two or three full-
sized kana. If written with two kana and the last one isや ya, ゆ yu, or よ yo, then it represents a short syllable of onemora, such as きよ kyo. If written with two or
three kana and the last one isう u or ふ fu, then it represents a long syllable of two moras. The first kana is not always the same as one used in the modern
spelling, as in 今日 kyō "today", written けふ kefu. If written with three kana, the middle one will always beや ya, ゆ yu, or よ yo, and the last kana will always beう
u or ふ fu, as in 丁 chō, the counter for tools, guns, etc., writtenちやう chiyau.
The series of kana ha hi fu he ho are used to represent, in some words, the soundswa, i, u, e, o, respectively.
warau (to laugh), is written わらふ warafu, and in accordance with Japanese grammar
Precedence is given to grammar over pronunciation. For example, the verb
rules, waraō, the volitional form of warau, is written わらはう warahau.
The kana づ du and ぢ di, which are mostly only used inrendaku in modern kana usage, are more common. Modern kana usage replaces them with the
identically-pronouncedず zu and じ ji in most cases. For example,ajisai (hydrangea) is written あぢさゐ adisawi.
Most of the historical kana usage has been found to accurately represent certain aspects of the way words sounded during the Heian period. As the spoken language has continued to
develop, some orthography looks odd to the modern eye. As these peculiarities follow fairly regular patterns, they are not difficult to learn. However, some of the historical kana usages
are simply mistakes. For example,

或いは aruiwa (or) might be found written incorrectly as: 或ひは *aruhiwa or 或ゐは *aruwiwa
用ゐる mochiwiru (use) might be found written incorrectly as: 用ひる *mochihiru
つくえ tsukue (desk, table) might be found written incorrectly as: つくゑ *tsukuwe

Those familiar with Japanese writing may notice that most of the differences apply to words which are usually written in Kanji anyway, and so would require no changes to switch from
one Kana system to another (unless furigana are employed). In particular, yōon sounds occur almost exclusively in the Chinese-derived readings that are usually only seen in Kanji
compounds (although not entirely; 今日 kyō "today," written けふ kefu in the old system, is a native Japanese word), and therefore do not look any different (without furigana). The
relative lack of difference in appearance in practice between the two systems was a major reason the spelling reform succeeded, and also why the three grammatical particles o, e, wa
continue to be written asを wo, へ he, and は ha instead of お o, え e, and わ wa; many felt that changing these exceedingly common spellings would unnecessarily confuse readers. It
is also for this reason that many character dictionaries continue to include the historical spellings, since they are relevant there.

Some forms of unusual kana usage are not, in fact, historical kana usage. For example, writing どじょう (泥鰌/鰌) dojō (loach, a sardine-like fish) in the form どぜう dozeu is not
historical kana usage (which wasどぢやう dodiyau), but a kind of slang writing originating in theEdo period.

Examples
Here are some representative examples showing the historical and modern spellings and the kanji representation.
 Historical usage Current usage New Old Translation

けふ kefu きょう kyō 今日 today

かは kaha かわ kawa 川 river

こゑ kowe こえ koe 声 聲 voice

みづ midu みず mizu 水 water

わう wau おう ō 王 king (Sino-Japanese)

てふ tefu ちょう chō 蝶 butterfly (Sino-Japanese)

ゐる wiru いる iru 居る there is/are (humans/animals)

あはれ ahare あわれ aware 哀れ sorrow; grief; pathos

かへる kaheru かえる kaeru 帰る 歸る to return home

くわし kuwashi (kwashi) かし kashi 菓子 sweets

とうきやう Tōkiyau (Tōkyau) とうきょう Tōkyō 東京 Tokyo

せう seu しょう shō 笑 laughter (Sino-Japanese)

The table at the bottom gives a more complete list of the changes in spelling patterns.

Current usage
Historical kana usage can be used to look up words in larger dictionaries and dictionaries specializing in old vocabulary, which are in print in Japan. Because of the great discrepancy
between the pronunciation and spelling and the widespread adoption of modern kana usage, historical kana usage is almost never seen, except in a few special cases. Companies,
shrines and people occasionally use historical kana conventions such asゑびす (Ebisu), notably in Yebisu beer, which is written ヱビス webisu but pronounced ebisu. Also, some long-
standing company names retain yōon in full-sized kana, likeキヤノン (Canon) and 富士フイルム (Fujifilm).

In addition, alternate kana letterforms, known as hentaigana (変体仮名), have nearly disappeared. A few uses remain, such as kisoba, often written using obsolete kana on the signs of
soba shops.

The use of を wo, へ he, and は ha instead of お o, え e, and わ wa for the grammatical particleso, e, wa is a remnant of historical kana usage.

Complete tables of differences

The following tables summarize every possible historical spelling for the syllables which were spelled differently under the historical system. When more than one historical spelling is
given for a particular modern spelling, the various historical spellings were etymologically (and at one point phonetically) distinct and occurred in different words (i.e., are not merely
different ways to spell the same word).The tables are sorted using thegojūon ordering system.

Word-medial は, ひ, ふ, ゐ, ゑ, and を くゎ and ぐゎ Yotsugana Sokuon Classical auxiliary verb～

へ, and ほ む
Modern Historical Modern Historical Modern Historical Modern Historical
Modern Historical spelling spellings spelling spellings spelling spellings spelling spelling Modern Historical
spelling spellings spelling spelling
い い、ゐ か か、くわ じ じ、ぢ き、く、
っ
わ わ、は ち、つ ん む
え え、ゑ が が、ぐわ ず ず、づ
い い、ひ
お お、を
う う、ふ

え え、へ

お お、ほ

～おう Chōon ～ゃ Yōon ～ゅ Yōon ～ょ Yōon ～ゅう Yōchōon ～ょう Yōchōon

Modern Historical Modern Historical Modern Historical Modern Historical Modern Historical Modern Historical
spelling spellings spelling spelling(s) spelling spelling(s) spelling spelling(s) spelling spellings spelling spellings

あう、あ きゃ きや きゅ きゆ きょ きよ きう、き けう、け

きゅう
ふ、おう、 ふ、きゆう きょう ふ、きや
おう おふ、わ ぎゃ ぎや ぎゅ ぎゆ ぎょ ぎよ う、きよう
う、わふ、 ぎう、ぎ
しゃ しや しゅ しゆ しょ しよ ぎゅう
をう、をふ ふ、ぎゆう げう、げ
じゃ じや、ぢや じゅ じゆ、ぢゆ じょ じよ、ぢよ ぎょう ふ、ぎや
かう、か しう、し う、ぎよう
しゅう
ふ、くわ ちゃ ちや ちゅ ちゆ ちょ ちよ ふ、しゆう
こう せう、せ
う、こう、
ぢゃ ぢや ぢゅ ぢゆ ぢょ ぢよ じう、じ
こふ しょう ふ、しや
ふ、じゆ
う、しよう
がう、が にゃ にや にゅ にゆ にょ によ じゅう う、ぢう、
ふ、ぐわ ぢふ、ぢゆ じょう ぜう、ぜ
ごう ひゃ ひや ひゅ ひゆ ひょ ひよ
う、ごう、 う ふ、じや
ごふ びゃ びや びゅ びゆ びょ びよ う、じよ
ちう、ち
ちゅう う、ぢや
ぴゃ ぴや ぴゅ ぴゆ ぴょ ぴよ ふ、ちゆう
そう さう、さ う、ぢよ
ふ、そう、 ぢゅう ぢう、ぢ
みゃ みや みゅ みゆ みょ みよ
 そふ りゃ りや りゅ りゆ りょ りよ ふ、ぢゆう う、でう、
でふ
ざう、ざ にう、に
にゅう
ぞう ふ、ぞう、 ふ、にゆう てう、て
ぞふ ちょう ふ、ちや
ひう、ひ う、ちよう
ひゅう
たう、た ふ、ひゆう
とう ふ、とう、 でう、で
びう、び ぢょう
とふ びゅう ふ、ぢや
ふ、びゆう
う、ぢよう
だう、だ
ぴう、ぴ
どう ふ、どう、 ぴゅう ねう、ね
ふ、ぴゆう
どふ にょう ふ、にや
みう、み う、によう
はう、は みゅう
ふ、みゆう
ほう ふ、ほう、 へう、へ
ほふ いう、い ひょう ふ、ひや
ゆう ふ、ゆう、 う、ひよう
ばう、ば
ゆふ
ぼう ふ、ぼう、 べう、べ
ぼふ りう、り びょう ふ、びや
りゅう う、びよう
ふ、りゆう
ぱう、ぱ
ぽう ふ、ぽう、 ぺう、ぺ
ぽふ ぴょう ふ、ぴや
う、ぴよう
なう、な
のう ふ、のう、 めう、め
のふ みょう ふ、みや
う、みよう
まう、ま
えう、え
もう ふ、もう、
よう ふ、やう、
もふ
よう
らう、ら
れう、れ
ろう ふ、ろう、
りょう ふ、りや
ろふ
う、りよう

Table references
[1][2]

Notes
わ, い, う, え,and お were never written asは, ひ, ふ, へ, or ほ,
The spellings in the first table only apply to word-medial kana: word-initial occurrences of
respectively.
In modern Japanese orthography, ぢ (di) is only used in compound words whererendaku causes ち (chi) to become voiced. This is retained in order to avoid
confusion (the usage ofづ (du) in modern orthography is the same).The spelling rules that useぢ in a modern spelling are referring to these cases only; they
therefore will never apply to individual words.In historical kana, however, ぢ (and づ) were sometimes used whereじ (or ず) are used in modern kana.This
The historical-kana-only spellings usingぢ
original represented a different phoneme (and still does in some dialects), but no longer does in Standard Japanese.
are listed under modern spellings starting withじ.
The different spellings for the sokuon dependon what mora (if any) was elided into the following consonant to form the geminate consonant. For example, 学期
(gakki "semester") is spelledがくき (gakuki) in historical kana because the on'yomi of学 used in this compound isがく (gaku). Geminate consonants in native
Japanese words were formed either by the elision of a long vowel, as in 真赤な (makka-na "bright red"; once まあかな, maaka-na), or by some random process,
as in 屹度 (kitto "surely"; once きと, kito); such words are written with the full-sizeつ (tu) in historical kana.[1] In general, a Japanese on'yomi can end in either a
vowel, ち, つ, き, or く, (ち and つ corresponding to Middle Chinese final-t, and き and く corresponding to Middle Chinese final-k), so these are the only four
kana which can replace the sokuon in historical kana.Historically, on'yomi could also end withpu (for the Middle Chinese final-p), but because of the sound shift
described in the first table, word-medial /pu/ in Old Japanese became /u/, so there was no consonant left to elide.
The last table in the first row applies only to the terminal終止形
( shūshikei) and attributive (連体形 rentaikei) forms of the classical auxiliary verb ～む (-mu), which
are pronounced ん (n). While many other native Japanese words (for example,汝 nanji archaic word for "you") withん were once pronounced and/or written with
む (mu), proper historical kana only usesむ for ん in the case of the auxiliary verb, which is only used in classical Japanese.
The historical spellings in the second row of tables represent every theoretical representation of their modern counterpart.
It is possible, however, that some may
not have occurred, or that they were so rare that they applied to only one or two words.
It is also possible that some spellings listed in the modern spellings column
may not occur in any Japanese word, but they are theoretically possible and may occur in onomatopoeia or in katakana transcriptions of foreign languages.

Romanization
Readers of English occasionally encounter wordsromanized according to historical kana usage. Here are some examples, with modern romanizations in parentheses:

Kwannon (Kannon): A Bodhisattva

Kwaidan (Kaidan), meaning ghost story, the title of a collection of Japanese ghost stories compiled byLafcadio Hearn
Kwansei Gakuin University(Kansai): A university in Kobe and Nishinomiya
Iwo Jima (Iō-jima; now officially Iō-tō): An island known as the site of a battle during World War II

References
1. Yaniv, Boaz (8 June 2011). "How did "little tsu" become a lengthener?"(http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/751/how-did-little-tsu-become-a-lengthener)
.
StackExchange. Stack Exchange, Inc. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
 2. "Historical kana usage:How to read"(http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/accent/kana/kana0e.htm)
. BIGLOBE. Biglobe, Inc. 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.

External links
Old Japanese Kana Usage
Historical kana usage:How to read
(in Japanese) goo Jisho Online Japanese Kanji, compound, and phrase dictionary that gives historical kana spellings alongside modern spellings (although is only
searchable by modern spellings)

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