Hentaigana
Hentaigana ( Japanese 変 体 仮 名 , dt. "Deviating kana [characters]") are historical, rarely used Japanese syllable characters ( kana ). Like the hiragana , they were developed from the grass script forms of the Man'yōgana , that is, from Chinese characters that were used phonetically to write grammatical elements of the Japanese language .
Before the hiragana was standardized around 1900, the hentaigana were used more or less according to personal preferences and in any combination with the hiragana.
The hiragana syllable ん n is originally a hentaigana form of the syllable mu , derived from the Chinese character 无 (the u is almost voiceless in Japanese syllables). Before certain consonants (m, b, p), n is read as m in modern Japanese as well .
The hentaigana have disappeared in modern Japanese, they are only found as decorative elements on shop signs, for example in traditional restaurants with Japanese cuisine . Tradition-conscious groups such as combat schools, label schools or religious groups still sometimes use the hentaigana in handwritten texts.
Comparison with the German script
The long s (ſ), which was sometimes used in antiquated text until the middle of the 20th century in Germany, until around the 18th century also in other European languages and is still the rule in Fraktur , cannot be a perfect equivalent the Hentaigana, as the choice of a Hentaigana variant is left entirely to the personal taste of the writer, while there are precise rules for the choice between ordinary and long s, which make any deviation from the standard appear as a spelling error. Rather, the various optional spelling variants of some numerals (e.g. the 3 (square or round above), the 4 (as shown or without the upper half of the diagonal line), the 7 (with or without a horizontal line), some Equating punctuation marks (e.g. the & ) and letters (e.g. the g)) with hentaigana.
Standardized hentaigana
Some Hentaigana were standardized in Unicode from version 10.0 from June 2017 in the blocks Kana, supplement and Kana, extended-A in order to enable, among other things, the digitization of old name registers and grave inscriptions.
| a | i | u | e | O | |
| - | あ (安) | い (以) | う (宇) | え (衣) | お (於) |
|
? (安)
? (惡) ? (愛) ? (阿) |
? (以)
? (伊) ? (意) ? (移) |
? (宇)
? (宇) ? (憂) ? (有) ? (雲) |
? (江)
? (盈) ? (縁) ? (衣) ? (衣) ? (要) |
? (於)
? (於) ? (隱) |
|
| k | か (加) | き (幾) | く (久) | け (計) | こ (己) |
|
? (佳)
? (加) ? (可) ? (可) ? (嘉) ? (家) ? (我) ? (歟) ? (賀) ? (閑) ? (香) ? (駕) |
? (喜)
? (幾) ? (幾) ? (支) ? (期) ? (木) ? (祈) ? (貴) ? (起) |
? (久)
? (久) ? (九) ? (供) ? (倶) ? (具) ? (求) |
? (介)
? (介) ? (家) ? (希) ? (氣) ? (計) ? (遣) |
? (古)
? (子) ? (故) ? (期) ? (許) |
|
| s | さ (左) | し (之) | す (寸) | せ (世) | そ (曾) |
|
? (乍)
? (佐) ? (佐) ? (左) ? (差) ? (散) ? (斜) ? (沙) |
? (之)
? (之) ? (事) ? (四) ? (志) ? (新) |
? (受)
? (壽) ? (數) ? (數) ? (春) ? (春) ? (須) ? (須) |
? (世)
? (世) ? (世) ? (勢) ? (聲) |
? (所)
? (所) ? (曾) ? (曾) ? (楚) ? (蘇) ? (處) |
|
| t | た (太) | ち (知) | つ (州) | て (天) | と (止) |
|
? (堂)
? (多) ? (多) ? (當) |
? (千)
? (地) ? (智) ? (知) ? (知) ? (致) ? (遲) |
? (川)
? (川) ? (津) ? (都) ? (徒) |
? (亭)
? (低) ? (傳) ? (天) ? (天) ? (天) ? (帝) ? (弖) ? (轉) ? (而) |
? (土)
? (度) ? (東) ? (登) ? (登) ? (砥) ? (等) ? (徒) |
|
| n | な (奈) | に (仁) | ぬ (奴) | ね (祢) | の (乃) |
|
? (南)
? (名) ? (奈) ? (奈) ? (奈) ? (菜) ? (那) ? (那) ? (難) |
? (丹)
? (二) ? (仁) ? (兒) ? (爾) ? (爾) ? (耳) ? (而) |
? (努)
? (奴) ? (怒) |
? (年)
? (年) ? (年) ? (根) ? (熱) ? (禰) ? (子) |
? (乃)
? (濃) ? (能) ? (能) ? (農) |
|
| H | は (波) | ひ (比) | ふ (不) | へ (部) | ほ (保) |
|
? (八)
? (半) ? (婆) ? (波) ? (盤) ? (盤) ? (破) ? (者) ? (者) ? (葉) ? (頗) |
? (悲)
? (日) ? (比) ? (避) ? (非) ? (飛) ? (飛) |
? (不)
? (婦) ? (布) |
? (倍)
? (弊) ? (弊) ? (遍) ? (邊) ? (邊) ? (部) |
? (保)
? (保) ? (報) ? (奉) ? (寶) ? (本) ? (本) ? (豊) |
|
| m | ま (末) | み (美) | む (武) | め (女) | も (毛) |
|
? (万)
? (末) ? (末) ? (滿) ? (滿) ? (萬) ? (麻) ? (馬) |
? (三)
? (微) ? (美) ? (美) ? (美) ? (見) ? (身) |
? (武)
? (無) ? (牟) ? (舞) ? (无) ? (无) |
? (免)
? (面) ? (馬) |
? (母)
? (毛) ? (毛) ? (毛) ? (茂) ? (裳) ? (无) ? (无) |
|
| y | や (也) | ? (以) | ゆ (由) | ? (江) | よ (与) |
|
? (也)
? (也) ? (屋) ? (耶) ? (耶) ? (夜) |
? (以) |
? (游)
? (由) ? (由) ? (遊) |
? (江) |
? (代)
? (余) ? (與) ? (與) ? (與) ? (餘) ? (夜) |
|
| r | ら (良) | り (利) | る (留) | れ (礼) | ろ (呂) |
|
? (羅)
? (良) ? (良) ? (良) ? (等) |
? (利)
? (利) ? (李) ? (梨) ? (理) ? (里) ? (離) |
? (流)
? (留) ? (留) ? (留) ? (累) ? (類) |
? (禮)
? (禮) ? (連) ? (麗) |
? (呂)
? (呂) ? (婁) ? (樓) ? (路) ? (露) |
|
| w | わ (和) | ゐ (為) |
 (汙)
|
ゑ (恵) | を (遠) |
|
? (倭)
? (和) ? (和) ? (王) ? (王) |
? (井)
? (井) ? (居) ? (爲) ? (遺) |
? (惠)
? (衞) ? (衞) ? (衞) |
? (乎)
? (乎) ? (尾) ? (緒) ? (越) ? (遠) ? (遠) ? (惡) |
||
| ん (无) | |||||
| n ' |
? (无)
? (无) |
Special fonts have to be installed for the display , since the two Hentaigana blocks are not included in most of the common fonts for displaying Japanese text due to the recent standardization and the infrequent use. The following freely available fonts contain glyphs for the corresponding blocks:
- BabelStone Han
- IPA MJ Mincho from version 5.01
- Hanazono Mincho
- Hanazono Mincho ADFKO
- UniHentaikana
Sample list
Below are some Hentaigana, including their Kanji of origin, the Hiragana character used today instead for the corresponding phonetic value, and the Unicode code point:
以 (い ) i, U + 1B006
江 (え ) e, U + 1B001
於 (お ) o, U + 1B015
可 (か ) ka, U + 1B019
起 (き ) ki, U + 1B02A
古 (こ ) ko, U + 1B038
志 (し ) shi, U + 1B048
春 (す ) su, U + 1B04E
多 (た ) ta, U + 1B060
奈 (な ) na, U + 1B081
能 (の ) no, U + 1B09B
者 (は ) ha, U + 1B0A6
由 (ゆ ) yu, U + 1B0E5
連 (れ ) right, U + 1B100
路 ( ろ ) ro, U + 1B106
王 ( わ ) wa, U + 1B10B
Web links
- Overview of handwritten hentaigana from PG O'Neill's "A Reader of Handwritten Japanese" (in PDF ; 997 kB)
- Hentaigana table
- Kana table by Engelbert Kaempfer (circa 1693; note: Imatto Canna = Yamatogana = Hentaigana, Catta Canna = Katakana and Firo Canna = Hiragana )
- Hentaigana on signs
- Mojikyo fonts and software
- Mojikiban assignment of glyph sources, kanji of origin and hentaigana
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven: A proposal for encoding the hentaigana characters. February 15, 2009, accessed April 12, 2018 .
- ↑ Table Unicode Kana Supplement. Unicode Consortium, accessed August 5, 2018 .
- ↑ Table Unicode Kana Extended-A. Unicode Consortium, accessed August 5, 2018 .