Ryakuji are colloquial simplifications of
Kanjiare the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet . The Japanese term kanji literally means "Han characters".- History :Chinese characters first came to Japan on...
.
Ryakuji are not covered in the
Kanji KenteiThe , also known as , or Kanken, is a test of kanji ability.There are 12 levels with level 10 being the lowest and level 1 the highest...
, nor are they officially recognized (most Ryakuji are not present in
UnicodeUnicode is a computing industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
). However, some abbreviated forms of
Hyōgaijiare Japanese kanji outside the two major lists Jōyō, which are taught in primary and secondary school, and Jinmeiyō, which are additional kanji that officially are allowed for use in personal names.-Traditional and simplified forms:...
(表外字, characters not included in the
TōyōThe tōyō kanji, also known as the Tōyō kanjihyō are the result of a reform of the Kanji characters of Chinese origin in the Japanese written language. They were the kanji declared "official" by the Japanese on November 16, 1946...
or
Jōyō KanjiThe is the guide to kanji characters announced officially by the Japanese Ministry of Education. Current jōyō kanji are those on a list of 1,945 characters issued on October 10, 1981...
Lists) included in the
JISJIS is a three letter acronym that can stand for:*Japanese Industrial Standards**JIS encoding**Shift JIS*Jakarta International School*Jerudong International School*Jabriya Indian School*Just in Sequence...
standards which conform to the
ShinjitaiShinjitai are the forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in shinjitai are also found in simplified Chinese, but shinjitai is generally not as extensive in the scope of its modification...
simplifications are included in Level pre-1 and above of the Kanji Kentei (eg.
Ryakuji are colloquial simplifications of
Kanjiare the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet . The Japanese term kanji literally means "Han characters".- History :Chinese characters first came to Japan on...
.
Status
Ryakuji are not covered in the
Kanji KenteiThe , also known as , or Kanken, is a test of kanji ability.There are 12 levels with level 10 being the lowest and level 1 the highest...
, nor are they officially recognized (most Ryakuji are not present in
UnicodeUnicode is a computing industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
). However, some abbreviated forms of
Hyōgaijiare Japanese kanji outside the two major lists Jōyō, which are taught in primary and secondary school, and Jinmeiyō, which are additional kanji that officially are allowed for use in personal names.-Traditional and simplified forms:...
(表外字, characters not included in the
TōyōThe tōyō kanji, also known as the Tōyō kanjihyō are the result of a reform of the Kanji characters of Chinese origin in the Japanese written language. They were the kanji declared "official" by the Japanese on November 16, 1946...
or
Jōyō KanjiThe is the guide to kanji characters announced officially by the Japanese Ministry of Education. Current jōyō kanji are those on a list of 1,945 characters issued on October 10, 1981...
Lists) included in the
JISJIS is a three letter acronym that can stand for:*Japanese Industrial Standards**JIS encoding**Shift JIS*Jakarta International School*Jerudong International School*Jabriya Indian School*Just in Sequence...
standards which conform to the
ShinjitaiShinjitai are the forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in shinjitai are also found in simplified Chinese, but shinjitai is generally not as extensive in the scope of its modification...
simplifications are included in Level pre-1 and above of the Kanji Kentei (eg. 餠→餅, 摑→掴), as well as some other allowances for alternate ways of writing
radicalThe term radical is most commonly used to refer to the section headers of a Chinese dictionary , also known as index keys or classifiers. These are used to index Chinese characters in Chinese dictionaries. The indexing system supports Chinese characters throughout the ages, from Shuōwén Jiézì...
s and alternate forms. Some Ryakuji were adopted as
ShinjitaiShinjitai are the forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in shinjitai are also found in simplified Chinese, but shinjitai is generally not as extensive in the scope of its modification...
.
Use
Ryakuji are primarily used in individual
memoMemo may refer to:*Most commonly Memorandum.*Memorandum Recordings - record company*Mêmo* MEMO - specialization in electrical engineering that studies Microwaves, Electromagnetism and Optoelectronic...
s and other handwriting. The Ryakuji for 門 (
MON,
kado; gate [also a radical,
mongamae]) is widely used; however, it appears that there has been a decline in the use of Ryakuji in recent years.
See also
- Shinjitai
Shinjitai are the forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in shinjitai are also found in simplified Chinese, but shinjitai is generally not as extensive in the scope of its modification...
- Simplified Chinese character
Simplified Chinese Characters are one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of the contemporary Chinese written language. They are based mostly on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms that were used in printed text for over a thousand...
- Variant Chinese character
Variant Chinese characters are Chinese characters that can be used interchangeably. They are allographs, having the same pronunciation and meaning, but being different in appearance...
- Yakja, Korean simplifications
External links
Ryakuji are also included in Spahn and Hadamitzky's
The Kanji Dictionary.