are the Japanese logographic writing system along with Japanese term ''kanji'' (漢字) literally means "Han characters".

==History==
emperor of the Eastern Emperor Shun of the interference from Japanese, suggesting the wide acceptance of Chinese characters in Japan.

The Japanese language itself had no written form at the time kanji were introduced. Originally texts were written in the 漢文) emerged, which involved using Chinese text with diacritical marks to allow Japanese speakers to restructure and read Chinese sentences, by changing word order and adding particles and verb endings, in accordance with the rules of Japanese grammar.

Chinese characters also came to be used to write Japanese words, resulting in the modern kana syllabaries. A writing system called ''cursive style became ''hiragana'', a writing system that was accessible to women (who were denied higher education). Major works of Heian era literature by women were written in hiragana. ''Katakana'' emerged via a parallel path: monastery students simplified ''man'yōgana'' to a single constituent element. Thus the two other writing systems, hiragana and katakana, referred to collectively as ''kana'', are actually descended from kanji.

In modern Japanese, kanji are used to write parts of the language such as stems and stems, while hiragana are used to write inflected verb and adjective endings (''particles, native Japanese words, and words where the kanji is too difficult to read or remember. non-Japanese loanwords, certain naming, and for emphasis on certain words.

==Local developments==
While kanji are essentially Chinese ''hanzi'' used to write Japanese, there are now significant differences between kanji and hanzi, including the use of characters created in Japan, characters that have been given different meanings in Japanese, and post World War II simplifications of the kanji.

===Kokuji===
''Kokuji'' (, "national characters") are characters peculiar to Japan. ''Kokuji'' are also known as ''wasei kanji'' (, "Chinese characters made in Japan").  There are hundreds of ''kokuji'' (see the ). Many are rarely used, but a number have become important additions to the written Japanese language.  These include:

*峠 (''とうげ (tōge)'' mountain pass)
*榊 (''さかき (sakaki)'' ''Cleyera'')
*畑 (''はたけ (hatake)'' field of crops)
*辻 (''つじ (tsuji)'' crossroads, street)
*働 (''どう (dō)'', ''hatara(ku)'' work)
*腺 (''せん (sen)'', gland)

Some of them, like "腺", have been introduced to China.

===Kokkun===
In addition to ''kokuji'', there are kanji that have been given meanings in Japanese different from their original Chinese meanings.  These kanji are not considered ''kokuji'' but are instead called ''kokkun'' (国訓) and include characters such as:

*沖 ''oki'' (offing, offshore; Ch. ''chōng'' rinse)
*椿 ''tsubaki'' (''Camellia japonica''; Ch. ''chūn'' ''Ailanthus'')

===Old characters and new characters===
Before the end of After the war the government introduced the simplified "Tōyō Kanji Form List" (''Tōyō Kanji Jitai Hyō'', 当用漢字字体表). The older forms are now known as 旧字体 (''Kyūjitai'', "old character style") (舊字體 in Kyūjitai) and the simplified forms as  新字体 (''Shinjitai'', "new character style"). The following are some examples of Kyūjitai simplifications to Shinjitai:

*國 → 国 ''kuni'', ''koku'' (country)
*號 → 号 ''gō'' (number)
*變 → 変 ''hen'', ''ka(waru)'' (change)

Some of the new characters are similar to simplified characters later adopted in the People's Republic of China. Also, like the simplification process in China, some of the shinjitai were once abbreviated forms (略字, ''Ryakuji'') used in handwriting. In contrast with the "proper" unsimplified characters (正字 ''seiji'') these were originally only acceptable in colloquial contexts.   [http://kan-chan.stbbs.net/word/ryakuji.html This page] shows examples of these handwritten abbreviations, identical to their modern Shinjitai forms, from the pre WWII era.

There are also handwritten simplifications today that are significantly simpler than their standard forms (either untouched or received only minor simplification in the postwar reforms), examples of which can be seen here<ref>[http://hac.cside.com/bunsho/1shou/39setu.html 論文の書き方◆漢字の略字]</ref> . Despite their wide usage and popularity, they are not considered orthographically correct and are only used in handwriting.

Theoretically, however, any Chinese character can also be a Japanese character—the ''Daikanwa Jiten'', one of the largest dictionaries of kanji ever compiled, has about 50,000 entries, even though most of the entries have never been used in Japanese.

==Readings==
Because of the way they have been adopted into Japanese, a single kanji may be used to write one or more different words (or, in most cases, morphemes). From the point of view of the reader, kanji are said to have one or more different "readings". Deciding which reading is meant depends on context, intended meaning, use in compounds, and even location in the sentence. Some common kanji have ten or more possible readings. These readings are normally categorized as either ''on'yomi'' (or ''on'') or ''kun'yomi'' (or ''kun'').

===''On'yomi'' (Chinese reading)===
The '''''on'yomi''''' (音読み), the Sino-Japanese reading, is a Japanese approximation of the Chinese pronunciation of the character at the time it was introduced. Some kanji were introduced from different parts of China at different times, and so have multiple ''on'yomi'', and often multiple meanings.  ''Kanji'' invented in Japan would not normally be expected to have ''on'yomi'', but there are exceptions, such as the character 働 "to work", which has the ''kun'yomi'' ''hataraku'' and the on'yomi ''dō'', and 腺 "gland", which has only the ''on'yomi'' ''sen''.

Generally, ''on'yomi'' are classified into four types:
*'''''5th and 6th centuries. ''Go'' means the Wu region (in the vicinity of modern Shanghai).
*'''''Kan-on''''' (漢音, "Han sound") readings are from the pronunciation during the 7th to 9th centuries, primarily from the standard speech of the capital, Chang'an (長安,长安).
*'''''Song (宋) and Ming (明). They cover all readings adopted from the Heian era (平安) to the Edo period (江戸).

*'''''Kan'yō-on''''' (慣用音) readings, which are mistaken or changed readings of the kanji that have become accepted into the language.

'''Examples'''
(rare readings in parentheses)

{| class="wikitable"
! Kanji
! Meaning
! Go-on
! Kan-on
! Tō-on
! Kan'yō-on
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | 明
| bright
| ''myō''
| ''mei''
| (''min'')
| —
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | 行
| go
| ''gyō''
| ''kō''
| (''an'')
| —
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | 極
| extreme
| ''goku''
| ''kyoku''
| —
| —
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | 珠
| pearl
| ''shu''
| ''shu''
| ''ju''
| (''zu'')
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | 度
| degree
| ''do''
| (''to'')
| —
| —
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | 輸
| transport
| (''shu'')
| (''shu'')
| —
| ''yu''
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | 雄
| masculine
| —
| —
| —
| ''yū''
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | 熊
| bear
| —
| —
| —
| ''yū''
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | 子
| child
| ''shi''
| ''shi''
| ''su''
| —
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | 清
| clear
| ''shō''
| ''sei''
| ''(shin)''
| —
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | 京
| capital
| ''kyō''
| ''kei''
| ''(kin)''
| —
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | 兵
| soldier
| ''hyō''
| ''hei''
| —
| —
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | 強
| strong
| ''gō''
| ''kyō''
| —
| —
|-
|}

The most common form of readings is the ''kan-on'' one.  The ''go-on'' readings are especially common in Buddhist terminology such as ''gokuraku'' 極楽 "paradise". The ''tō-on'' readings occur in some words such as ''isu'' 椅子 "chair" or ''futon'' 布団 "mattress".

In Chinese, most characters are associated with a single Chinese syllable. However, some homographs called 多音字 () such as 行 () (Japanese: ''kō'', ''gyō'') have more than one reading in Chinese representing different meanings, which is reflected in the carryover to Japanese as well. Additionally tonality aside, most Chinese syllables (especially in morae (syllables or beats), the second of which is either a lengthening of the vowel in the first mora, or one of the syllables ''ku'', ''ki'', ''tsu'', ''chi'', or syllabic ''n'', chosen for their approximation to the final consonants of Middle Chinese. In fact, palatalized consonants before vowels other than ''i'', as well as syllabic ''n'', were probably added to Japanese to better simulate Chinese; none of these features occur in words of native Japanese origin.

''On'yomi'' primarily occur in multi-kanji compound words (熟語 ''jukugo''), many of which are the result of the adoption, along with the kanji themselves, of Chinese words for concepts that either did not exist in Japanese or could not be articulated as elegantly using native words. This borrowing process is often compared to the English borrowings from Latin and Norman French, since Chinese-borrowed terms are often more specialized, or considered to sound more erudite or formal, than their native counterparts. The major exception to this rule is family names, in which the native ''kun'yomi'' reading is usually used.

===''Kun'yomi'' (Japanese reading)===
The '''''kun'yomi''''' (訓読み), Japanese reading, or '''native reading''', is a reading based on the pronunciation of a native Japanese word, or ''yamatokotoba'', that closely approximated the meaning of the Chinese character when it was introduced. As with ''on'yomi'', there can be multiple ''kun'' readings for the same kanji, and some kanji have no ''kun'yomi'' at all.

For instance, the kanji for 東, has the ''on'' reading ''tō''. However, Japanese already had two words for "east": ''higashi'' and ''azuma''. Thus the kanji 東 had the latter readings added as ''kun'yomi''. In contrast, the kanji 寸, denoting a Chinese unit of measurement (slightly over an inch), has no native Japanese equivalent; it only has an ''on'yomi'', ''sun'', with no native ''kun'' reading. Most ''kokuji'', Japanese-created Chinese characters, only have ''kun'' readings.

''Kun'yomi'' are characterized by the strict (C)V syllable structure of ''yamatokotoba''. Most noun or adjective ''kun'yomi'' are two to three syllables long, while verb ''kun'yomi'' are usually between one and three syllables in length, not counting trailing Jōyō character set.

In a number of cases, multiple kanji were assigned to cover a single Japanese word.  Typically when this occurs, the different kanji refer to specific shades of meaning.  For instance, the word なおす, ''naosu'', when written 治す, means "to heal an illness or sickness". When written 直す it means "to fix or correct something". Sometimes the distinction is very clear, although not always. Differences of opinion among reference works is not uncommon; one dictionary may say the kanji are equivalent, while another dictionary may draw distinctions of use. As a result, native speakers of the language may have trouble knowing which kanji to use and resort to personal preference or by writing the word in hiragana. This latter strategy is frequently employed with more complex cases such as もと ''moto'', which has at least five different kanji:  元, 基, 本, 下 and 素, three of which have only very subtle differences.

Local dialectical readings of kanji are also classified under ''kun'yomi'', most notably readings for words in Ryukyuan languages.

===Other readings===
There are many kanji compounds that use a mixture of ''on'yomi'' and ''kun'yomi'', known as ''jūbako'' (重箱) or ''yutō'' (湯桶) words, which are themselves examples of this kind of compound (they are autological words): the first character of ''jūbako'' is read using ''on'yomi'', the second ''kun'yomi'', while it is the other way around with ''yutō''. These are the Japanese form of hybrid words. Other examples include 場所 ''basho'' "place" (''kun-on''), 金色 ''kin'iro'' "golden" (''on-kun'') and 合気道 ''aikidō'' "the martial art Aikido" (''kun-on-on'').

Some kanji also have lesser-known readings called ''nanori'' (名乗り), which are mostly used for names (often given names), and are generally closely related to the ''kun'yomi''. Place names sometimes also use ''nanori'' or, occasionally, unique readings not found elsewhere.

''Gikun'' (義訓) or ''jukujikun'' (熟字訓) are readings of kanji combinations that have no direct correspondence to the characters' individual ''on'yomi'' or ''kun'yomi''. For example, 今朝 ("this morning") is read neither as ''*ima'asa'', the ''kun'yomi'' of the characters, nor ''*konchō'', the ''on'yomi'' of the characters. Instead it is read as ''kesa''—a native Japanese word with two syllables (which may be seen as a single morpheme, or as a fusion of ''kono'' (previously ''kefu''), "this", and ''asa'', "morning").

Many ''ateji'' (kanji used only for their phonetic value) have meanings derived from their usage: for example, the now-archaic 亜細亜 ''ajia'' was formerly used to write "Asia" in kanji; the character 亜 now means ''Asia'' in such compounds as 東亜 ''tōa'', "East Asia". From the written 亜米利加 ''amerika'', the second character was taken, resulting in the semi-formal coinage 米国 ''beikoku'', which literally translates to "rice country" but means "United States of America".

===When to use which reading===
Although there are general rules for when to use ''on'yomi'' and when to use ''kun'yomi'', the language is littered with exceptions, and it is not always possible for even a native speaker to know how to read a character without prior knowledge. In general, kanji occurring in isolation, such as a character representing a single word unit, are typically read using their ''kun'yomi''. They may be written with okurigana to mark the inflected ending of a verb or adjective, or by convention. For example: 情け ''nasake'' "sympathy", 赤い ''akai'' "red", 新しい ''atarashii'' "new ", 見る ''miru'' "(to) see", 必ず ''kanarazu'' "invariably".  Okurigana is an important aspect of kanji usage in Japanese; see that article for more information on ''kun'yomi'' orthography

Kanji occurring in compounds are generally read using ''on'yomi'', called 熟語 ''jukugo'' in Japanese. For example,  情報 ''jōhō'' "information", 学校 ''gakkō'' "school", and 新幹線 ''shinkansen'' "bullet train" all follow this pattern. This isolated  kanji and compound distinction gives words for similar concepts completely different pronunciations. 東 "east" and 北 "north" use the ''kun'' readings ''higashi'' and ''kita'', being stand-alone characters, while 北東 "northeast", as a compound, uses the ''on'' reading ''hokutō''. This is further complicated by the fact that many kanji have more than one ''on'yomi'': 生 is read as ''sei'' in 先生 ''sensei'' "teacher" but as ''shō'' in 一生 ''isshō'' "one's whole life". Meaning can also be an important indicator of reading; 易 is read ''i'' when it means "simple", but as ''eki'' when it means "divination", both being ''on'yomi'' for this character.

''Kun'yomi'' compound words are not as numerous as those with ''on'yomi'', but neither are they rare. Examples include  手紙 ''tegami'' "letter", 日傘 ''higasa'' "parasol", and the famous 神風 ''kamikaze'' "divine wind". Such compounds may also have okurigana, such as 空揚げ (also written 唐揚げ) ''karaage'' "fried food" and 折り紙 ''origami'', although many of these can also be written with the okurigana omitted (for example, 空揚 or 折紙).

Similarly, some ''on'yomi'' characters can also be used as words in isolation: 愛 ''ai'' "love", 禅 ''Zen'', 点 ''ten'' "mark, dot". Most of these cases involve kanji that have no ''kun'yomi'', so there can be no confusion, although exceptions do occur. A lone 金 may be read as ''kin'' "gold" or as ''kane'' "money, metal"; only context can determine the writer's intended reading and meaning.

Multiple readings have given rise to a number of homographs, in some cases having different meanings depending on how they are read.  One example is 上手, which can be read in three different ways: ''jōzu'' (skilled), ''uwate'' (upper part), or ''kamite'' (upper part).  In addition, 上手い has the reading ''umai'' (skilled). Furigana is often used to clarify any potential ambiguities.

As stated above, 重箱 ''jūbako'' and 湯桶 ''yutō'' readings are also not uncommon. Indeed, all four combinations of reading are possible: ''on-on'', ''kun-kun'', ''kun-on'' and ''on-kun''.

Some famous place names, including those of Tokyo (東京 ''Tōkyō'') and Japan itself (日本 ''Nihon'' or sometimes ''Nippon'') are read with ''on'yomi''; however, the majority of Japanese place names are read with ''kun'yomi'': 大阪 ''Ōsaka'', 青森 ''Aomori'', 箱根 ''Hakone''. When characters are used as abbreviations of place names, their reading may not match that in the original. The Osaka (大阪) and Kobe (神戸) baseball team, the Hanshin (阪神) Tigers, take their name from the ''on'yomi'' of the second kanji of ''Ōsaka'' and the first of ''Kōbe''. The name of the Keisei (京成) railway line, linking Tokyo (東京) and Narita (成田) is formed similarly, although the reading of 京 from 東京 is ''kei'', despite ''kyō'' already being an ''on'yomi'' in the word ''Tōkyō''.

Family names are also usually read with ''kun'yomi'': 山田 ''Yamada'', 田中 ''Tanaka'', 鈴木 ''Suzuki''. Given names, although they are not typically considered ''jūbako'' or ''yutō'', often contain mixtures of ''kun'yomi'', ''on'yomi'' and ''nanori'': 大助 ''Daisuke'' [''on-kun''], 夏美 ''Natsumi'' [''kun-on'']. Being chosen at the discretion of the parents, the readings of given names do not follow any set rules and it is impossible to know with certainty how to read a person's name without independent verification. Parents can be quite creative, and rumours abound of children called 地球 ''Āsu'' and 天使 ''Enjeru'', quite literally "Earth" and "Angel"; neither are common names, and have normal readings ''chikyū'' and ''tenshi'' respectively. Common patterns do exist, however, allowing experienced readers to make a good guess for most names.

===Pronunciation assistance===
Because of the ambiguities involved, kanji sometimes have their pronunciation for the given context spelled out in essential kanji.

==Total number of kanji==
The number of possible characters is disputed. The "Daikanwa Jiten" contains about 50,000 characters, and this was thought to be comprehensive, but more recent mainland Chinese dictionaries contain 80,000 or more characters, many consisting of obscure variants. Most of these are not in common use in either Japan or China.

==Orthographic reform and lists of kanji==

thumb|right|100px|Kanji 

I  sono i caratteri usati nella scrittura giapponese in congiunzione con i sillabari hiragana e katakana. 

I kanji derivano dalla scrittura cinese, che una volta introdotta in Giappone apportò mutamenti sostanziali alla lingua giapponese. In generale i caratteri si usano per rappresentare le parti morfologicamente invariabili delle espressioni giapponesi (come i semantemi). Un kanji può quindi rappresentare la radice dei verbi, degli aggettivi o, integralmente, una buona parte dei sostantivi della lingua giapponese. 

La lettura detta ''on'' (''on'yomi'') di un kanji deriva a livello fonetico dalla sua pronuncia cinese. La ''kun'yomi'' è invece la pronuncia genuinamente giapponese della parola (o parte di parola) stessa.

Per esempio, il kanji 旅　vuol dire "viaggio". La pronuncia ''kun'' (''kun'yomi'') (generalmente utilizzata quando il kanji è isolato) è ''tabi'', mentre la lettura ''on'' (di solito utilizzata quando il kanji è accompagnato da altri ideogrammi) è ''ryo''.

I kanji possono avere più letture ''on'' in quanto gli stessi vocaboli furono importati dalla Cina in epoche diverse, in cui dunque la pronuncia era mutata. Ad esempio, il kanji 生 può essere letto, tra gli altri modi, sia ''sei'' sia ''shō'', a seconda dei vocaboli in cui si trova.

Secondo le stime più recenti, il numero totale di kanji esistenti dovrebbe essere compreso all'incirca tra i 45000 e i 50000, ma di questi solo  i 1945 jōyō kanji (kanji di uso comune) e i 983 Jinmeiyō kanji per i nomi propri, possono essere utilizzati per la stampa. Nel caso si utilizzi un kanji non presente fra questi 2238 si è soliti suggerirne la pronuncia con dei piccoli hiragana, chiamati ''furigana''.

Il fatto che esista un numero preciso di kanji utilizzabili per la stampa dimostra l'intenzione, in passato, di cancellare gradualmente l'uso degli stessi, sostituendoli con i kana (alfabeti sillabici). Dopo la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, infatti, si tentò di occidentalizzare il Giappone anche sotto questo aspetto: la lista dei kanji per la stampa partiva da soli 1850 caratteri (''tōyō kanji''). L'uso degli ideogrammi, però, resistette, probabilmente per via delle peculiarità stesse della lingua giapponese tra le quali la ricchezza di omofoni. L'uso dei soli kana renderebbe la comprensione dello scritto molto più ostica rispetto a quanto lo sia con il sistema attualmente in uso.