Hanzikanji

Hanzikanji refers to Chinese characters used in the Japanese writing system. These characters, known as kanji in Japan, were adopted from China over many centuries, beginning around the 5th century CE. Kanji are one of the three main scripts used in Japanese, alongside hiragana and katakana.

The adoption of kanji allowed the Japanese language to develop a more sophisticated written form. Initially, they were used to write classical Chinese texts, but gradually they were adapted to represent Japanese words and grammatical structures. This process led to the development of kanji readings, which can be either on'yomi (Sino-Japanese readings, derived from Chinese pronunciations at different historical periods) or kun'yomi (native Japanese readings).

The number of kanji in use is vast, with thousands of characters existing. However, the Japanese government has designated a set of jouyou kanji (common use kanji) comprising 2,136 characters, which are taught in schools and used in official publications. Beyond these, there are many other kanji that appear in literature, historical texts, and specialized fields. The complexity of kanji, with their multiple strokes and meanings, is a significant aspect of Japanese literacy. Learning kanji is a lifelong endeavor for many Japanese people.