Kunrei

Kunrei, short for Kunrei-shiki, is a romanization system for Japanese. It is one of the major methods for rendering Japanese sounds in the Latin alphabet and is closely related to Nihon-shiki. Kunrei-shiki is often described as the government-standard or canonical system, reflecting a spelling that follows the kana (hiragana and katakana) more directly than some other schemes.

The system was developed in the early 20th century by the Japanese government and underwent several revisions. It became the formal basis for official romanization in Japan for a period, and it is still used in certain academic, linguistic, and government contexts. In practice, Hepburn romanization is more common for international publications and language learning, but Kunrei-shiki remains influential in educational settings and in some dictionary entries and software that aim to preserve a kana-derived rendering.

Key features of Kunrei-shiki include a set mappings such as shi to si, chi to ti, tsu to tu, fu to hu, ji to zi, and the distinct handling of several syllables that reflect the kana spelling rather than pronunciation. For example, the word こんにちは is rendered as Konnitiwa in Kunrei-shiki, whereas Hepburn typically renders it as Konnichiwa. Another example is 日本, which is commonly written Nihon in Kunrei-shiki.

Overall, Kunrei-shiki emphasizes systematic correspondence with kana and etymological spelling, contrasting with phonetic approaches favored in Hepburn. It remains one of the standard romanization schemes in Japan, alongside Nihon-shiki and Hepburn.