Nihon-shiki

Template:Italic title Template:Short description Template:More footnotes Template:Use Oxford spelling Template:Use dmy dates Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists Template:Use shortened footnotes is a romanization system for transliterating the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet. Among the major romanization systems for Japanese, it is the most regular one and has an almost one-to-one relation to the kana writing system. Its name is rendered Nihonsiki in the system itself.

History

Nihon-shiki was invented by physicist Aikitu Tanakadate in 1885,Template:Sfnp with the intention to replace the Hepburn system of romanization.Template:Sfnp Tanakadate's intention was to replace the traditional kanji and kana system of writing Japanese completely by a romanized system, which he felt would make it easier for Japan to compete with Western countries. Since the system was intended for Japanese people to use to write their own language, it is much more regular than Hepburn romanization, and unlike Hepburn's system, it makes no effort to make itself easier to pronounce for English-speakers.

Nihon-shiki was followed by Kunrei-shiki, which was adopted in 1937, after a political debate over whether Nihon-shiki or Hepburn romanization should be used by the Japanese government.Template:Sfnp Kunrei-shiki is nearly identical to Nihon-shiki, but it merges syllable pairs / , / , / , / , / , / , / , / , and / , whose pronunciations in Modern Standard Japanese are now identical. For example, the word , rendered kanadukai in Nihon-shiki, is pronounced as kanazukai in modern Japanese, and is romanized as such in kunrei-shiki. The International Organization for Standardization has standardized kunrei-shiki, under ISO 3602. The JSL system, which is intended for use instructing foreign students of Japanese, is also based on Nihon-shiki. However, some Japanese-speakers still distinguish di from zi and du from zu and so Nihon-shiki spelling is not entirely obsolete.

Nihon-shiki is considered the most regular of the romanization systems for the Japanese language because it maintains a strict "one kana, two letters" form. Because it has unique forms corresponding to each of the respective pairs of kana homophones listed above, it is the only formal system of romanization that can allow (almost) lossless ("round trip") mapping, but the standard does not mandate the precise spellings needed to distinguish , and .

Romanization charts

gozyûon					yôon
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	(ya)	(yu)	(yo)
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana
Template:Romanized kana		Template:Romanized kana		Template:Romanized kana
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana *		Template:Romanized kana *	Template:Romanized kana
				Template:Romanized kana
voiced sounds (dakuten)
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana
Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana	Template:Romanized kana
Template:Romanized kana *
Template:Romanized kana *

Notes

• In the table above, characters marked with an asterisk (*) are obsolete in modern Japanese.
• Unlike Kunrei-shiki and Hepburn:
  • Even when () is used as a particle, it is written as , not .
  • Even when () is used as a particle, it is written as , not .
  • Even when () is used as a particle, it is written as , not .
• Syllabic () is written as before consonants but as nTemplate:' before vowels and .
• Much like Kunrei-shiki:
  • Long vowels are indicated by a circumflex accent, for example: long is written . Similarly, Hepburn uses a macron: .
  • Geminate consonants are always marked by doubling the consonant following the sokuon ().

See also

• List of ISO romanizations

General references

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