I am most intrigued by the development history of the three writing system in Japanese, namely, Kanji, Katakana and Hiragana. Particularly, I ask why there is the need to develop the paralleled systems Katakana and Hiragana. Although Katakana is used for loan words now, such as fork (フォーク) and bus (バス), they were not so historically. These two systems primarily represented two writing systems without particular distinction of what kind of words they may be used. That means, historically, each word can be written in both Katakana and Hiragana.
1) The origins of the two systems
Katakana system was believed to be originated in the Heian period, i.e., nineth century Japan. However, in April 2002, Yoshinori Kobayashi, professor of Japanese at Tokushima Bunri University, suggested in a lecture that he gave at Otani University in Kyoto that the Katakana system may have originated in the eighth century on the Korean Peninsula and introduced to Japan through Buddhist texts (Refer to: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20020404b7.html ). Nevertheless, this hypothesis is being critically examined and debated. For example, Minami Hirakawa (平川南) argued contrarily in his book Ancient Japan: The Passage the writing system came through (歴博フォーラム古代日本文字の来た道), published one year later in 2005 in Japanese. Hiragana system was also believed to be originated near the same time, although it gains its popularity among women who were denied of formal education; while men, received formal education of Hanji.
2) Why the two systems
If both systems can fully represent words and grammar, why would there any need for the two systems. Some interesting hypothesis may be suggested. From the usage point of view, Kanji was regarded as the exalted scholastic form used by literati class. However, Kanji is limited because there are indigenous Japanese words used in verbal communication that cannot be expressed in Kanji. For this reason, Hiragana or Katakana was introduced. As it turns out, the literati class, which consisted mostly of men, used Katakana to supplement their writings. While on the other hand, Hiragana was used mostly by women. Another reason behind such division may be due to the aesthetic consideration because Hiragana looks more artistic in its curves and turns compared to Katakana, which makes it suitable for cultivating women's aesthetic interest. Thirdly, and probably most importantly, is that Katakana is introduced and widely used because of the technology of printing. The block style of Katakana makes printing much more accessible. Interestingly, the earliest printing history of books, which is in the late eighth century, coincides with the introduction of Katakana system (See Kornicki, Peter F. The Book in Japan : a Cultural History from the Beginnings to the Nineteenth Century. Handbook of Oriental Studies, Japan VII. Boston: Brill, 1998).
3) Evolution within the two writing systems
These three writing systems evolved over time within themselves, due to social and cultural changes or sometimes direct state interference. For example, the significant reforms in the 19th century Meiji Era introduced three reforms aimed at improving the education in Japanese writing through the Education Ministry:
- standardization of hiragana, eliminating the range of hentaigana then in use;
- restriction of the number of kanji taught in elementary schools to about 1,200;
- reform of the irregular kana representation of the Sino-Japanese readings of kanji to make them conform with the pronunciation.
The first two of these were generally accepted, but the third was hotly contested, particularly by conservatives, to the extent that it was withdrawn in 1908 (See Seeley, Christopher, A History of Writing in Japan. University of Hawai'i Press, 1991). One may notice today that there are Hiragana, Full-width Katakana and Half-width Katakana in the input system on the computer. These tangible divergences continue to give us hints for changing faces of Japanese writing system in the future times.
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