Jōyō kanji

The jōyō kanji (常用漢字, literally "regular-use Chinese characters") is the guide to kanji characters and their readings, announced officially by the Japanese Ministry of Education. Current jōyō kanji are those on a list of 2,136 characters issued in 2010. It is a slightly modified version of the tōyō kanji, which was the initial list of secondary school-level kanji standardized after World War II. The list is not a comprehensive list of all characters and readings in regular use; rather, it is intended as a literacy baseline for those who have completed compulsory education, as well as a list of permitted characters and readings for use in official government documents. Due to the requirement that official government documents make use of only jōyō kanji and their readings, several rare characters are also included by dint of being a part of the Constitution of Japan, which was being written at the same time the original 1850-character tōyō kanji list was compiled.

The 2,136 kanji in the jōyō kanji consist of:

1,006 kanji taught in primary school (the kyōiku kanji)
1,130 additional kanji taught in secondary school

Foreign learners of Japanese also often focus their kanji studies on the jōyō kanji list.

Changes from the tōyō kanji

In 1981, the jōyō kanji replaced the tōyō kanji as the standardized list of common kanji. The differences between the two consisted of 95 additional characters, and the simplification of 燈 as 灯.

The 95 additional characters are as follows:

猿凹渦靴稼拐涯垣殻潟喝褐缶頑挟矯襟隅渓蛍嫌洪溝昆崎皿桟傘肢遮蛇酌汁塾尚宵縄壌唇甚据杉斉逝仙栓挿曹槽藻駄濯棚挑眺釣塚漬亭偵泥搭棟洞凸屯把覇漠肌鉢披扉猫頻瓶雰塀泡俸褒朴僕堀磨抹岬妄厄癒悠羅竜戻枠

History

1923: The Ministry of Education specified 1,962 kanji and 154 simplified characters.
1931: The former jōyō kanji was revised and 1,858 characters were specified.
1942: 1,134 characters as standard jōyō kanji and 1,320 characters as sub-jōyō kanji were specified.
1946: The 1,850 characters of tōyō kanji were adopted by law "as those most essential for common use and everyday communication".^[1] This list included 881 'basic requirement' kanji for elementary school.
1981: The 1,945 characters of jōyō kanji were adopted, replacing the list of tōyō kanji.^[2]
2010: The list was revised on 30 November to include an additional 196 characters and remove 5 characters (勺, 銑, 脹, 錘, and 匁), for a total of 2,136. The amendment also made changes to the readings of kanji present in the previous jōyō kanji list. Twenty-eight kanji gained new readings, three kanji lost obscure readings and the kun'yomi of 側 was changed from kawa (かわ) to gawa (がわ).^[3] The 196 additional characters are:^[3]^[4]

媛怨鬱唄淫咽茨彙椅萎畏嵐宛顎曖挨韓鎌葛骸蓋崖諧潰瓦牙苛俺臆岡旺艶稽憬詣熊窟串惧錦僅巾嗅臼畿亀伎玩挫沙痕頃駒傲乞喉梗虎股舷鍵拳桁隙呪腫嫉𠮟(叱) 鹿餌摯恣斬拶刹柵埼塞采戚脊醒凄裾須腎芯尻拭憧蹴羞袖汰遜捉踪痩曽爽遡狙膳箋詮腺煎羨鶴爪椎捗嘲貼酎緻綻旦誰戴堆唾鍋謎梨奈那丼貪頓栃瞳藤賭妬塡(填) 溺諦阜訃肘膝眉斑阪汎氾箸剝(剥) 罵捻虹匂喩闇弥冶麺冥蜜枕昧勃頰(頬) 貌蜂蔑璧餅蔽脇麓籠弄呂瑠瞭侶慄璃藍辣拉沃瘍妖湧柿哺楷睦釜錮賂毀勾

Characters in bold are used in the names of prefectures. Characters followed by an alternate in (parentheses) indicate a difference between the official version of the character and the version used in JIS X 0208 (the JIS version is in parentheses).

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry instructed teachers to start teaching the new characters in fiscal 2012, so that junior high school students would be able to read them and high school students would be able to write them. High schools and universities started using the characters in their entrance exams since the 2015 academic year.^[5]

References

^ A Guide to Reading & Writing Japanese, Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1961 Edition
^ "In 1981 the jōyō kanji list superseded the old tōyō kanji list — the list of Chinese characters which was announced in November 1946 and designated for daily use." -Japan Times editorial, "Revising the list of kanji" Archived 2009-02-16 at the Wayback Machine, Nov. 16, 2008, retrieved 27 May 2009.
^ ^a ^b "改定常用漢字表、30日に内閣告示　閣議で正式決定" [The amended list of jōyō kanji receives cabinet notice on 30th: to be officially confirmed in cabinet meeting.] (in Japanese). Nihon Keizai Shimbun. 24 November 2010. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "「柿」など９字追加、「鷹」は選外　新常用漢字の修正案" [Nine kanji such as "柿" added, "鷹" is not selected in the new jōyō kanji amendment] (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun. 23 October 2009. Archived from the original on 14 February 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/govt-to-announce-new-list-of-kanji-for-common-use-at-end-of-month^{[permanent dead link]}

External links

List of Jōyō Kanji (Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs)

[1] A Guide to Reading & Writing Japanese, Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1961 Edition

[jtimes-2] "In 1981 the jōyō kanji list superseded the old tōyō kanji list — the list of Chinese characters which was announced in November 1946 and designated for daily use." -Japan Times editorial, "Revising the list of kanji" Archived 2009-02-16 at the Wayback Machine, Nov. 16, 2008, retrieved 27 May 2009.

[nikkei-3] "改定常用漢字表、30日に内閣告示　閣議で正式決定" [The amended list of jōyō kanji receives cabinet notice on 30th: to be officially confirmed in cabinet meeting.] (in Japanese). Nihon Keizai Shimbun. 24 November 2010. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[asahi-4] "「柿」など９字追加、「鷹」は選外　新常用漢字の修正案" [Nine kanji such as "柿" added, "鷹" is not selected in the new jōyō kanji amendment] (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun. 23 October 2009. Archived from the original on 14 February 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[5] ttp://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/govt-to-announce-new-list-of-kanji-for-common-use-at-end-of-month^{[permanent dead link]}

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Changes from the tōyō kanji

History

See also

References

External links