Jinmeiyō kanji

The jinmeiyō kanji (人名用漢字, lit. Chinese characters for use in personal names) are a set of 861 Chinese characters known as the "name kanji" in English. They are a supplementary set of characters that can be legally used in registered personal names in Japan, despite not being in that country's set of "commonly used characters" (jōyō kanji). As a rule, registered personal names may contain only jōyō kanji, jinmeiyō kanji, katakana and hiragana. Jinmeiyō Kanji is sometimes used to mean only the 861 characters, or to mean the 2997 characters in both the Jinmeiyō and Jōyō sets. All characters outside the Jinmeiyō list in the large sense (2997 characters) are known as Hyōgaiji.

A ministerial decree of 1946 limited the number of officially sanctioned kanji for public use to the 1850 tōyō kanji. Only kanji on this list were acceptable as registered names, despite the fact that the list excluded many kanji frequently used in names up to that point. However, on May 25, 1951, the cabinet extended the set of characters usable in names by specifying the first 90 jinmeiyō kanji.

Over the years, the Minister of Justice has increased the number of name kanji, and has a plan for further addition in response to requests from parents. As of April 30, 2009, there were 985 jinmeiyō kanji, but this number was reduced to 861 in late 2010 when 124 jinmeiyō characters were transferred to the jōyō kanji list.

In Japan, name kanji are taught at the junior-high level, and mastery of the name kanji is required to achieve Level 2 of the Kanji kentei, a Chinese-character proficiency test.

Before September 27, 2004, there were 2232 government-designated jinmeiyō kanji used in personal and geographical names, with plans to increase this list by 578 kanji in the near future. This was the largest increase since World War II. The plan had not been without controversy, however. For example, the Chinese characters for "cancer", "hemorrhoids", "corpse" and "excrement", as well as parts of compound words (words created from two or more Chinese characters) meaning "curse", "prostitute", and "rape", are among the proposed additions to the list. This is because no measures were taken to determine the appropriateness of the kanji proposed, with the committee deciding that parents could make such decisions themselves. However, the government will seek input from the public before approving the list. Some of these kanji have led to speculation that the "odd" kanji being added to the names list are being done so in an attempt to make a de facto expansion of the Jōyō Kanji List, rather than with the serious idea that anyone will use them in names. The idea of reducing the number of kanji in use has been a politically contentious issue, with many^{[citation needed]} believing that kanji are culturally Japanese and that people should use them frequently.

History

Below is a list of changes made to the jinmeiyō kanji list since its creation in 1951.

May 25, 1951

First 92 characters of jinmeiyō kanji were published:

丑丞乃之也亘亥亦亨亮伊匡卯只吾呂哉嘉圭奈宏寅巌巳庄弘弥彦悌敦昌晃晋智暢朋桂桐楠橘欣欽毅浩淳熊爾猪玲琢瑞睦磯祐禄禎稔穣綾惣聡肇胤艶蔦藤蘭虎蝶輔辰郁酉錦鎌靖須馨駒鯉鯛鶴鹿麿亀

Seven of them were later transferred to the jōyō kanji: 仙尚杉甚磨斉龍, the last one 龍 being simplified to 竜 (dragon).

July 30, 1976

28 kanji were added, for a total of 120 characters.

佑允冴喬怜旭杏梓梢梨沙渚瑠瞳紗紘絢翠耶芙茜藍那阿隼鮎葵

One was later transferred to the jōyō kanji: 悠.

October 1, 1981

Introduction of the jōyō kanji list, which includes the 8 characters mentioned above; those 8 are thus deleted from the jinmeyō kanji list. 54 other characters are added for a total of 166 name characters.

伍伶侑尭孟峻嵩嶺巴彬惇惟慧斐旦昂李栗楓槙汐洵洸渥瑛瑶璃甫皓眸矩碧笹緋翔脩苑茉莉萌萩蓉蕗虹諒赳迪遥遼霞頌駿鳩鷹

March 1, 1990

118 kanji were added for a total of 284 characters.

伎伽侃倖倭偲冶凌凜凪捺於旺昴晏晟晨暉曙朔凱勁叡叶唄啄奎媛嬉宥崚嵐嵯巽彗彪恕憧拳捷杜柊柚柾栞梧椋椎椰椿楊榛槻樺檀毬汀汰洲湧滉漱澪熙燎燦燿爽玖琳瑚瑳皐眉瞭碩秦稀稜竣笙紬絃綜綸綺耀胡舜芹茄茅莞菖菫蒔蒼蓮蕉衿袈裟詢誼諄邑醇采雛鞠颯魁鳳鴻鵬麟黎黛

December 3, 1997

1 kanji was added, for a total of 285 characters.

琉

February 23, 2004

1 kanji was added, for a total of 286 characters.

曽

June 7, 2004

1 kanji was added, for a total of 287 characters.

獅

June 11, 2004

No addition to the jinmeiyō kanji was made on this date. However, a plan for 578 additions was put forward to the council on jinmeiyō kanji of the legislative council of the Ministry of Justice. The list included certain characters in strong demand by parents for use in their children's names, such as:

苺 (ichigo, "strawberry")
遙 (haruka, "distant", traditional variant)
煌 (akira, "scintillating")
牙 (kiba, "fang")

Many others were included not for their potential uses in names (as is noted), but rather because of their frequent use and being easy to read and write. Examples include:

糞 (kuso, "excrement")
呪 (noroi, "curse")
屍 (shikabane, "corpse")
癌 (gan, "cancer")

At this same council, the decision was made to call for suggestions on characters to be included or excluded via the Ministry of Justice website, until July 9, 2004.

July 12, 2004

3 kanji were added, for a total of 290 characters.

毘瀧駕

July 23, 2004

No additions were made. After sharp protests, the council decided to withdraw nine characters from the 489 whose inclusion had been discussed. These nine characters were:

糞 (see above)
呪 (see above)
屍 (see above)
癌 (see above)
姦 (kashimashii, "rape, seduction")
淫 (midara, "obscene")
怨 (urami, "resentment")
痔 (ji, "hemorrhoids")
妾 (mekake, "concubine")

The 480 other characters still remained under consideration for inclusion, with one additional character added to them, namely 掬 (kiku, "to draw up water with one's hands").

September 27, 2004

484 characters and variant forms of 209 jōyō kanji were added, bringing the total number of the jinmeiyō kanji to 983.

April 30, 2009

2 more characters for a total number of 985 characters.

祷穹

November 30, 2010

In late 2010, the Japanese government added 196 characters to the jōyō kanji list. The list now includes 129 characters previously classified as jinmeiyō kanji, 11 of which are currently used in Japanese prefectures or nearby countries:^[1]^[2]

茨 (ibara in 茨城県 Ibaraki Prefecture)
媛 (hime in 愛媛県, Ehime Prefecture)
岡 (oka in 静岡県, Shizuoka Prefecture)
韓 (kan in 韓国, South Korea)
熊 (kuma in 熊本, Kumamoto)
埼 (sai in 埼玉県, Saitama Prefecture)
栃 (tochi in 栃木県 Tochigi Prefecture)
奈 (na in 奈良, Nara)
梨 (nashi in 山梨県 Yamanashi Prefecture)
阪 (saka in 大阪, Osaka)
阜 (fu in 岐阜県, Gifu Prefecture)

At the same time, 5 characters deleted from the jōyō kanji list were added to the jinmeiyō kanji list:

勺 (shaku, an old unit of measure approx. 18ml in volume, or 0.033m² in area)
錘 (sui or tsumu, a spindle or weight)
銑 (sen, pig iron)
脹 (chō or fuku[reru], to swell or bulge; mostly used in the compound 膨脹, normally rewritten with 張 instead)
匁 (momme, a unit of weight approx 3.75g)

List of jinmeiyō kanji

The list is split into two parts:

631 characters which do not appear in the list of jōyō kanji (regular-use kanji). 18 of these have a variant, bringing the number of character forms to 649.
212 characters which are traditional forms (kyūjitai) of characters present in the list of jōyō kanji.

Jinmeiyō kanji not part of the jōyō kanji list

Variants are grouped together and joined by a dash.

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The 18 characters which have a variant included in the list are:

亙（亘）凛（凜）堯（尭）巖（巌）晄（晃）檜（桧）槇（槙）渚（渚）猪（猪）琢（琢）禰（祢）祐（祐）禱（祷）祿（禄）禎（禎）穰（穣）萠（萌）遙（遥）

Traditional variants of jōyō kanji (212)

The modern (shinjitai) form, which appears in the jōyō kanji list, is given in brackets.

亞（亜）惡（悪）爲（為）逸（逸）榮（栄）衞（衛）謁（謁）圓（円）緣（縁）薗（園）應（応）櫻（桜）奧（奥）橫（横）溫（温）價（価）禍（禍）悔（悔）海（海）壞（壊）懷（懐）樂（楽）渴（渇）卷（巻）陷（陥）寬（寛）漢（漢）氣（気）祈（祈）器（器）僞（偽）戲（戯）虛（虚）峽（峡）狹（狭）響（響）曉（暁）勤（勤）謹（謹）駈（駆）勳（勲）薰（薫）惠（恵）揭（掲）鷄（鶏）藝（芸）擊（撃）縣（県）儉（倹）劍（剣）險（険）圈（圏）檢（検）顯（顕）驗（験）嚴（厳）廣（広）恆（恒）黃（黄）國（国）黑（黒）穀（穀）碎（砕）雜（雑）祉（祉）視（視）兒（児）濕（湿）實（実）社（社）者（者）煮（煮）壽（寿）收（収）臭（臭）從（従）澁（渋）獸（獣）縱（縦）祝（祝）暑（暑）署（署）緖（緒）諸（諸）敍（叙）將（将）祥（祥）涉（渉）燒（焼）奬（奨）條（条）狀（状）乘（乗）淨（浄）剩（剰）疊（畳）孃（嬢）讓（譲）釀（醸）神（神）眞（真）寢（寝）愼（慎）盡（尽）粹（粋）醉（酔）穗（穂）瀨（瀬）齊（斉）靜（静）攝（摂）節（節）專（専）戰（戦）纖（繊）禪（禅）祖（祖）壯（壮）爭（争）莊（荘）搜（捜）巢（巣）曾（曽）裝（装）僧（僧）層（層）瘦（痩）騷（騒）增（増）憎（憎）藏（蔵）贈（贈）臟（臓）卽（即）帶（帯）滯（滞）瀧（滝）單（単）嘆（嘆）團（団）彈（弾）晝（昼）鑄（鋳）著（著）廳（庁）徵（徴）聽（聴）懲（懲）鎭（鎮）轉（転）傳（伝）都（都）嶋（島）燈（灯）盜（盗）稻（稲）德（徳）突（突）難（難）拜（拝）盃（杯）賣（売）梅（梅）髮（髪）拔（抜）繁（繁）晚（晩）卑（卑）祕（秘）碑（碑）賓（賓）敏（敏）冨（富）侮（侮）福（福）拂（払）佛（仏）勉（勉）步（歩）峯（峰）墨（墨）飜（翻）每（毎）萬（万）默（黙）埜（野）彌（弥）藥（薬）與（与）搖（揺）樣（様）謠（謡）來（来）賴（頼）覽（覧）欄（欄）龍（竜）虜（虜）凉（涼）綠（緑）淚（涙）壘（塁）類（類）禮（礼）曆（暦）歷（歴）練（練）鍊（錬）郞（郎）朗（朗）廊（廊）錄（録）

External links

References

^ Akihiko Shiraishi, 「柿」など９字追加、「鷹」は選外　新常用漢字の修正案 ("New draft table adds 196 everyday-use kanji") in Asahi Shimbun, 23 October 2009, retrieved 25 October 2009.
^ Japan Times, Get set for next year's overhaul of official kanji, 21 October 2009, retrieved 27 February 2010.

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[asahi-1] Akihiko Shiraishi, 「柿」など９字追加、「鷹」は選外　新常用漢字の修正案 ("New draft table adds 196 everyday-use kanji") in Asahi Shimbun, 23 October 2009, retrieved 25 October 2009.

[jtimes2-2] Japan Times, Get set for next year's overhaul of official kanji, 21 October 2009, retrieved 27 February 2010.

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