Kana

Infobox Writing system
name=Kana
type=Syllabary
languages=Japanese, Okinawan and Ainu
fam1=Chinese
fam2=Oracle Bone Script
fam3=Seal Script
fam4=Clerical Script
fam5=Chinese characters
fam6=Kanji
time=~800 C.E. to the present
iso15924=Hrkt

Kana is a general term for the syllabic Japanese scripts hiragana (ひらがな) and katakana (カタカナ) as well as the old system known as man'yōgana. These were developed from the logographic characters of Chinese origin known in Japan as Kanji ( _ja. 漢字; Chinese pronunciation "hànzì"), as an alternative and adjunct to these latter.

In addition, kana were borrowed into Taiwanese to indicate the pronunciation of Chinese characters like furigana during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. See Taiwanese kana.

Hiragana and katakana

There is also a small "Katakana Phonetic Extensions" range (U+31F0 ... U+31FF), which includes some extra characters for writing the Ainu language.

See also

*Gojūon
*Romaji
*Transliteration and Transcription
*Historical kana usage
*Man'yōgana
*Hentaigana

External links

* [http://www.realkana.com/ Real Kana] Practice hiragana and katakana using different typefaces.
* [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/japanese_hiragana.htm Origin of Hiragana]
* [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/japanese_katakana.htm Origin of Katakana]
* [http://www.j-talk.com/nihongo/ Change Kanji into Romaji and Hiragana]
* [http://www.qbit.it/lab/kana/ Kana web translator] - Transliterate Kana to Rōmaji
* [http://brng.jp/50renshuu.pdf Kana Copybook (PDF)]
* [http://choplair.org/?en/Kana_no_quiz Kana no quiz] Free/libre and cross-platform educational software to memorize Japanese kana pronouncing & transcription.
* [http://www.japancalligraphy.eu/kana/ Japanese calligraphy. Kana]
* [http://www.kanaquest.com/ KanaQuest] Memorize Japanese words and kana with multiple quizzes.