Furigana

Furigana(Chấn り仮 danh,Japanese pronunciation:[ɸɯɾigaꜜna]or[ɸɯɾigana])is aJapanesereading aid consisting of smallerkana(syllabic characters) printed either above or next tokanji(logographiccharacters) or other characters to indicate theirpronunciation.It is one type ofruby text.Furigana is also known asyomigana(Đọc み仮 danh)andrubi(ルビ,[ɾɯꜜbi])in Japanese. In modern Japanese, it is usually used to gloss rare kanji, to clarify rare, nonstandard or ambiguous kanji readings, or in children's or learners' materials. Before the post-World War IIscript reforms,it was more widespread.

Furigana is most often written inhiragana,though in certain cases it may be written inkatakana,Roman Alpha bet lettersor in other, simpler kanji. In vertical text,tategaki,the furigana is placed to the right of the line of text; in horizontal text,yokogaki,it is placed above the line of text, as illustrated below.

Ngày	に
Bổn	ほ ん
Ngữ	ご

or

に	ほん	ご
Ngày	Bổn	Ngữ

These examples spell the wordnihongo,which is made up of three kanji characters:Ngày(ni,written in hiragana asに),Bổn(hon,written in hiragana asほん) andNgữ(go,written in hiragana asご).

Appearance

Furigana may be added by character, in which case the furigana character(s) that correspond to a kanji are centered over that kanji; or by word or phrase, in which case the entire furigana text is centered over several kanji characters, even if the kanji do not represent equal shares of the kana needed to write them. The latter method is more common, especially since some words in Japanese have unique pronunciations (jukujikun) that are not related to readings of any of the characters the word is written with.

Furigana fonts are generally sized so that two kana characters fit naturally over one kanji; when more kana are required, this is resolved either by adjusting the furigana by using acondensed font(narrowing the kana), or by adjusting the kanji byintercharacter spacing(adding spaces around the kanji). In case an isolated kanji character has a long reading—for example〜に huề わる(whereHuềreadsたずさ,tazusa)—the furigana may instead spill over into the space next to the neighboring kana characters, without condensing or changing spacing. Three-kana readings are not uncommon, particularly due toyōonwith a long vowel, such asryō(りょう);five kana are required forkokorozashi(Chí, こころざし)and six foruketamawaru(Thừa る, うけたまわる),the longest of any character in theJoyo kanji.Very long readings also occur for certain kanji or symbols which have agairaigo(loan word) reading; the word "centimeter" is generally written as "cm" (with two half-width characters, so occupying one space) and has the seven-kana readingセンチメートル(senchimētoru) (it can also be written as the kanji糎,though this is very rare); another common example is "%" (the percent sign), which has the five kana readingパーセント(pāsento). These cause severe spacing problems due to length and these words being used as units (hence closely associated with the preceding figure).

When it is necessary to distinguish between native Japanesekun'yomipronunciations andChinese-derivedon'yomipronunciations, for example inkanji dictionaries,the kun'yomi pronunciations are written inhiragana,and the on'yomi pronunciations are written inkatakana.However, this distinction is really only important in dictionaries and other reference works. In ordinary prose, the script chosen will usually behiragana.The one general exception to this ismodernChinese place names, personal names, and (occasionally) food names—these will often be written with kanji, and katakana used for the furigana; in more casual writing these are simply written in katakana, as borrowed words. Occasionally this style is also used for loanwords from other languages (especially English). For example, the kanjiMột góc thú(literally "one horn beast" ) might be glossed with katakanaユニコーン,yunikōn,to show the pronunciation of the loanword "unicorn", which is unrelated to the normal reading of the kanji. Generally, though, such loanwords are just written in straight katakana.

The distinction between regular kana and the smaller character forms (yōonandsokuon), which are used in regular orthography to mark such things asgeminationandpalatalization,is often not made in furigana: for example, the usualhiraganaspelling of the wordLại hạ(kyakka) isきゃっか,but in furigana it might be writtenきやつか.This was especially common in old-fashionedmovable typeprinting when smaller fonts were not available. Nowadays, with computer-based printing systems, this occurs less frequently.

Alignment rules in word processing or typesetting

Variousword processingortypesettingsoftwareprograms, such asMicrosoft Word,Adobe InDesign,Adobe InCopy,etc. have features for addingruby text,especially Japanese furigana. Among formatting features are different rules for aligning the kana over or to the right of the base text, usually either when the base text string is longer than the furigana string or vice versa. Extra spaces may be needed depending on the size of the shorter string (either the ruby string or the base string) relatively to the longer one.

• Centered, left/top or right/bottom:No spaces are added in between the characters. The shorter string is aligned to the center ( trung phó きルビnakatsuki rubi),the left/top ( vai phó きルビkatatsuki rubi)or the right/bottom of the longer string.
• 1-2-1 (JIS): Spaces are added at the start of and the end of the shorter string, and in between its component characters, so that the spaces in between are twice as wide or tall as the spaces at the start and at the end. Space width or height is calculated based on the width or height of the square bounding box of a glyph (Japanesetypefacesare generallymonospaced). The strings are still, in essence, aligned to the center of each other, rather than to the left/top or right/bottom.
• 0-1-0: Equal spaces are added, similarly to the 1-2-1 rule, in between the component characters of the shorter string, but not its start or end.

Usage

Furigana indicates the pronunciation above the kanji for the names of three stations on the Seibu Railway, đông phục thấy (Higashi-Fushimi Station), võ tàng quan ( Musashi-Seki Station) and tây võ liễu trạch (Seibu-Yagisawa Station). The sign also includes romaji below the kanji for each station.

Furigana are most commonly used in works for children, who may not have sufficiently advanced reading skills to recognize the kanji, but can understand the word when written phonetically inhiragana.Because children learn hiragana beforekatakana,in books for very young children, there are hiragana－furigana next to the katakana characters. It is common to use furigana on all kanji characters in works for young children. This is calledsōrubi(Tổng ルビ)in Japanese.

Numeric characters used for counting (e.g.NhịBổn(ほん)/２Bổn(ほん)ni-hon"two long things";２つめfutatsume"second";Đệ(だい)NhịQuyển(かん)/Đệ(だい)２Quyển(かん)dai-ni kan"book 2";２ページni-pēji"page 2"; etc.) are usually not tagged with furigana. Exceptions include a few cases such as một người /１ ngườihitori"one person" and hai người /２ ngườifutari"two people", which may be tagged with separate kana for each character (Một(ひと)Người(り)/１(ひと)Người(り)), or non-separated kana for the whole word (Một người(ひとり)/１ người(ひとり)), depending on the style of the publisher in question; or characters for numerals greater than 1,000 ( ngàn ), such as vạn (10,000), trăm triệu (100,000,000), etc. Numeric words in established compounds (e.g.Một(いっ)Bộ(ぽ)ippo"step";Một(ひと)Mục(め)hitome"sight; attention" ), however, are generally tagged with furigana.

Manychildren's manga,shōnenandshōjo mangause furigana (again however, rarely onnumerals). Shōnen and shōjo manga tend to have furigana for all non-numeric characters, while some manga (such as early volumes ofDoraemonand other manga published byShogakukan), may also ignore furigana on elementary-grade kanji or easy words.Seinenandjosei mangaignores furigana most of the time, even on the names of the characters if they're common names, although some publishers may still routinely use furigana for the first mentions of important characters' names in a volume or chapter. There are also books with a phonetic guide (mainly inhiraganabut sometimes inrōmaji) for Japanese learners, which may be bilingual or Japanese only. These are popular with foreigners wishing to master Japanese faster and enjoy reading Japanese short stories, novels or articles.

Due to the small type used for furigana, for maximum readability, some manga publishers may use regular kana instead of small kana. For example, はっしんhasshinmay be spelled はつしん *hatsushininstead.

Some websites and tools exist which provide a phonetic guide for Japanese web pages (in hiragana, rōmaji orkiriru-moji); these are popular with both Japanese children and foreign Japanese learners.

In works aimed at adult Japanese speakers, furigana may be used on a word written in uncommon kanji; in the mass media, they are generally used on words containing non-Jōyō kanji.

Furigana commonly appear alongside kanji names and their romanizations on signs for railway stations, even if the pronunciation of the kanji is commonly known. Furigana also appear often on maps to show the pronunciation of unusual place names.

Before the war, youths might arguably have been almost illiterate if not for furigana.

Names

Japanese namesare usually written inkanji.Because there are many possible readings for kanji names, including special name-only readings callednanori,furigana are often used to give the readings of names. On Japanese official forms, where the name is to be written, there is always an adjacent column for the name to be written in furigana.

Furigana may also be used for foreign names written in kanji. Chinese and Korean names are the most common examples: Chinese names are usually pronounced with Japanese readings and the pronunciation written in hiragana, while Korean names are usually pronounced with Korean readings and the pronunciation written in katakana.

Language learning

Kanji and kanji compounds are often presented with furigana in Japanese-language textbooks for non-native speakers.

Furigana are also often used in foreign-language textbooks for Japanese learners to indicate pronunciation. The words are written in the original foreign script, such ashangulforKorean,and furigana is used to indicate the pronunciation. According to Ministry of Education guidelines, and the opinions of educators, the use of Japanese furigana should be avoided in English teaching due to the differences in pronunciation between English and Japanese. For instance, the word "birthdate" might be glossed in furigana asバースデイト(bāsudeito), which corresponds to an imperfect pronunciation.

Other effects

Furigana unrelated to the kanji they are assigned to are often used to convey certain effects, rather than to denote a phonetic guide, especially in manga, anime, video games, and tabletop games. This usage is known asNghĩa huấngikun(see alsoKanji#Special readings). The specific effects vary.

It may be used to visually reinforce complex ideas without having to use long expressions. For example, the wordÁc mộngakumu"nightmare" may be annotated withしんじつshinjitsu"truth" (i.e.Ác mộng(しんじつ)) rather than its true reading, to convey the meaning of "nightmarish truth". Some authors may even use furigana that means the opposite of what the base text does to reinforce the complicated relationship between characters. For example,Thân hữushin'yū"close friend" may be annotated withライバルraibaru"rival", to mean "a rival who is also friend".

Another use is to indicate the meanings of ambiguous or foreign words. For example, the wordここ(koko,"here" ) may be annotated with a more specific description likeBệnh việnbyōin"hospital" (i.e.Bệnh viện(ここ)) to mean "here (at this hospital)". Or in a work of science fiction, an astronaut may use the wordふるさとfurusato"my hometown", when referring to planet Earth; to clarify that for the reader,ふるさとmay be written over the wordĐịa cầuchikyū"Earth". A similar technique is used in Japanese subtitles on foreign films to associate the written Japanese with the sounds actually being spoken by the actors, or in a translation of a work of fiction to preserve the original sound of a proper name in furigana while indicating its meaning with kanji. For example, "Firebolt" in theHarry Potterseries is writtenViêm の lôi(ファイアボルト),composed of the kanjiViêm の lôihonō no ikazuchi"flame thunderbolt" and the furiganaファイアボルトfaiaboruto.

Some manga combine the rendition of a foreign word (especially an obscure one) in furigana as the intended reading of a term, with more familiar kanji as the meaning. For example,Dịcheki"station" may be annotated withステーションsutēshon(therenditionof the English "station" ) to convey a foreign, exotic feel; This is sometimes done conversely, for example, by annotating an exotic term likeベーゼbēze"kiss" with a more common synonym likeキッスkissu.

Some writers use furigana to represent slang pronunciations, particularly those that would be difficult to understand without the kanji to provide their meaning.Others use it simply to shrink kana spellings that are too long, thanks to the small type of furigana. For example,インターポールintāpōru"Interpol"may be shortened toICPO(インターポール).

Inkaraokeit is common for furigana to be placed on the song lyrics. The song lyrics are often written in kanji pronounced quite differently from the furigana. The furigana version is used for pronunciation.

Other Japanese reading aids

Okurigana

Main article:Okurigana

Okurigana are kana that appear inline at normal size following kanji stems, typically to complete and to inflect adjectives and verbs. In this use they may also help to disambiguate kanji with multiple readings; for example,Thượng がる(あがる,agaru) vs.Thượng る(の ぼる,noboru). Unlike furigana, the use of okurigana is a mandatory part of the written language.

Kunten

In the written style known askanbun,which is the Japanese approximation ofClassical Chinese,small marks calledkuntenare sometimes added as reading aids. Unlike furigana, which indicate pronunciation,kuntenindicate Japanese grammatical structures absent from thekanbun,and also show how words should be reordered to fit Japanese sentence structure.

Furikanji

Furigana are sometimes also used to indicate meaning, rather than pronunciation. Over the foreign text, smaller-sized Japanese words, in kana or kanji, corresponding to themeaningof the foreign words, effectively translate it in place. While rare now, some late 19th–early 20th century authors used kanji as furigana forloanwordswritten in katakana. This usage is calledfurikanji(Chấn り chữ Hán)in Japanese, sincefuriganaimplies the use ofkana.For example,リリック(Ca từ)ririkku"lyric" may be tagged withCa từkashi"lyrics" for clarification rather than for phonetic guidance.

See also

• Okurigana
• Ruby character
• Zhuyin

References

Sources

• Mangajin's Basic Japanese Through Comics [Part I]New York: Weatherhill, 1998: 48–49
• J Paul Warnick, Review ofNihon o HanasooinThe Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese,Vol. 32, No. 2 (Oct., 1998), pp. 80–83.

External links

• Furigana Generator:Tool that automatically adds hiragana above kanji characters in a given Japanese text.