There are several writing “styles” for Japanese‚ each associated with different uses. The most commonly used style by far is the kaisho‚ 楷書
かいしょ
‚ style‚ or “print” style. Text- books‚ novels‚ newspapers‚ webpages‚ virtually all material intended for mass read- ing consumption uses this style. There are a few different variants of this form‚ of which the Minchou‚ 明朝
みんちょう
‚ and gothic‚ ゴシック‚ variants are the most common. The Minchou variant is characterised by fine lines and serifs (the font that was used for the Japanese in this book is a Minchou variant of the kaisho style‚ for instance)‚ while the gothic variant is characterised by thick‚ clear lining without any serifs. This vari- ant is often used for signs and pamphlets‚ as well as a visually offset style contrasted to Mincho (performing the same role italic scripts do for most Western languages).
To show the difference‚ let us look at two images using minchou and gothic versions of the kaisho typeface. These examples use the いろは poem as text‚ which can be considered a Japanese equivalent of an alphabet song‚ containing each basic syllable only once (although some are voiced). Observing the “proper” writing style
24 The syntax — § 1.3 Kanji and reading top-down‚ right to left‚ this poem is wri en as follows:
色
いろは
匂
にほへど
散
ちりぬるを
我
わが
世
よ誰
たれぞ
常
つねならむ
有為
うゐの
奥山
おくやま今日
けふ越
こえて
浅
あさき
夢
ゆめ見
みじ
酔
ゑひもせず
The いろは poem‚ with classical kana transcription
There are many translations possible‚ given the classical nature of the poem. However‚ a translation offered by professor Ryuichi Abe in his 1999 work “The Weav-
ing of Mantra: Kûkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse”‚ published by
Columbia University Press‚ is as follows:
Although its scent still lingers on —
the form of a flower has sca ered away.
For whom will the glory —
of this world remain unchanged?
Arriving today at the yonder side —
of the deep mountains of evanescent existence‚
we shall never allow ourselves to drift away —
intoxicated‚ in the world of shallow dreams.
Wri en in Mincho and gothic styles‚ this poem looks like:
The syntax — § 1.3 Kanji 25
The いろは poem‚ in the ゴシック variant of 楷書 style
In addition to the kaisho style‚ there are the two “cursive” styles called gy- ousho‚ 行書
ぎょうしょ
‚ and sousho‚ 草書
そうしょ
‚ which are “simplified” forms of wri en Japanese. The simplification here refers to the fact that these two styles connect many strokes into single strokes‚ or in extreme cases‚ even simplify entire kanji to single strokes. How- ever‚ this does not make them simpler to read - far from it‚ the simplifications can make it much harder to tell certain kanji apart‚ or look up in a dictionary.
Gyousho is usually associated with handwriting: while we can all write let- ters the way they come rolling out of a printer‚ we have a special way of writing everything if we do it by hand‚ and in Japanese this is expressed through a slightly more flowing form of kanji and kana‚ connecting strokes but‚ quite often‚ preserving most of the looks of a kanji. Sousho‚ on the other hand‚ is the highly stylised sim- plifications associated with brush calligraphy — shapes are simplified according to reasonably rigid rules‚ but these simplifications look drastically different from the original shape‚ and certain shapes are simplified in such a way that it is nearly im- possible to tell one from another without having received some form of education in reading and writing brush calligraphy. Illustrating this again using the いろは poem:
26 The syntax — § 1.3 Kanji
The いろは poem‚ in 行書 style
The いろは poem‚ in 草書 style
Lastly‚ there are two “traditional” styles that you only find used in very spe- cific applications: reisho‚ 隷書
れいしょ
‚ “square style” or “block style”‚ and tensho‚ 篆書
てんしょ
‚ “seal style”. These two styles are not just traditional but “ancient” styles‚ in that they are styles found used far back in Japanese history on official records and seals (respec- tively). Reisho is associated with the style of carved kanji on woodblocks (explaining its ‘block style’ name)‚ and is still in use today for things such as traditional signs. Ten- sho is also still used in modern Japan‚ featuring most prominently in personal stamps — in Japan‚ you do not sign documents with a signature‚ but you put your personal stamp on the document. Everyone who has ever signed something has one of these‚ and you’ll probably know them from the distinctive red-ink kanji-in-a-circle or kanji- in-a-square signs on Chinese and Japanese paintings and brush works. Illustrating these two styles using the いろは again: