Page:A handbook of modern Japan (IA handbookofmodern01clem).pdf/256

194 The next modification was a contraction of Chinese characters into a running, or grass, hand, and is therefore called Hira-gana (plain-letters). These are all that the ignorant, especially the women, can read.

But a Japanese who aspires to the smallest degree of education must he familiar with many Chinese characters; and a pupil is, in fact, instructed in that language and literature from the primary school up through the university. Some books are written entirely in Chinese, and, of course, can be read only by the best educated. But the commonest method for newspapers and books which are not intended for a limited circulation among the erudite only, is the use of a mixture of Chinese and Japanese characters, of which the root forms are Chinese, and the connectives, agglutinative particles, and grammatical endings are Japanese; this is called Kana-majiri. For even more general circulation the Chinese characters will be explained by Japanese characters at the side; this is called Kana-tsuki.

This practice of mixing the characters of the two languages leads to some variety in pronunciation. That is to say, a word written with Chinese ideographs may be read with the Japonicized Chinese pronunciation or with that of the pure Japanese word of which it is the equivalent. For instance, the Chinese characters which make up the word meaning "Japan" are usually pronounced Nippon, or Nihon, by the Japanese, but may also be read, in