Katakana

The Kata in katakana means partial (not whole). Katakana is called katakana because many of the katakana are part and not the whole of a Chinese character. Katakana in its earlier stages was used as a mnemonic device for pronouncing Buddhist tests written in Chinese.

Katakana next appeared in Japanese texts written in a mixture of Chinese and katakana. This type of writing system was called kanamajiri bun (sentences mixing kana and characters). By the middle of the tenth century, collections of folktales came to be written in a mixture of Chinese characters and katakana.

By: Catherine T.

May, 2000

back to main