File:Steps toward horizontal katakana writing.png

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English: Steps toward horizontal katakana writing. It describes the line of the Kanamojikai [Kana Character Association] in 1930s. Their first two steps, namely, left-to-right horizontal writing and kanji restriction, were accepted by Japanese government later, and they are very common today. This image was scanned at 300 dpi.
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English: Kanamojikai [Kana Character Association] and Kokugo Kyōkai [Japanese Language Association]. Moji bunka tenrankai shuppin-butsu kaisetsu [Character Culture Exhibition Exhibits Description]. Kanamojikai [Kana Character Association], p. 68, 1935.
日本語: カナモジカイ と 国語 協会. 文字 文化 展覧会 出品物 解説. カナモジカイ, 第68ページ, 1935年.
Author
Kanamojikai [Kana Character Association] and Kokugo Kyōkai [Japanese Language Association]
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Public domain

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Editor's note: Simplified Chinese characters are used in the text below for sake of reference convenience.

ヨコガキ カタカナ ニ アラタメル 順序

カナモジカイ ノ 国字改良案ワ ヨコガキ カタカナ デ アル. シカシ コノ 理想案ヲ イキナリ スベテノ 方面ニ オコナウ ノデワ ナイ. タクミニ 過渡期ノ 混乱ヲ サケテ, 水ノ ヒクキ ニ ツク ヨゥニ オノズカラ アラタマル 方法ニ ヨル ノデ アル. ソノ 順序ワ 方面ニ ヨッテ オナジ デワ ナイ ガ, 下ワ ソノ 代表的ナ 順序ヲ 示シタ モノ デ アル.

1. 文章ヲ 左カラ ヨコニ カク
縦書を廃して左からの横書に為す事が国字改良を実行する上の当面の方法である. 左横書は徳川時代までは殆んど無かつた事であるが, 明治以後次第に左横書が増加して来た. この傾向を益々促進すべきである.
2. 漢字ヲ 制限スル コト
殲滅の殲の字はこの漢語以外はほとんど用がない. このことばを根絶と改めるとか, 皆殺しと言いかえるとかすれば殲の字は不要になる. 漢字にはこの様に整理する事のできるものが多い. これらを整理するのが第二の仕事である.
3. カタカナ 語形ノ 採用
挨拶の字は此のコトバ以外には用のない字であるが, サリトテほかに適当な代用語もない. これらは元のままの発音をカタカナでアイサツと書くことにする. スッポンとかクシャミとかのムズカシイ漢字もこうしてドシドシ整理してゆく.
4. ワカチガキ ノ 採用
漢字を へらして ゆくと カナ ばかりが ながく つずいて 読みにくく なるが, このように ワカチガキ を すれば 決して 困ることは ない. 西洋諸国の モジ が ワズカノ 字数で 実用に なつているのも ワカチガキ をしているから である.
5. カナ ワ カタカナ
カナ ワ カタカナ ニ 統一シ, 漢字ワ サシアタリ ドゥシテモ 漢字デ カカナケレバ 意味ノ ワカラヌ 科学 ト 化学ノ ヨゥナ モノ ダケニ トドメ, カタワラ 用語ノ 改善ヲ ハカッテ, コノヨゥナ 同音異義語 ヲ ナクスル.
6. サイゴノ メアテ ワ ヨコガキ カタカナ
コノヨゥナ ススミカタ ヲ モッテ スレバ, オノズカラ ヨコガキ カタカナ ノ ヨノナカ ニ ナル.

Reference translation edit

Steps toward horizontal katakana writing

The Kana Character Association proposal for Japanese writing system reformation is horizontal katakana writing. However, this ideal proposal will not be carried out immediately in all fields. The association adopts a plan in which transitional confusion can be skillfully avoided and the writing system can change to the ideal one as naturally as water flows lower and lower. The following list shows a typical sequence toward the ideal, while steps may vary according to fields.

1. Write sentences horizontally left to right.
Ceasing vertical writing and writing horizontally left to right is a step toward writing system improvement for the present. Although left-to-right horizontal writing had been very unusual until at the end of Tokugawa era, it is gradually increasing after the Meiji era. We should accelerate this trend.
2. Restrict kanji.
Character 殲 (sen) for word 殲滅 (senmetsu) [annihilation] has no use except the word. If we rephrase the word as extermination or killing-all, the character becomes unnecessary. There are many kanji characters that can be cleared off in the same manner.
3. Use katakana instead of kanji.
Though characters 挨 (ai) and 拶 (satsu) have no use except the word挨拶 (aisatsu) [greeting], there is no appropriate substitution for it. We will write it as アイサツ (aisatsu), describing its pronunciation with katakana. Difficult characters for soft-shelled turtle [鼈 suppon] or sneeze [嚔 kushami] will be ceased in this way.
4. Adopt word spacing.
Long sequence of kana characters damages readability if we reduce use of kanji. However, it will be solved by adopting word spacing. Alphabets in western languages have small number of letters but still they are useful because of word spacing.
5. Use only katakana for phonetic description.
We will use only katakana for phonetic description, and use kanji only for words that make confusion without kanji, e.g., 科学 (kagaku) [science] and 化学 (kagaku) [chemistry]. We will do terminology reform to purge words having the same pronunciation and different meanings at this step.
6. Write horizontally with katakana as the goal
If we go through the above steps, horizontal katakana writing will spread by itself.

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current03:18, 27 November 2006Thumbnail for version as of 03:18, 27 November 20061,400 × 2,200 (542 KB)Kimura Aichi (talk | contribs)== Summary == {{Information | Description = {{en|Steps toward horizontal katakana writing. It describes the line of the Kanamojikai [Kana Character Association] in 1930s. Their first two steps, namely, left-to-right horizontal writing and kanji restrictio

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