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KyūjitaiFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kyūjitai, literally "old character forms" (Shinjitai: 旧字体; Kyūjitai: 舊字體), are the traditional forms of kanji, Chinese written characters used in Japanese. Their simplified counterparts are shinjitai, "new character forms". The simplified characters arose centuries ago and were in everyday use in both China and Japan, but they were considered inelegant, even uncouth. After World War II, simplified characters were made official in both these countries. However in Japan fewer and less drastic simplifications were made: e.g. "electric" is still written as 電 in Japan, but has been simplified to 电 in mainland China. Prior to the promulgation of the Tōyō kanji list in 1947, kyūjitai were known as seiji (正字; meaning "proper/correct characters") or seijitai (正字體). Even after kyūjitai were officially marked for discontinuation with the promulgation of the Tōyō kanji list, they were used in print frequently into the 1950s due to logistical delays in changing over typesetting equipment. Kyūjitai continue in use to the present day because when the government adopted the simplified forms, it did not ban the traditional forms. Thus traditional forms are used when an author wishes to use traditional forms and the publisher consents. Unlike in China, where all personal names are consistently simplified, kyūjitai are still tolerated in personal names in Japan (see List of the traditional kanji tolerated in names). Based upon this principle, the kyūjitai and shinjitai spellings of historical figures can be interchangeable in modern Japanese. See alsoExternal links |
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