Historical Kana Orthography - Examples

Examples

Here are some representative examples showing the historical and modern spellings and the kanji representation.

Historical usage Current usage Kanji Translation
けふ kefu きょう kyō 今日 today
てふ tefu ちょう chō 蝶 butterfly
ゐる wiru いる iru 居る there is/are (humans/animals)
あはれ ahare あわれ aware 哀れ sorrow; grief; pathos
かへる kaheru かえる kaeru 帰る to return home
くわし kuwashi (kwashi) かし kashi 菓子 sweets
とうきやう Toukiyau とうきょう Tōkyō 東京 Tokyo, the city of

The table at the bottom gives a more complete list of the changes in spelling patterns.

Read more about this topic:  Historical Kana Orthography

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