Japanese Script Reform - Historical Advocates For Reform

Historical Advocates For Reform

The use of kanji as part of Japanese orthography has been a matter of debate since at least the end of the Edo period. The use of kanji has been criticised for various reasons, the main criticisms being:

• There are too many kanji, and it is difficult to remember how to read and write them.
• The Latin alphabet is used internationally, and using kanji separates Japan from the rest of the world. This argument was used from a technical point of view after the appearance of the typewriter and computer.
• Processing kanji is more time consuming on word processors and computers
• Text that uses a mixture of kanji and kana requires kanji conversion, which is inefficient in comparison to text that only uses kana or rōmaji.

These criticisms led to arguments that reduction or eradication of kanji was a matter of national interest. The idea of abolishing kanji is often referenced to Maejima Hisoka's report titled Kanji onhaishi no gi (漢字御廃止之議?, lit. "The argument for the abolition of kanji"), which was submitted to the shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu in 1866. The report argued that kanji should be abolished because the process of learning kanji was inefficient; however, in recent years the existence of this report has come into question, and further investigation was made into the subject in a graduation thesis for the department of literary history at Risshō University in 1999. Other advocates of kanji reform include the following:

• Kamo no Mabuchi, Kokuikō (国意考?)

Critical of the number of kanji, and argued that kana was more convenient because they were phonetic characters like the alphabet. Notes that a French dictionary was written using only 50 characters, and that Dutch uses only 25 characters.

• Motoori Norinaga, Tamakatsuma (玉勝間?)
• Fukuzawa Yukichi, Moji no Oshie (文字之教?, lit. "The teaching of characters") (1873)
• Maejima Hisoka, Kanji Gohaishi no Gi (漢字御廃止之儀?, lit. "The argument for the abolition of kanji") (1866)
• Nishi Amane, Yōji o motte kokugo o shosuru no ron (洋字ヲ以テ国語ヲ書スルノ論?, lit. "Argument for writing Japanese in western script") (advocating the use of rōmaji)
• Suematsu Kenchō, Nihon Bunshōron (日本文章論?, lit. "Japanese syntax") (1886)
• Ueda Kazutoshi
• Mori Arinori, Nihon no Kyōiku (日本の教育?, lit. "Japanese education") (Advocating the use of English)
• Nanbu Yoshikazu (Advocated the use of rōmaji)
• Baba Tatsuo, Nihongo Bunten (日本語文典?, lit. "Japanese grammar")
• Shiga Naoya, Kokugo Mondai (国語問題?, lit. "The language problem") (Advocating the use of French) (Kaizō magazine, April, 1946)

The romaji issue is still occasionally pushed by fringe writers, for example the 2011 book "Kanji is the ruin of Japanese" (漢字が日本語をほろぼす, Kanji ga Nihongo wo horobosu?) by Katsuhiko Tanaka (田中克彦).