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The romanization of Japanese is the application of the Latin script to write the Japanese language. This method of writing is sometimes referred to in English as ((:ɽóːmadʑi) ), usually transcribed ''romaji'', sometimes incorrectly transliterated with an ''n'' and/or ''u'' as ''roumaji'', ''romanji'', etc. There are several different romanization systems. The three main ones are Hepburn romanization, Kunrei-shiki Rōmaji (ISO 3602), and Nihon-shiki Rōmaji (ISO 3602 Strict). Variants of the Hepburn system are the most widely used. Japanese is normally written in a combination of logographic characters borrowed from Chinese (kanji) and syllabic scripts (kana) which also ultimately derive from Chinese characters. Rōmaji may be used in any context where Japanese text is targeted at non-Japanese speakers who cannot read kanji or kana, such as for names on street signs and passports, and in dictionaries and textbooks for foreign learners of the language. It is also used to transliterate Japanese terms in text written in English (or other languages that use the Latin script) on topics related to Japan, such as linguistics, literature, history, and culture. Rōmaji is the most common way to input Japanese into word processors and computers, and may also be used to display Japanese on devices that do not support the display of Japanese characters. All Japanese who have attended elementary school since World War II have been taught to read and write romanized Japanese. Therefore, almost all Japanese are able to read and write Japanese using rōmaji, although it is extremely rare in Japan to use this method to write Japanese (except as an input tool on a computer), and most Japanese are more comfortable reading kanji/kana. The word ''rōmaji'' literally means "roman letters", and in Japan it is more often used to refer to the Latin alphabet itself (as used in English and other European languages) than to any specific form of romanized ''Japanese''. ==History== The earliest Japanese romanization system was based on the Portuguese orthography. It was developed around 1548 by a Japanese Catholic named Yajiro. Jesuit presses used the system in a series of printed Catholic books so that missionaries could preach and teach their converts without learning to read Japanese orthography. The most useful of these books for the study of early modern Japanese pronunciation and early attempts at romanization was the ''Nippo jisho'', a Japanese-Portuguese dictionary written in 1603. In general, the early Portuguese system was similar to Nihon-shiki in its treatment of vowels. Some consonants were transliterated differently: for instance, the /k/ consonant was rendered, depending on context, as either ''c'' or ''q'', and the consonant (now pronounced /h/) as ''f'', so ''Nihon no kotoba'' ("The language of Japan") was spelled ''Nifon no cotoba''. The Jesuits also printed some secular books in romanized Japanese, including the first printed edition of the Japanese classic ''The Tale of the Heike'', romanized as ''Feiqe no monogatari'', and a collection of ''Aesop's Fables'' (romanized as ''Esopo no fabulas''). The latter continued to be printed and read after the suppression of Christianity in Japan (Chibbett, 1977). Following the expulsion of Christians from Japan in the late 1590s and early 17th century, ''rōmaji'' fell out of use, and was only used sporadically in foreign texts until the mid-19th century, when Japan opened up again. The systems used today all developed in the latter half of the 19th century. From the mid-19th century several systems were developed, culminating in the Hepburn system, named after James Curtis Hepburn who used it in the third edition of his Japanese–English dictionary, published in 1887. The Hepburn system included representation of some sounds that have since changed. For example, Lafcadio Hearn's book ''Kwaidan'' shows the older ''kw-'' pronunciation; in modern Hepburn romanization, this would be written ''Kaidan'' (lit., ''ghost tales''.) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Romanization of Japanese」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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