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		directly to    Kanji  Katakana & Hiragana  Dictionary  Links    Disclaimer			Lost in Symbols Originally Buddhist priests brought the Chinese characters, called Kanji  together with their religion to the antique Japan. Opposite to our Alphabet any single Kanji represents a whole word - and there are several thousand of them. Beside Kanji Japanese also use two other character sets, called Hiragana and Katakana. By the way, the translation of Japanese words into our Alpahabet is called Romanji.
					Kanji completely different to our Alphabet Kanji are not only single letters, but stand for a complete word. The Kanji on the right for example means "dream" (yume). Once learnt to writing (or reading) it - you're able to recognize a word like a picture or trademark logo.		[Kanji] yu·me dream
					Hiragana is one of the both other charaktersets. In the old days mostly women used these letters. In these days Japanese use Hiragana together with Kanji.		[Hiragana] ko·nn·ni·chi·ha Hello/How are you
					Katakana was also founded in the middle age. Monasterians used it for quick notices. Today Katakana is being used for foreign words, like foreigner's names.		[Katakana] ro·be·ru·to Robert
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