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An Overview of On-yomi and Kun-yomi
On-yomi and kun-yomi are the two main branches of pronunciation (or “readings”, as they are called) that are present in modern day Japanese. On-yomi are sometimes called the “Chinese readings” of the kanji, as these were the initial pronunciations attached to the characters when they first arrived from China. The kun-yomi, on the other hand, developed from within Japan, and are thus referred to as “Japanese readings”. This, along with the fact that different on-yomi for the same character sometimes arrived from China centuries later, helps explain how a single kanji in Japanese can sometimes have more than one of each type of reading.
Clearly, memorizing these various pronunciations and knowing when to use them are two of the most difficult tasks in learning Japanese. There are, however, reasons to be optimistic. Over 60% of the kanji have only a single on-yomi, or one on-yomi and one kun-yomi. In addition, when multiple on- or kun-yomi are present, there is usually only one dominant reading for each. This book will help you determine the most important pronunciations to be learned by classifying every reading as either “common” or “less common”. Those that are less common do not merit being learned at this stage of your language study; they are presented only for future reference.
An interesting aspect of Japanese (and an unlucky one for us in this volume!) is that the most complex kanji in terms of pronunciation are often amongst the most simple to write. Do not get discouraged, therefore, when thorny characters such as “person” (Entry 2), “one” (Entry 3), “sun” (Entry 6), and “large” (Entry 17) all show up in the first chapter, as these can be classified with the most difficult in the language. Be patient with such characters, and take comfort in knowing that by the time you finish this book you will have dealt with the trickiest entries in the entire range of the general-use kanji.
Rules for Using On-yomi and Kun-yomi
There are some useful ground rules that you should keep in mind when learning to read single kanji and compounds (words formed from several kanji put together):
1. Kanji in most compounds are usually read with their on-yomi. Note, that when the pronunciations for on-yomi are given, these are conventionally written in katakana, and indicated by uppercase letters in English.
| KANJI | PRONUNCIATION | MEANING |
| 火山 | KA·ZAN カ · ザン | volcano |
| 家具 | KA·GU カ · グ | furniture |
| 弓道 | KYŪ·DŌ キュウ · ドウ | (Japanese) archery |
| 同時 | DŌ·JI ドウ · ジ | simultaneous |
2. Compounds only rarely mix on-yomi and kun-yomi. Note here that kun-yomi are conventionally written in hiragana, and indicated by lowercase letters in English.
| KANJI | PRONUNCIATION | MEANING |
| 中古車 | CHŪ·KO·SHA チュウ·コ·シャ | used car |
| 十二月 | JŪ·NI·GATSU ジュウ · ニ · ガツ | December |
| 小春 | ko·haru こ · はる | Indian summer |
| 花見 | hana·mi はな · み | cherry blossom viewing |
3. Kanji in compounds that are accompanied by hiragana are almost always read with their kun-yomi.
| KANJI (+ HIRAGANA) | PRONUNCIATION | MEANING |
| 切り下げる | ki·ri sa·geru き ·り さ ·げる | to devalue |
| 売り家 | u·ri ie う · り いえ | “House for sale” |
| 名高い | na daka·i な だか · い | renowned |
| 立ち止まる | ta·chi do·maru た · ち ど · まる | to stand still |
4. Kanji that appear alone (that is, they are not part of a compound in a sentence) are usually read with their kun-yomi.
| KANJI (+ HIRAGANA) | PRONUNCIATION | MEANING |
| 小さい | chii·sai ちい · さい | small |
| 犬 | inu いぬ | dog |
| 東 | higashi ひがし | east |
| 来る | ku·ru く · る | to come |
You may have noticed words such as “usually” and “almost always” in the above rules. One thing you will soon learn about kanji is that they seem to take delight in turning up exceptions to every rule. The best thing to do is make use of these exceptions as a means to memorize the words in which they appear. Put another way, you will be much further ahead if you learn to love headstrong words that live by their own rules!
Voiced and Unvoiced Sounds
An important consideration in learning to read Japanese is understanding the difference between voiced and unvoiced consonant sounds. Think of this difference by saying aloud the English words “brink” and “bring”; the “k” of “brink” is unvoiced, while the “g” of “bring” is voiced (you need to vibrate your vocal cords to say it). This is the same distinction, for example, between the Japanese sounds “ka” and “ga” (か and が). What you need to know is that certain kanji can turn from being unvoiced to voiced, depending on where they appear in a compound. The first entry of the previous section above provides an example: the unvoiced on-yomi SAN (サン) changes to the voiced ZAN (ザン) in the first sample word shown. Although there are an assortment of rules that explain when such changes take place, it is best to develop a “feel” for when these phonetic transformations might occur. Once this happens, your ear will develop to the point where certain compounds begin sounding more natural with one of their kanji voiced.
Irregular Readings
It sometimes occurs in Japanese that a kanji compound has an irregular reading. Known as jukujikun, such readings have no relation to the normal on- or kun-yomi of their component kanji. Rather, these irregular readings are assigned to entire compounds rather than to their component kanji.
You will encounter the first of these in Entry 2. In
