6th Century: Chinese Characters in Japan

Books, Miniatures, Writing and Supports
(Timeline Project)

By the 6th century – Chinese characters introduced to Japan by Buddhists.

From Wikipedia: “The Japanese language had no written form at the time Chinese characters were introduced, and texts were written and read only in Chinese. Later, during the Heian period (794–1185), however, a system known as kanbun emerged, which involved using Chinese text with diacritical marks to allow Japanese speakers to restructure and read Chinese sentences, by changing word order and adding particles and verb endings, in accordance with the rules of Japanese grammar.”

This is part of an ongoing series on books, miniatures, writing and supports since the year 1. Please consider it a kick-start for your own private timeline and a springboard for further research. See The Muse for the rest of the series.

 

 

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