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is a romanization system, i.e. a system for transcribing the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet. It is abbreviated as Kunrei-shiki. Its name is rendered ''Kunreisiki'' using Kunrei-shiki itself.
Kunrei-shiki is sometimes known as the 'Monbushō system' in English, because it is taught in the Monbushō-approved elementary school curriculum. Kunrei-shiki is also referred to as 'ISO 3602', as it has been approved by ISO.
Kunrei-shiki is based on the older Nihon-shiki (Nipponsiki) system, modified for modern standard Japanese. For example, the word かなづかい, romanized ''kanadukai'' in Nihon-shiki, is pronounced ''kanazukai'' in common modern Japanese, and Kunrei-shiki uses the latter spelling.

Contents

Legal status

Usage

Kunrei-shiki spellings of kana

Permitted exceptions

See also

External links

Legal status

The system was originally promulgated as ''Japanese Cabinet Order No.3 as of September 21, 1937''. But since this had been overturned by the SCAP during the Occupation of Japan, the Japanese government repealed it and decreed again as ''Japanese Cabinet Order No.1 as of December 29, 1954''. The order mandated the use of kunrei-shiki in "the written expression of Japanese generally," with a provision that specific alternative spellings may could be used in international relations, and where necessary to follow established precedent. See Permitted Exceptions for details. (Japanese text)
Kunrei-shiki has been recognized, along with Nihon-shiki, in ''ISO 3602:1989. Documentation--Romanization of Japanese (kana script)'' by the ISO. It was also recommended by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) after they withdrew their own standard, ''ANSI Z39.11-1972 American National Standard System for the Romanization of Japanese (Modified Hepburn)'', in 1994.

Usage

Despite its official recognition, Kunrei-shiki has not gained widespread acceptance in or outside Japan. The government generally uses Hepburn for romanizing Japanese names and terms in English contexts, as well as some less language-specific contexts such as passports and road signs. Most countries, including all countries in the Anglosphere, continue to use Hepburn.

'Example: tat-u'

Conjugation	Kunrei	Hepburn
Mizen 1	tat-a-	tat-a-
Mizen 2	tat-o-	tat-o-
Ren'yô	tat-i	tach-i
Syûsi/Rentai	tat-u	tats-u
Katei	tat-e-	tat-e-
Meirei	tat-e	tat-e

Because Kunrei-shiki is based on Japanese phonology, English speakers often find it unintuitive. For example, an English speaker unfamiliar with Japanese would probably be understood if he attempted to pronounce ''Shinjuku'' (in Hepburn), whereas an attempt to read the Kunrei-shiki spelling ''Sinzyuku'' would likely not be comprehensible.
Additional complications appear with newer kana combinations such as 'ティ'ーム(チーム) ''team''. In Hepburn, these would be distinguished as different sounds and represented '''tī'mu'' and ''chīmu'' respectively, giving better indications of the English pronunciations. For some Japanese speakers, however, the sounds 'ティ' "ti" and チ "chi" are the same phoneme; they are both represented in Kunrei-shiki as ''tîmu''. This kind of logic often confuses those who do not know Japanese phonology well.
Today, the main users of Kunrei-shiki are native speakers of Japanese (especially within Japan) and linguists studying Japanese. The main advantage of Kunrei-shiki is that it is better able to illustrate Japanese grammar, as Hepburn makes some regular conjugations appear irregular (see table, right). The most serious problem of Hepburn in this context is that it changes the stem of verbs, which is not reflected in the underlying morphology of the language.

Kunrei-shiki spellings of kana

あ ア ''a''	い イ ''i''	う ウ ''u''	え エ ''e''	お オ ''o''	(''ya'')	(''yu'')	(''yo'')
か カ ''ka''	き キ ''ki''	く ク ''ku''	け ケ ''ke''	こ コ ''ko''	きゃ キャ ''kya''	きゅ キュ ''kyu''	きょ キョ ''kyo''
さ サ ''sa''	し シ ''si''	す ス ''su''	せ セ ''se''	そ ソ ''so''	しゃ シャ ''sya''	しゅ シュ ''syu''	しょ ショ ''syo''
た タ ''ta''	ち チ ''ti''	つ ツ ''tu''	て テ ''te''	と ト ''to''	ちゃ チャ ''tya''	ちゅ チュ ''tyu''	ちょ チョ ''tyo''
な ナ ''na''	に ニ ''ni''	ぬ ヌ ''nu''	ね ネ ''ne''	の ノ ''no''	にゃ ニャ ''nya''	にゅ ニュ ''nyu''	にょ ニョ ''nyo''
は ハ ''ha''	ひ ヒ ''hi''	ふ フ ''hu''	へ ヘ ''he''	ほ ホ ''ho''	ひゃ ヒャ ''hya''	ひゅ ヒュ ''hyu''	ひょ ヒョ ''hyo''
ま マ ''ma''	み ミ ''mi''	む ム ''mu''	め メ ''me''	も モ ''mo''	みゃ ミャ ''mya''	みゅ ミュ ''myu''	みょ ミョ ''myo''
や ヤ ''ya''		ゆ ユ ''yu''		よ ヨ ''yo''
ら ラ ''ra''	り リ ''ri''	る ル ''ru''	れ レ ''re''	ろ ロ ''ro''	りゃ リャ ''rya''	りゅ リュ ''ryu''	りょ リョ ''ryo''
わ ワ ''wa''	ゐ ヰ ''i''		ゑ ヱ ''e''	を ヲ ''o''
				ん ン ''n''
が ガ ''ga''	ぎ ギ ''gi''	ぐ グ ''gu''	げ ゲ ''ge''	ご ゴ ''go''	ぎゃ ギャ ''gya''	ぎゅ ギュ ''gyu''	ぎょ ギョ ''gyo''
ざ ザ ''za''	じ ジ ''zi''	ず ズ ''zu''	ぜ ゼ ''ze''	ぞ ゾ ''zo''	じゃ ジャ ''zya''	じゅ ジュ ''zyu''	じょ ジョ ''zyo''
だ ダ ''da''	ぢ ヂ ''(zi)''	づ ヅ ''(zu)''	で デ ''de''	ど ド ''do''	ぢゃ ヂャ ''(zya)''	ぢゅ ヂュ ''(zyu)''	ぢょ ヂョ ''(zyo)''
ば バ ''ba''	び ビ ''bi''	ぶ ブ ''bu''	べ ベ ''be''	ぼ ボ ''bo''	びゃ ビャ ''bya''	びゅ ビュ ''byu''	びょ ビョ ''byo''
ぱ パ ''pa''	ぴ ピ ''pi''	ぷ プ ''pu''	ぺ ペ ''pe''	ぽ ポ ''po''	ぴゃ ピャ ''pya''	ぴゅ ピュ ''pyu''	ぴょ ピョ ''pyo''

Notes:

★ Characters in red are outdated in the language itself.

★ When ''he'' (へ) is used as a particle it is written ''e'' not ''he'' (as in Nipponsiki).

★ When ''ha'' (は) is used as a particle it is written ''wa'' not ''ha''.

★ When ''wo'' (を) is used as a particle it is written ''o'' not ''wo''.

★ Long vowels are indicated by a circumflex, for example long ''o'' is written ''ô''.

★ Syllabic ''n'' (ん) is written as ''n'' before consonants but as n' before vowels and y.

★ Geminate consonants are marked by doubling the consonant following the sokuon, っ, without exception.

★ The first letter in a sentence, and all proper nouns, are capitalized.

★ ISO 3602 has the strict form, see Nihon-shiki.

Permitted exceptions

The Cabinet Order makes an exception to the above chart:

★ Limited to international relations and situations with prior precedent in which a sudden spelling reform would be difficult, spelling may also be given by [the following] Chart 2.

しゃ sha	し shi	しゅ shu	しょ sho
		つ tsu
ちゃ cha	ち chi	ちゅ chu	ちょ cho
		ふ fu
じゃ ja	じ ji	じゅ ju	じょ jo
	ぢ di	づ du
ぢゃ dya		ぢゅ dyu	ぢょ dyo
くゎ kwa
ぐゎ gwa
			を wo

This exceptional clause is not to be confused with other systems of romanization (such as Hepburn) and does not specifically relax other requirements such as marking long vowels.

See also

★ List of ISO transliterations

External links

★ The Romaji (Roomaji) Conundrum by Andrew Horvat