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*''Japanese'': 漢文 ''(kanbun)''
*''Japanese'': 漢文 ''(kanbun)''
''Kanbun'' (lit. "Chinese writing") is a category of types of Japanese writing which employ ''[[kanji]]'' (Chinese characters) exclusively, or almost exclusively, with minimal or no use of phonetic ''[[kana]]''. The term most often refers to what might more specifically be called ''hakubun'' - Classical Chinese, or Japanese emulations of it, which incorporate no ''kana'' - but the umbrella term ''kanbun'' can also include a number of related forms developed specifically in Japan, known as ''hentai kanbun'' (lit. "changed form Chinese writing").
''Kanbun'' (lit. "Chinese writing") is a category of types of Japanese writing which employ ''[[kanji]]'' (Chinese characters) exclusively, or almost exclusively, with minimal or no use of phonetic ''[[kana]]''. The term most often refers to what might more specifically be called ''hakubun'' - [[Classical Chinese]], or Japanese emulations of it, which incorporate no ''kana'' - but the umbrella term ''kanbun'' can also include a number of related forms developed specifically in Japan, known as ''hentai kanbun'' (lit. "changed form Chinese writing").
When written by Japanese scholars of Chinese subjects, e.g. Confucian scholars or Zen monks, ''kanbun'' can sometimes include turns of phrase and individual characters more typically Chinese, which are not more widely used in Japanese. However, the reverse is also true, as Japanese often wrote in a form closely emulating Classical Chinese, but incorporating particular characters and turns of phrase original to Japan, which would be unfamiliar to a Chinese reader.
When written by Japanese scholars of Chinese subjects, e.g. Confucian scholars or Zen monks, ''kanbun'' can sometimes include turns of phrase and individual characters more typically Chinese, which are not more widely used in Japanese. However, the reverse is also true, as Japanese often wrote in a form closely emulating Classical Chinese, but incorporating particular characters and turns of phrase original to Japan, which would be unfamiliar to a Chinese reader.
*''Sôrôbun'' (候文) - one of the most prominent forms of ''hentai kanbun'' in the [[Edo period]], ''sôrôbun'' is a form which uses both ''kanbun'' word order and ''kana'' extensively. Distinctively Japanese, it would not be easily legible to a Chinese reader, unlike other forms of ''kanbun'' which use ''kanji'' more exclusively. ''Sôrôbun'' relies extensively on particular set phrases, and ends a great many of its clauses and sentences in the copula verb ''sôrô'' (候). Though often called an "epistolary style," this is misleading as ''sôrôbun'' was used quite extensively in the Edo period, both for letters, petitions, and other communications, and also for a wide variety of records and other sorts of official documents.
*''Sôrôbun'' (候文) - one of the most prominent forms of ''hentai kanbun'' in the [[Edo period]], ''sôrôbun'' is a form which uses both ''kanbun'' word order and ''kana'' extensively. Distinctively Japanese, it would not be easily legible to a Chinese reader, unlike other forms of ''kanbun'' which use ''kanji'' more exclusively. ''Sôrôbun'' relies extensively on particular set phrases, and ends a great many of its clauses and sentences in the copula verb ''sôrô'' (候). Though often called an "epistolary style," this is misleading as ''sôrôbun'' was used quite extensively in the Edo period, both for letters, petitions, and other communications, and also for a wide variety of records and other sorts of official documents.
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[[Category:Resource Articles]]
[[Category:Resource Articles]]