Changes

===Medieval===

===Medieval===

[[Keian Genju]] ([[1427]]-[[1508]]), founder of the [[Satsunan school]] of Japanese [[Neo-Confucianism]], developed his own system of ''kundoku'' notation for reading classical Chinese as Japanese. This system, called Keian-ten, was later adapted by Satsunan leader [[Nanpo Bunshi]] ([[1555]]-[[1620]]), whose Bunshi-ten texts were then distributed more widely by his student [[Tomari Jochiku]] ([[1570]]-[[1655]]), representing perhaps a significant antecedent to the modern systems of marking ''kanbun'' for Japanese readers.<ref>Takatsu Takashi, “Ming Jianyang Prints and the Spread of the Teachings of Zhu Xi to Japan and the Ryukyu Kingdom in the Seventeenth Century,” in Angela Schottenhammer (ed.), ''The East Asian Mediterranean: Maritime Crossroads of Culture'', Harrassowitz Verlag, 2008. 255-260.</ref>

[[File:Genji-excerpt.jpg|right|thumb|320px|An excerpt from a copy of the ''[[Tale of Genji]]'' shows the standard ''[[hentaigana]]/[[kuzushiji]]'' forms of the characters, and straight columns, which became standard over the course of the medieval period]]

Up until the late Heian period, it was common for columns of characters to shift towards the right, as one moved down the page. Wherever a character ended towards the right side, the writer would often simply continue from there, beginning with the left side of the next character. Over the course of the 12th-13th centuries, however, it became more common for writers to return from the right side of the column to the left before starting the next character, resulting in straighter columns (which did not veer off to the right), and a pattern of slash-mark "returns" often appearing in between characters. This remained a common feature in medieval and early modern calligraphy, down to today.

The myriad cursive or calligraphic forms used to write the same character, or the same sound, settled down in the Muromachi period into a relatively standard set of forms which continued to be used through the Edo period, and which remain standard among calligraphers today. This means that ''hentaigana'' or ''kuzushiji'' dictionaries, listing the half dozen or so typical ways of writing any given character, can be used effectively to decipher most documents from the late medieval and early modern periods, and also that variation in character style can be used to date, with some accuracy, documents from earlier periods.

 

At the same time, the myriad cursive or calligraphic forms used to write the same character, or the same sound, settled down in the Muromachi period into a relatively standard set of forms which continued to be used through the Edo period, and which remain standard among calligraphers today. This means that ''hentaigana'' or ''kuzushiji'' dictionaries, listing the half dozen or so typical ways of writing any given character, can be used effectively to decipher most documents from the late medieval and early modern periods, and also that variation in character style can be used to date, with some accuracy, documents from earlier periods.

 

===Early Modern===

===Early Modern===