Each character was assigned a minimum of two readings. The first, a “meaning” reading, was the Japanese word for the character’s meaning. The other readings, the “sound” readings, were as close as the Japanese vocalization of the time could come to the original Chinese pronunciations.1 Thus, the “sound” reading of the character for person, , is pronounced jin (the northern Chinese pronunciation) or nin (the southern), while the “meaning” reading is hito—the original Japanese word for person.2 We have something like this in English: a fancy word—mansion/chair—derived from Norman French and a
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