1.
Japanese rendering of classical Chinese text; kanbun written in Japanese word order
A version of a classical Chinese (kanbun) text that has been rearranged into Japanese word order and supplemented with Japanese grammatical elements, making it readable as Japanese prose.
A term from classical Japanese education. In kanbun study, the original Chinese text is first annotated with reading marks (返り点 and 送り仮名), then rewritten as 書き下し文 — a version readable as Japanese.
Related words
The stages of reading a kanbun text:
1. 白文: the original Chinese text without annotations
2. 訓読文: text with reading marks added
3. 書き下し文: the full Japanese-order rendering
4. 現代語訳: modern Japanese translation
Common collocations
Usage
This term is encountered mainly in 国語 (Japanese language) education at the high school level, where students study 漢文 (classical Chinese texts) as part of the curriculum.