1.
Japanese-made kanji; kokuji
Kanji characters that were created in Japan rather than imported from China. Also called 国字 (kokuji). Examples include 峠 (mountain pass), 畑 (field), and 込 (to include).
「峠」は代表的な和字のひとつだ。
The character 峠 (mountain pass) is one of the representative Japanese-made kanji.
和字は日本の風土や文化を反映して作られた。
Japanese-made characters were created to reflect Japan's natural environment and culture.
和字の中には、中国では使われない漢字が多く含まれている。
Among Japanese-made characters, there are many kanji that are not used in China.
2.
Japanese writing; kana characters
In a broader sense, refers to Japanese writing systems (hiragana and katakana) as distinguished from Chinese characters (漢字).
平安時代に和字として仮名が発達した。
Kana developed as Japanese writing during the Heian period.
和字と漢字を組み合わせた表記は日本語の特徴だ。
The combination of kana and kanji in writing is a characteristic feature of Japanese.
古文書には和字と漢文が混在している。
Old documents contain a mix of Japanese writing and classical Chinese text.
Composed of 和 (Japan/Japanese) and 字 (character/writing). The word has two main uses depending on context.
In sense 1 (Japanese-made kanji), well-known examples include:
- 峠: mountain pass (mountain + up + down)
- 畑: dry field (fire + field)
- 込む: to be crowded (movement + enter)
- 辻: crossroads
- 躾: discipline/training
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 国字: Japanese-made kanji — a synonym for sense 1, more commonly used in linguistics
- 仮名: kana — the phonetic scripts (hiragana/katakana)
- 漢字: kanji — Chinese characters, the broader category