Dan Hollis wrote:

> >   My personal theory is that some of the hirigana characters were constructed
from
> > these stylized characters..
>
> http://members.aol.com/joyo96/Hira/Hiragana.html gives an explanation of
> the origination of Hiragana. It appears they were constructed from a
> simplified version of sosho style kanjis.
>
> My kanji dictionary has a table with the hiragana and katakana derivations
> from kanjis.

  Cool!  I knew it couldn't have been my imagination.. 8)

By the way, I was using that kana chart (linked to in that page) during my Japanese

course; as were a few of my other friends.  Its writing is a bit deceptive; it is
a bit
more decorative than what you would write..

ftp://members.aol.com/Joyo96/GIFS/BasicKanaChart.GIF

For example "ki" .. looks like two dashes, a straight line down connected with a curve,

but that's just the representation you would get with brush strokes or printed hirigana.

The written form is supposed to be two dashes, a straight line down and NOT a curve,
but
sort of a curvy dash at the bottom.  So becareful when using the hirigana portion.
(I
got 1 mark deducted right there.. 8)  That's what I get for not buying the course
book..
hehe)

Another example is "ri".  In that chart everything looks connected, but its real form

is a short (somewhat) vertical stroke on the left and a curvy long vertical stroke
on the
right, not the "fishhook" that's represented there.  (Another mark deducted there.
8)  )

--
------
Kevin Aw <kevinaw@home.com>