James Curtis Hepburn

Rōmaji ローマ字 - the Romanization of Japanese

Rōmaji (ローマ字) means "Roman letters" in Japanese and refers to the romanisation of Japanese language, the application of Roman letters in order to write Japanese. Rōmaji is commonly employed in Japanese texts aimed at non-Japanese speakers who cannot read kanji or kana (in road and train signage, passports, dictionaries, etc).

It is also used to transliterate Japanese terms in English or other texts based on the Roman alphabet relating to Japanese topics such as linguistics, literature, history, and culture. Also, rōmaji is the most common way to input Japanese into word processors and computers, and may also be used to display Japanese on devices that do not support the display of Japanese characters.

Since 1945 rōmaji have been taught at Japanese elementary schools, thus almost all Japanese are able to read and write Japanese using rōmaji.

Romanization systems

The earliest attempts at transliterating Japanese in Roman letters were undertaken by Portuguese priests in the 16th century. The Jesuits printed the Bible and Catholic books to use in their services and to teach converts. Their romaisation efforts resulted in the Nippo jisho, a Japanese-Portuguese dictionary published in 1603. Due to Japan's isolation during the Tokugawa period, the usage of rōmaji was very limited until the 19th century.

By the 20th century however, there were the following romanisation methods in use:

Hepburn system (ヘボン式ローマ字, Hebon-shiki rōmaji)
The Hepburn system was devised by James Curtis Hepburn (1815-1911), an American missionary from Philadelphia who arrived in Japan in 1859 and compiled the first modern Japanese-English dictionary about a decade later. The Hepburn system is the most commonly used romanisation system, especially in the English-speaking world.
Nihon system (日本式ローマ字 nihon-shiki rōmaji)
Invented by physicist Aikitsu Tanakadate (田中館愛橘) in 1885 it followed, but did not replace, the Hepburn system. It was meant to completely replace the traditional kanji and kana system of writing Japanese with a romanized system, which Tanakadate felt would make it easier for Japanese people to compete with Western countries. Since the system was intended for Japanese people to use to write their own language, it is much more regular than Hepburn romanization, and, unlike Hepburn's system, it makes no effort to make itself easier to pronounce for English speakers.
Kunrei system (訓令式ローマ字 kunrei-shiki rōmaji)
The Kunrei system is also called "Monbushō system" or "Cabinet Ordinance system" and is based on the nihon-shiki. It was promulgated by the Japanese cabinet in 1937 and in 1954, but has never gained widespread acceptance in or outside Japan due to the fact that it is mainly employed by native speakers of Japanese and linguists studying Japanese. While it is better able to illustrate Japanese grammar, it can cause non-native speakers to pronounce words incorrectly.

The Kunrei-shiki has been standardised by the Japanese Government and the International Organisation for Standardisation as ISO 3602. It is taught to Japanese elementary school students in their fourth year of education.
Revised Hepburn system
The revised Hebon-shiki uses a macron (a diacritic placed above a vowel, for instance "ō") to indicate long vowels, and an apostrophe to note the separation of easily confused phonemes. This system is widely used in Japan and among foreign students and academics.

Examples

Below a few examples of non-standardised transliterations of long vowels as well as a comparison chart of a few selected words.

Long vowels

The most common variant romanization is to omit the macrons or circumflexes used to indicate a long vowel. For example the capital city of Japan, correctly written Tōkyō in romanized Japanese, is universally written as Tokyo.

In addition, the following three "non-Hepburn rōmaji" (非ヘボン式ローマ字 hi-hebon-shiki rōmaji) methods of representing long vowels are authorized by the Japanese Foreign Ministry for use in passports.

Oh for おお or おう (Hepburn ō)
Oo for おお or おう. This is valid JSL and modified Hepburn
Ou for おう. This is also an example of wāpuro rōmaji

Comparison of romanisation systems

English	Japanese	Kana spelling	Romanization
English	Japanese	Kana spelling	Revised Hepburn	Kunrei-shiki	Nihon-shiki
Roman characters	ローマ字	ローマじ	rōmaji	rômazi	rômazi
Mount Fuji	富士山	ふじさん	Fujisan	Huzisan	Huzisan
tea	お茶	おちゃ	ocha	otya	otya
governor	知事	ちじ	chiji	tizi	tizi
to shrink	縮む	ちぢむ	chijimu	tizimu	tidimu
to continue	続く	つづく	tsuzuku	tuzuku	tuduku

Differences between the romanisation systems

Kana	Revised Hepburn	Nihon-shiki	Kunrei-shiki
うう	ū	û
おう, おお	ō	ô
し	shi	si
しゃ	sha	sya
しゅ	shu	syu
しょ	sho	syo
じ	ji	zi
じゃ	ja	zya
じゅ	ju	zyu
じょ	jo	zyo
ち	chi	ti
つ	tsu	tu
ちゃ	cha	tya
ちゅ	chu	tyu
ちょ	cho	tyo
ぢ	ji	di	zi
づ	zu	du	zu
ぢゃ	ja	dya	zya
ぢゅ	ju	dyu	zyu
ぢょ	jo	dyo	zyo
ふ	fu	hu
ゐ	i	wi	i
ゑ	e	we	e
を	o	wo	o
ん	n-n'(-m)	n-n'

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