Origins of the Text

Someone asked me where Hiragana and Katakana came from and why Japanese people use Chinese characters if it was just because of trade and the wealth that went with trade from China a long time ago. This was my answer.

Hiragana and Katakana came from the Manyoushu 万葉集　Kanji were used to represent sounds for Japanese words as well as meanings in the Manyoushuu so they took the basic ones for sounds and created the hiragana system. Some say court women did it but some say Kukai did it. However for more than just money or wealth many Japan people at the time were associated with Chinese or came to Japan from Korea which used Chinese characters. Japan didn't have a formal writing script till the introduction of Kanji and if you know Kanji and attempt to read something just in Hiragana (like Childrens' novels) At least for me, its actually more confusing than having Kanji to help with meaning and differentiating words.


P.S. Also religion played a bit role in the use of Kanji much like it did in the use of Latin with the spread of Christianity. Buddhist texts were usually translated from Sanskrit or Pali in to Chinese.