Kunrei-shiki
Japanese language romanization system
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Through Linguistics and Verb
Kunrei-shiki is based on the older Nihon-shiki romanization, which was modified for modern standard Japanese. For example, the word かなづかい, romanized kanadukai in Nihon-shiki, is pronounced kanazukai in modern standard Japanese and is romanized as such in Kunrei-shiki. The system competes with the older Hepburn romanization system, which was promoted by the SCAP during the Allied occupation of Japan after World War II.
History
In 1930, the Ministry of Education appointed a board of inquiry to determine the proper romanization system of the Japanese language. This resulted in a cabinet order (訓令, kunrei) issued on 21 September 1937 that a modified form of the Nihon-shiki system would be officially adopted as Kunrei-shiki. The form at the time differs slightly from the modern form. Originally, the system was called the government-authorized (国定, kokutei) system.
The Japanese government gradually introduced Kunrei-shiki; which appeared in secondary education, on railway station signboards, on nautical charts, and on the 1:1,000,000 scale International Map of the World; as well as literature and educational material for tourists. Nevertheless, unofficial use of Nihon-shiki and modified Hepburn continued concurrently because of support from individuals.
After Japan's defeat in the Pacific War in 1945, General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), issued a directive, dated 3 September 1945, that stated that Modified Hepburn was the method to transcribe Japanese names. Some editorials printed in Japanese newspapers advocated for using only Hepburn. Kunrei-shiki had developed associations with Japanese militarism, and the U.S occupation was reluctant to promote it. Supporters of Hepburn denounced pro-Kunrei-shiki and pro-Nihon-shiki advocates to the SCAP offices by accusing them of being inactive militarists and of collaborating with militarists. Unger said that the nature of Kunrei-shiki led to "pent-up anger" by Hepburn supporters. During the postwar period, several educators and scholars tried to introduce romanized letters as a teaching device and a possible later replacement for kanji. On 9 December 1954, the Japanese government re-confirmed Kunrei-shiki as its official system but with slight modifications. Eleanor Jorden, an American linguist, made textbooks with a modified version of Kunrei-shiki, which were used in the 1960s in courses given to U.S diplomats. The use of her books did not change the U.S government's hesitation to use Kunrei-shiki.
As of 1974, according to the Geographical Survey Institute (now the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan), Kunrei-shiki was used for topographical maps, and Modified Hepburn was used for geological maps and aeronautical charts.
As of 1978, the National Diet Library used Kunrei-shiki. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, and many other official organizations instead used Hepburn, as did The Japan Times, the JTB Corporation, and many other private organisations.
Despite the official status of Kunrei-shiki and its use in Japanese elementary schools, Hepburn romanization remained the primary romanization system used in Japanese government and by other groups in Japan. Recognizing this fact, the Japanese government officially endorsed Hepburn as the primary romanization system for the country in 2025.
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Legal status
The system was originally promulgated as Japanese Cabinet Order No. 3 as of 21 September 1937. Since it had been overturned by the SCAP during the occupation of Japan, the Japanese government repealed it and decreed again, as Japanese Cabinet Order No.1 as of 29 December 1954. It mandated the use of Kunrei-shiki in "the written expression of Japanese generally". Specific alternative spellings could be used in international relations and to follow established precedent. See § Permitted exceptions for details.
Kunrei-shiki has been recognised, along with Nihon-shiki, in "ISO 3602:1989. Documentation—Romanisation of Japanese (kana script)" by the ISO. It was also recommended by the ANSI after it withdrew its own standard, "ANSI Z39.11-1972 American National Standard System for the Romanization of Japanese (Modified Hepburn)", in 1994.
In January 2024, the Cultural Affairs Agency proposed revising the 1954 Cabinet Order to make Hepburn the standard romanization system of Japan. A draft of changes was published in June 2025.
On December 16, 2025, the Japanese government decided to issue a cabinet notification on December 22 revising national rules on romanization for the first time in about 70 years, making the Hepburn system the standard instead of Kunrei-shiki.
Usage
Despite its official recognition, the Japanese commonly choose between Nihon-shiki, Kunrei-shiki and Hepburn systems for any given situation. However, the Japanese government generally uses Hepburn, especially for passports, road signage, and train signage. Most Western publications, as well, and all English-language newspapers use some form of Hepburn.
J. Marshall Unger, the author of Literacy and Script Reform in Occupation Japan: Reading between the Lines, said that the Hepburn supporters "understandably" believed that the Kunrei-shiki "compromise" was not fair because of the presence of the "un-English-looking spellings" that the Modified Hepburn supporters had opposed. Andrew Horvat, the author of Japanese Beyond Words: How to Walk and Talk Like a Native Speaker, argued that "by forcing non-native speakers of Japanese with no intentions of learning the language to abide by a system intended for those who have some command of Japanese, the government gave the impression of intolerant language management that would have dire consequences later on." Because Kunrei-shiki is based on Japanese phonology rather than the actual phonetic realization, it can cause non-native speakers to pronounce words incorrectly. John Hinds, the author of Japanese: Descriptive Grammar, describes that as "a major disadvantage."
Additional complications appear with newer kana combinations such as ティーム (チーム) team. In Hepburn, they would be distinguished as different sounds and represented as tīmu and chīmu respectively. That gives better indications of the English pronunciations. For some Japanese-speakers, however, the sounds ティ "ti" and チ "chi" are the same phoneme; both are represented in Kunrei-shiki as tîmu. Such complications may be confusing to those who do not know Japanese phonology well. Use of an apostrophe (t'îmu), sometimes seen in Wāpuro rōmaji, may be a possible solution.
Today, the main users of Kunrei-shiki are native speakers of Japanese, especially within Japan, and linguists studying Japanese. The main advantage of Kunrei-shiki is that it is better able to illustrate Japanese grammar, as Hepburn gives the impression of certain conjugations being irregular (see table, right). The most serious problem of Hepburn in this context is that it may change the stem of a verb, which is not reflected in the underlying morphology of the language. One notable introductory textbook for English-speakers, Eleanor Jorden's Japanese: The Spoken Language, uses her JSL romanization, a system strongly influenced by Kunrei-shiki in its adherence to Japanese phonology, but it is adapted to teaching proper pronunciation of Japanese phonemes.
Kunrei-shiki spellings of kana
Permitted exceptions
The Cabinet Order makes an exception to the above chart:
- In international relations and situations for which prior precedent would make a sudden reform difficult, the spelling given by Chart 2 may also be used:
The exceptional clause is not to be confused with other systems of romanization (such as Hepburn) and does not specifically relax other requirements, such as marking long vowels.