Yamato kotoba facts for kids

Yamato kotoba (大和言葉, やまとことば) are words that are originally from the Japanese language. The name Yamato kotoba itself is also a native Japanese word. You might also hear them called wago (和語, わご), which is a name based on Chinese.

Yamato kotoba are one of the three main types of words in Japanese. The other two are:

• Kango (漢語, かんご): These are loanwords that came from the Chinese language.
• Gairaigo (外来語, がいらいご): These are loanwords from other languages, especially English after World War II.

Most everyday Japanese words come from Yamato kotoba. Think of them like the basic, common words in English. Chinese loanwords (kango) are often used for more formal writing or for special, technical terms. This is a bit like how English uses words from Latin or French for more formal or specific topics.

How Yamato Kotoba Are Written

Many Yamato kotoba words are written with just one kanji (a Japanese character that came from China). For example:

• katana (刀, かたな) means "sword."
• sakana (魚, さかな) means "fish."
• kami (紙, かみ) means "paper."
• yama (山, やま) means "mountain."
• te (手, て) means "hand."
• oyogu (泳ぐ, およぐ) means "to swim."

Most kanji have two ways to be read:

• On'yomi: This is the reading that came from Chinese.
• Kun'yomi: This is the native Japanese reading.

Yamato kotoba words usually use the kanji's kun'yomi.

On'yomi readings often have only one syllable, like Chinese words. For example, the on'yomi for 刀, 魚, 紙, 山, 手, and 泳 are tō, shi, san, shu, and ei. But kun'yomi readings can have one or many syllables.

Japanese uses three different writing systems. So, even Yamato kotoba can be written in different ways. For example, the word sushi can be written:

• Entirely in hiragana: すし
• Entirely in katakana: スシ
• In kanji: 鮨 or 鮓
• Using ateji (kanji used for sound, not meaning): 寿司 or 壽司

Kanji often show the main meaning of a word. While nouns are usually written with kanji, very common words like sushi can also be written in kana (hiragana or katakana). This also happens if the kanji is not well known. For example, the kanji for bara (rose) is 薔薇, but it's usually written as ばら (hiragana) or バラ (katakana).

Japanese people also created their own kanji for things found only in Japan. These are called kokuji (国字, こくじ), meaning "national characters." They are also known as wasei-kanji (和製漢字, わせいかんじ), meaning "Japanese-made Chinese characters."

Kokuji include names of fish like:

• iwashi (鰯, いわし) meaning sardine.
• tara (鱈, たら) meaning codfish.
• kisu (鱚, きす) meaning sillago.

They also include names of trees like:

• kashi (樫, かし) meaning evergreen oak.
• sugi (椙, すぎ) meaning Japanese cedar.
• kaba or momiji (椛, かば/もみじ) meaning birch/maple.

Most kokuji only have kun'yomi readings because they are Yamato kotoba. But some have on'yomi too, like 働 (on'yomi: dō どう, kun'yomi: hatara(ku) はたら(く), meaning: work). A few even have only on'yomi, like 腺 (on'yomi: sen せん, meaning: gland).

Yamato Kotoba in Verbs and Adjectives

Words like verbs and adjectives are usually written with a mix of kanji and hiragana. The main part of the word is in kanji. The changing parts (like endings that show tense or politeness) are in hiragana.

For example, the verb "to swim" is oyogu (泳ぐ) in its basic form. The kanji 泳 shows the meaning. The hiragana ぐ (gu) shows it's the plain form. The polite form is oyogimasu (泳ぎます). It uses the same kanji, but ends with ぎます (gi-ma-su) to show it's polite.

Native Japanese adjectives often end with い (-i). For example:

• hayai (速い, はやい) means "fast."
• takai (高い, たかい) means "tall" or "high."
• ookii (大きい, おおきい) means "big" or "large."

You can turn these adjectives into adverbs by changing the ending to く (-ku). So, hayaku (速く, はやく) means "quickly."

You can also make nouns from these adjectives by adding さ (-sa) to the end. For example:

• hayasa (速さ, はやさ) means "speed."
• takasa (高さ, たかさ) means "height."
• ookisa (大きさ, おおきさ) means "size" or "largeness."

Yamato Kotoba in Names and Numbers

Sometimes, native Japanese nouns are written with more than one kanji. These are often proper nouns, like family names or place names.

Many Japanese family names are Yamato kotoba, such as:

• Tanaka (田中, たなか)
• Yamamoto (山本, やまもと)
• Kobayashi (小林, こばやし)

Most Japanese place names are also Yamato kotoba, like:

• Ōsaka (大阪, おおさか)
• Ehime (愛媛, えひめ)
• Hiroshima (広島, ひろしま)

However, some Japanese places have Chinese-based names, like:

• Tōkyō (東京, とうきょう)
• Mt. Fuji or Fuji-san (富士山, ふじさん)
• Honshū (本州, ほんしゅう)

While most counting numbers in Japanese come from Chinese words, many ordering numbers use native Japanese words. Also, some measure words are native Japanese.

Here is a table showing the Chinese-based numbers (Sino-Japanese) and the native Japanese numbers: