Chinese characters (hanzi) = Japanese kanji = Korean hanja?

- The relation of Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK) Part 2/5

What are Chinese characters (hanzi)?

While Chinese characters (hanzi) were developing in China, Japanese kanji and Korean hanja did not exist yet. Then, Japanese people adopted hanzi to write their own language ‘kanji’. Korean people adopted hanzi to write ‘hanja’.

Chinese characters (hanzi) = Japanese kanji = Korean hanja?

No.

Chinese hanzi and Japanese kanji/Korean hanja may not use the same set of traditional Chinese characters.

The characters used in Korean (hanja) and Japan (kanji) are distinct from those used in China in many respects. First, they look similar (but might not be the same) to traditional Chinese characters than simplified Chinese characters. Second, they typically have (but not necessarily) similar meanings, but often quite different pronunciations.

“剑/劍” (“sword” written in simplified and traditional version respectively) is pronounced “jiàn” in Mandarin Chinese but written as “剣” and read as “けん [ken]” or “つるぎ [tsurugi]” in Japanese. It is written as “劍” and read as “검 [geom]” in Korean.

Do Chinese hanzi, Japanese kanji and Korean hanja have the same pronunciation?

Chinese hanzi and Japanese kanji/Korean hanja are pronounced differently!

For example: “剑/劍” (“sword” written in simplified and traditional version respectively) is pronounced “jiàn” in Mandarin Chinese but written as “剣” and read as “けん [ken]” or “つるぎ [tsurugi]” in Japanese. It is written as “劍” and read as “검 [geom]” in Korean.

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