Hepburn romanization

Hepburn romanization (Japanese: ヘボン式ローマ字, Hepburn: Hebon-shiki rōmaji, Lit. "Hepburn-style Roman letters") is the most widely-used system of romanization for the Japanese language. Published in 1886 by American missionary James Curtis Hepburn, it uses consonants that approximate those in English and vowels that approximate those in Italian. The "modified Hepburn system" (修正ヘボン式, shūsei Hebon-shiki), also known as the "standard system" (標準式, Hyōjun-shiki), was published with revisions in 1908.

Although Kunrei-shiki romanization is the style favored by the Japanese government, Hepburn remains the most widely-used method of Japanese romanization. It is learned by most foreign students of Japanese, and is used within Japan for romanizing personal names, locations, and other information such as train tables and road signs. People who speak English or Romance languages will generally be more accurate in pronouncing unfamiliar Japanese words romanized in the Hepburn style compared to other systems.

## History

In 1867, American missionary James Curtis Hepburn published the first modern Japanese–English dictionary. In 1886, he published the dictionary's third edition, which popularized a version of his system with input from an international commission consisting of Japanese and foreign scientists. In 1908, the Society for the Propagation of Romanization (ローマ字ひろめ会, *Rōmaji Hirome-kai*), led by educator Kanō Jigorō, published a version of the Hepburn system with revisions, which is known today as the "modified Hepburn" (修正ヘボン式, *shūsei Hebon-shiki*) or "standard system" (標準式, *Hyōjun-shiki*).

## Legal status

Hepburn is based on English phonology and has competed with the alternative Nihon-shiki romanization, which was developed in Japan as a replacement of the Japanese script. In 1930 a Special Romanization Study Commission was appointed to compare the two. The Commission eventually decided in favor of a slightly-modified version of Nihon-shiki, which was proclaimed to be Japan's official romanization for all purposes by a September 21, 1937, cabinet ordinance; it is now known as the Kunrei-shiki romanization. The ordinance was temporarily overturned by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) during the Occupation of Japan, but it was reissued with slight revisions in 1954.

In 1972 a revised version of Hepburn was codified as ANSI standard Z39.11-1972. It was proposed in 1989 as a draft for ISO 3602 but rejected in favor of the Kunrei-shiki romanization. The ANSI Z39.11-1972 standard was deprecated on October 6, 1994.

As of 1978 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, and many other official organizations used Hepburn instead of Kunrei-shiki. In addition *The Japan Times*, the Japan Travel Bureau, and many other private organizations used Hepburn instead of Kunrei-shiki. The National Diet Library used Kunrei-shiki.

Nippon-shiki was followed by Kunrei-shiki, which was adopted in 1937, has still basic legal status as mentioned above. For example, place names follow this romanization. Geospatial Information Authority of Japan adopts it. Although Hepburn is not a government standard, some government agencies mandate it. For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requires the use of Hepburn on passports, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport requires the use of Hepburn on transport signs, including road signs and railway station signs.[*citation needed*]

In many other areas that it lacks *de jure* status, Hepburn remains the *de facto* standard. Signs and notices in city offices and police stations and at shrines, temples and attractions also use it. English-language newspapers and media use the simplified form of Hepburn. Cities and prefectures use it in information for English-speaking residents and visitors, and English-language publications by the Japanese Foreign Ministry use simplified Hepburn as well. Official tourism information put out by the government uses it, as do guidebooks, both local and foreign, on Japan.

## Variants

Former Japan National Railways-style board of Toyooka Station. Between the two adjacent stations, "GEMBUDŌ" follows the Hepburn romanization system, but "KOKUHU" follows the Nihon-shiki/Kunrei-shiki romanization system.
There are many variants of the Hepburn romanization. The two most common styles are as follows:

* The **Traditional Hepburn**, as defined in various editions of Hepburn's dictionary, with the third edition (1886) often considered authoritative (although changes in kana usage must be accounted for). It is characterized by the rendering of syllabic *n* as *m* before the consonants *b*, *m* and *p*: *Shimbashi* for 新橋.
* **Modified Hepburn** (修正ヘボン式, *Shūsei Hebon-shiki*), also known as **Revised Hepburn**, in which (among other points) the rendering of syllabic *n* as *m* before certain consonants is no longer used: *Shinbashi* for 新橋. The style was introduced in the third edition of Kenkyūsha's *New Japanese-English Dictionary* (1954), was adopted by the Library of Congress as one of its ALA-LC romanizations, and is the most common version of the system today.

In Japan itself, there are some variants officially mandated for various uses:

* **Railway Standard** (鉄道掲示基準規程, *Tetsudō Keiji Kijun Kitei*), which mostly follows the *Hyōjun-shiki Rōmaji*, however syllabic *n* is rendered as *m* before *b*, *m* and *p*. Japan Railways and other major railways use it for station names.
* **Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Standard**, how to spell Roman letters (Hepburn style) of road signs, which follows the modified Hepburn style. It is used for road signs.
* **Ministry of Foreign Affairs Passport Standard** (外務省旅券規定, *Gaimushō Ryoken Kitei*), a permissive standard, which explicitly allows the use of "non-Hepburn romaji" (非ヘボン式ローマ字, *hi-Hebon-shiki rōmaji*) in personal names, notably for passports. In particular, it renders the syllabic *n* as *m* before *b*, *m* and *p*, and romanizes long **o** as *oh*, *oo* or *ou* (*Satoh*, *Satoo* or *Satou* for 佐藤).

Details of the variants can be found below.

### Obsolete variants

The romanizations set out in the first and second versions of Hepburn's dictionary are primarily of historical interest. Notable differences from the third and later versions include:

#### Second version

* エ and ヱ were written as *ye*: Yedo
* ズ and ヅ were written as *dzu*: kudzu, tsudzuku
* キャ, キョ, and キュ were written as *kiya*, *kiyo* and *kiu*
* クヮ was written as *kuwa*

#### First version

The following differences are in addition to those in the second version:

* ス was written as *sz*.
* ツ was written as *tsz*.
* ズ and ヅ were written as *du*.

## Features

The main feature of Hepburn is that its orthography is based on English phonology. More technically, when syllables that are constructed systematically according to the Japanese syllabary and contain an "unstable" consonant in the modern spoken language, the orthography is changed to something that better matches the real sound as an English-speaker would pronounce it. For example, し is written *shi* not *si*.

Some linguists such as Harold E. Palmer, Daniel Jones and Otto Jespersen object to Hepburn since the pronunciation-based spellings can obscure the systematic origins of Japanese phonetic structures, inflections, and conjugations. Supporters of Hepburn[*who?*] argue that it is not intended as a linguistic tool.

### Long vowels

The long vowels are generally indicated by macrons ( ¯ ). Since the macron is usually missing on typewriters and people may not know how to input it on computer keyboards, the circumflex accent ( ˆ ) is often used in its place.

The combinations of vowels are written as follows in traditional/modified Hepburn:

#### A + A

In **traditional** and **modified**:

The combination of *a* + *a* is written *aa* if they are part of separate morphemes:
* 邪悪（じゃあく）: {*ji* + *ya*} + {*a* + *ku*} = *jaaku* – evil

In **traditional Hepburn**:

The long vowel a is written *aa*:
* お婆さん（おばあさん）: {*o*} + {*ba* + *a*} + {*sa* + *n*} = *obaa-san* – grandmother

In **modified Hepburn**:

The long vowel a is indicated by a macron:
* お婆さん（おばあさん）: {*o*} + {*ba* + *a*} + {*sa* + *n*} = *obāsan* – grandmother

#### I + I

In **traditional** and **modified**:

The combination *i* + *i* is always written *ii*.
* お兄さん（おにいさん）: *o* + *ni* + *i* + *sa* + *n* = *oniisan* – older brother
* お爺さん（おじいさん）: *o* + *ji* + *i* + *sa* + *n* = *ojiisan* – grandfather
* 美味しい（おいしい）: *o* + *i* + *shi* + *i* = *oishii* – delicious
* 新潟（にいがた）: *ni* + *i* + *ga* + *ta* = Niigata
* 灰色（はいいろ）: *ha* + *i* + *i* + *r*o = *haiiro* – grey

#### U + U

In **traditional** and **modified**:

The combination *u* + *u* is written *uu* if they are part of separate morphemes or it is the end part of terminal form of a verb:
* 食う（くう）: {*ku*} + {*-u*} = *kuu* – to eat
* 縫う（ぬう）: {*nu*} + {*-u*} = *nuu* – to sew
* 湖（みずうみ）: {*mi* + *zu*} + {*u* + *mi*} = *mizuumi* - lake

The long vowel u is indicated by a macron:
* 数学（すうがく）: {*su* + *u*} + {*ga* + *ku*} = *sūgaku* – mathematics
* 注意（ちゅうい）: {*chu* + *u*} + {*i*} = *chūi* – attention
* ぐうたら: {*gu* + *u* + *ta* + *ra*} = *gūtara* – loafer
* 憂鬱（ゆううつ）: {*yu* + *u*} + {*u* + *tsu*} = *yūutsu* - depression

#### E + E

In **traditional** and **modified**:

The combination *e* + *e* is written *ee* if they are part of separate morphemes:
* 濡れ縁（ぬれえん）: {*nu* + *re*} + {*e* + *n*} = *nureen* – open veranda

In **traditional Hepburn**:

The long vowel e is written *ee*:
* お姉さん（おねえさん）: {*o*} + {*ne* + *e*} + {*sa* + *n*} = *oneesan* – older sister

In **modified Hepburn**:

The long vowel e is indicated by a macron:
* お姉さん（おねえさん）: {*o*} + {*ne* + *e*} + {*sa* + *n*} = *onēsan* – older sister

#### O + O

In **traditional** and **modified**:

The combination *o* + *o* is written *oo* if they are part of separate morphemes:
* 小躍り（こおどり）: {*ko*} + {*o* + *do* + *ri*} = *koodori* – dance

The long vowel o is indicated by a macron:
* 氷（こおり）: {*ko* + *o* + *ri*} = *kōri* – ice
* 遠回り（とおまわり）: {*to* + *o*} + {*ma* + *wa* + *ri*} = *tōmawari* – roundabout route
* 大阪（おおさか）: {*o* + *o*} + {*sa* + *ka*} = *Ōsaka* – Osaka

#### O + U

In **traditional** and **modified**:

The combination *o* + *u* is written *ou* if they are part of separate morphemes, or it is the end part of terminal form of a verb:
* 追う（おう）: {*o*} + {*-u*} = *ou* – to chase
* 迷う（まよう）: {*ma* + *yo*} + {*-u*} = *mayou* – to get lost
* 子馬（こうま）: {*ko*} + {*u* + *ma*} = *kouma* – foal
* 仔牛（こうし）: {*ko*} + {*u* + *shi*} = *koushi* – calf

The long vowel o is indicated by a macron:
* 学校（がっこう）: {*ga* + (sokuon)} + {*ko* + *u*} = *gakkō* – school
* 東京（とうきょう）: {*to* + *u*} + {*kyo* + *u*} = *Tōkyō* – Tokyo
* 勉強（べんきょう）: {*be* + *n*} + {*kyo* + *u*} = *benkyō* – study
* 電報（でんぽう）: {*de* + *n*} + {*po* + *u*} = *dempō* or *denpō* – telegraphy
* 金曜日（きんようび）: {*ki* + *n*} + {*yo* + *u*} + {*bi*} = *kinyōbi* or *kin'yōbi* – Friday
* 格子（こうし）: {*ko* + *u*} + {*shi*} = *kōshi* – lattice

#### E + I

In **traditional** and **modified**:

The combination *e* + *i* is written *ei*.
* 学生（がくせい）: *ga* + *ku* + *se* + *i* = *gakusei* – student
* 経験（けいけん）: *ke* + *i* + *ke* + *n* = *keiken* – experience
* 制服（せいふく）: *se* + *i* + *fu* + *ku* = *seifuku* – uniform
* 姪（めい）: *me* + *i* = *mei* – niece
* 招いて（まねいて）: *ma* + *ne* + *i* + *te* = *maneite* – call/invite and then

#### Other combination of vowels

All other combinations of two different vowels are written separately:

* 軽い（かるい）: *ka* + *ru* + *i* = *kar**ui*** – light (for weight)
* 鴬（うぐいす）: *u* + *gu* + *i* + *su* = *ug**ui**su* – bush warbler
* 甥（おい）: *o* + *i* = ***oi*** – nephew

#### Loanwords

The long vowels indicated by chōonpu (ー) within loanwords are written with macrons (ā, ī, ū, ē, ō) as follows:

* セーラー: *se* + (chōonpu) + *ra* + (chōonpu) = *sērā* – sailor
* パーティー: *pa* + (chōonpu) + *ti* + (chōonpu) = *pātī* – party
* ヒーター: *hi* + (chōonpu) + *ta* + (chōonpu) = *hītā* – heater
* タクシー: *ta* + *ku* + *shi* + (chōonpu) = *takushī* – taxi
* スーパーマン: *su* + (chōonpu) + *pa* + (chōonpu) + *ma* + *n* = *Sūpāman* – Superman
* バレーボール: *ba* + *re* + (chōonpu) + *bo* + (chōonpu) + *ru* = *barēbōru* – volleyball
* ソール: *so* + (chōonpu) + *ru* = *sōru* – sole

The combinations of two vowels within loanwords are written separately:

* バレエ: *ba* + *re* + *e* = *baree* – ballet
* ソウル: *so* + *u* + *ru* = *souru* – soul, Seoul
* ミイラ: *mi* + *i* + *ra* = *miira* – mummy

#### Variations

There are many variations on the Hepburn system for indicating the long vowels. For example, 東京（とうきょう） can be written as:

* *Tōkyō* – indicated with macrons. That follows the rules of the **traditional** and **modified Hepburn** systems and is considered to be standard.
* *Tokyo* – not indicated at all. That is common for Japanese words that have been adopted into English and is also the convention used in the *de facto* Hepburn used in signs and other English-language information around Japan, mentioned in the paragraph on legal status.
* *Tôkyô* – indicated with circumflex accents, like the alternative Nihon-shiki and Kunrei-shiki romanizations. They are often used when macrons are unavailable or difficult to input, due to their visual similarity.
* *Tohkyoh* – indicated with an *h* (only applies after *o*). It is sometimes known as "passport Hepburn" as the Japanese Foreign Ministry has authorized (but not required) it in passports.
* *Toukyou* – written using kana spelling: *ō* as *ou* or *oo* (depending on the kana) and *ū* as *uu*. That is sometimes called *wāpuro* style, as it is how text is entered into a Japanese word processor by using a keyboard with Roman characters. The method most accurately represents the way that vowels are written in kana by differentiating between おう (as in とうきょう（東京）, written *Toukyou* in this system) and おお (as in とおい（遠い）, written *tooi* in this system).
	+ However, using this method makes the pronunciation of *ou* become ambiguous, either a long *o* or two different vowels: *o* and *u*. See *Wāpuro rōmaji#Phonetic accuracy* for details.
* *Tookyoo* – written by doubling the long vowels. Some dictionaries such as *Pocket Kenkyusha Japanese dictionary* and *Basic English writers' Japanese-English wordbook* follow this style, and it is also used in the JSL form of romanization. It is also used to write words without reference to any particular system.

### Particles

In **traditional** and **modified**:

* When は is used as a particle, it is written *wa*.

In **traditional Hepburn**:

* When へ is used as a particle, Hepburn originally recommended *ye*. This spelling is obsolete, and it is commonly written as *e* (Romaji-Hirome-Kai, 1974).
* When を is used as a particle, it is written *wo*.

In **modified Hepburn**:

* When へ is used as a particle, it is written *e*.
* When を is used as a particle, it is written *o*.

### Syllabic *n*

In **traditional Hepburn**:

Syllabic *n* (ん) is written as *n* before consonants, but as *m* before labial consonants: *b*, *m*, and *p*. It is sometimes written as *n-* (with a hyphen) before vowels and *y* (to avoid confusion between, for example, んあ *n + a* and な *na*, and んや *n + ya* and にゃ *nya*), but its hyphen usage is not clear.
* 案内（あんない）: *annai* – guide
* 群馬（ぐんま）: *Gumma* – Gunma
* 簡易（かんい）: *kan-i* – simple
* 信用（しんよう）: *shin-yō* – trust

In **modified Hepburn**:

The rendering *m* before labial consonants is not used and is replaced with *n*. It is written *n'* (with an apostrophe) before vowels and *y*.
* 案内（あんない）: *annai* – guide
* 群馬（ぐんま）: *Gunma* – Gunma
* 簡易（かんい）: *kan'i* – simple
* 信用（しんよう）: *shin'yō* – trust

### Long consonants

Elongated (or "geminate") consonant sounds are marked by doubling the consonant following a sokuon, っ; for consonants that are digraphs in Hepburn (*sh*, *ch*, *ts*), only the first consonant of the set is doubled, except for *ch*, which is replaced by *tch*.

* 結果（けっか）: *kekka* – result
* さっさと: *sassato* – quickly
* ずっと: *zutto* – all the time
* 切符（きっぷ）: *kippu* – ticket
* 雑誌（ざっし）: *zasshi* – magazine
* 一緒（いっしょ）: *issho* – together
* こっち: *kotchi* (not *kocchi*) – this way
* 抹茶（まっちゃ）: *matcha* (not *maccha*) – matcha
* 三つ（みっつ）: *mittsu* – three

## Romanization charts

* Each entry contains hiragana, katakana, and Hepburn romanization, in that order.
* † — The characters in red are rare historical characters and are obsolete in modern Japanese. In modern Hepburn romanization, they are often undefined.
* ‡ — The characters in blue are rarely used outside of their status as a particle in modern Japanese, and romanization follows the rules above.

### Extended katakana

These combinations are used mainly to represent the sounds in words in other languages.

Digraphs with orange backgrounds are the general ones used for loanwords or foreign places or names, and those with blue backgrounds are used for more accurate transliterations of foreign sounds, both suggested by the Cabinet of Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Katakana combinations with beige backgrounds are suggested by the American National Standards Institute and the British Standards Institution as possible uses. Ones with purple backgrounds appear on the 1974 version of the Hyōjun-shiki formatting.

* \* — The use of ウ in these two cases to represent *w* is rare in modern Japanese except for Internet slang and transcription of the Latin sound [w] into katakana. E.g.: ミネル**ウァ** (*Mineru**wa*** "Minerva", from Latin *MINER**VA*** [mɪˈnɛr**wa**]); **ウゥ**ルカーヌス (***Wu**rukānusu* "Vulcan", from Latin ***VV**LCANVS*, ***Vu**lcānus* [**wʊ**lˈkaːnʊs]). The *wa*-type of foreign sounds (as in *watt* or *white*) is usually transcribed to ワ (*wa*), while the *wu*-type (as in *wood* or *woman*) is usually to ウ (*u*) or ウー (*ū*).
* ⁑ — ヴ has a rarely-used hiragana form in ゔ that is also *vu* in Hepburn romanization systems.
* ⁂ — The characters in green are obsolete in modern Japanese and very rarely used.