Cyrillization of Japanese

Cyrillization of Japanese is the practice of transliterating the Japanese language into Cyrillic script, either to represent Japanese proper names or terms in Russian and the other languages written in Cyrillic, or as an aid to Japanese language learning in those languages.

The following cyrillization system for Japanese is known as the Yevgeny Polivanov system. Note that it has its own spelling conventions and does not necessarily constitute a direct phonetic transcription of the pronunciation into the standard Russian usage of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Main table

Hiragana and Katakana to Polivanov cyrillization correspondence table, for single/modified kana.

Kana		Cyrillic	Hepburn		Kana		Cyrillic	Hepburn		Kana		Cyrillic	Hepburn		Kana		Cyrillic	Hepburn		Kana		Cyrillic	Hepburn
あ	ア	а	a		い	イ	и/й	i		う	ウ	у	u		え	エ	э	e		お	オ	о	o
か	カ	ка	ka		き	キ	ки	ki		く	ク	ку	ku		け	ケ	кэ	ke		こ	コ	ко	ko
さ	サ	са	sa		し	シ	си	shi		す	ス	су	su		せ	セ	сэ	se		そ	ソ	со	so
た	タ	та	ta		ち	チ	ти	chi		つ	ツ	цу	tsu		て	テ	тэ	te		と	ト	то	to
な	ナ	на	na		に	ニ	ни	ni		ぬ	ヌ	ну	nu		ね	ネ	нэ	ne		の	ノ	но	no
は	ハ	ха	ha		ひ	ヒ	хи	hi		ふ	フ	фу	fu		へ	ヘ	хэ	he		ほ	ホ	хо	ho
ま	マ	ма	ma		み	ミ	ми	mi		む	ム	му	mu		め	メ	мэ	me		も	モ	мо	mo
や	ヤ	я	ya							ゆ	ユ	ю	yu							よ	ヨ	ё	yo
ら	ラ	ра	ra		り	リ	ри	ri		る	ル	ру	ru		れ	レ	рэ	re		ろ	ロ	ро	ro
わ	ワ	ва	wa		ゐ	ヰ	и/й	i							ゑ	ヱ	э	e		を	ヲ	о	o
ん	ン	-н/-м	-n
が	ガ	га	ga		ぎ	ギ	ги	gi		ぐ	グ	гу	gu		げ	ゲ	гэ	ge		ご	ゴ	го	go
ざ	ザ	дза	za		じ	ジ	дзи	ji		ず	ズ	дзу	zu		ぜ	ゼ	дзэ	ze		ぞ	ゾ	дзо	zo
だ	ダ	да	da		ぢ	ヂ	дзи	ji		づ	ヅ	дзу	zu		で	デ	дэ	de		ど	ド	до	do
ば	バ	ба	ba		び	ビ	би	bi		ぶ	ブ	бу	bu		べ	ベ	бэ	be		ぼ	ボ	бо	bo
ぱ	パ	па	pa		ぴ	ピ	пи	pi		ぷ	プ	пу	pu		ぺ	ペ	пэ	pe		ぽ	ポ	по	po

Kana		Cyrillic	Hepburn		Kana		Cyrillic	Hepburn		Kana		Cyrillic	Hepburn
きゃ	キャ	кя	kya		きゅ	キュ	кю	kyu		きょ	キョ	кё	kyo
しゃ	シャ	ся	sha		しゅ	シュ	сю	shu		しょ	ショ	сё	sho
ちゃ	チャ	тя	cha		ちゅ	チュ	тю	chu		ちょ	チョ	тё	cho
にゃ	ニャ	ня	nya		にゅ	ニュ	ню	nyu		にょ	ニョ	нё	nyo
ひゃ	ヒャ	хя	hya		ひゅ	ヒュ	хю	hyu		ひょ	ヒョ	хё	hyo
みゃ	ミャ	мя	mya		みゅ	ミュ	мю	myu		みょ	ミョ	мё	myo
りゃ	リャ	ря	rya		りゅ	リュ	рю	ryu		りょ	リョ	рё	ryo
ぎゃ	ギャ	гя	gya		ぎゅ	ギュ	гю	gyu		ぎょ	ギョ	гё	gyo
じゃ	ジャ	дзя	ja		じゅ	ジュ	дзю	ju		じょ	ジョ	дзё	jo
ぢゃ	ヂャ	дзя	ja		ぢゅ	ヂュ	дзю	ju		ぢょ	ヂョ	дзё	jo
びゃ	ビャ	бя	bya		びゅ	ビュ	бю	byu		びょ	ビョ	бё	byo
ぴゃ	ピャ	пя	pya		ぴゅ	ピュ	пю	pyu		ぴょ	ピョ	пё	pyo

Geminate consonants

Consonants are geminated exactly as they are in romaji: e.g. -kk- > -кк-.

Common errors

In English texts, Japanese names are written with the Hepburn system.^[1] People then try to transcribe Japanese names as if they were English.

Very often people^[1] want to transcribe shi as ши and ji as джи. This is incorrect, because in Russian ши is pronounced as шы and джи as джы. The Russian sound /ɨ/ is in fact closer to Japanese /u/ than to Japanese /i/. It would probably be closer to Japanese to write щи, but the system uses си and дзи. Actually, Russian щи is pronounced like Japanese sshi.^[1]

Equally often people transcribe cha, chi, chu, cho as ча, чи, чу, чо. This is acceptable phonetically, but for reasons of consistency, it is better to follow the rules and write тя, ти, тю, тё.^[1]

Sometimes э is replaced with е (but, ironically, not at the beginning of a word, even though there are Roman transliterations such as "yen" and "Yedo" which one might expect to be written as ен and Едо).^[1] This is tolerable only for the words that are in general use (e.g. kamikaze > камикадзе instead of камикадзэ).^[1] One should, however, never replace ё (yo) with е (ye) — it will change the Japanese word too much. The initial ё (yo) or after a vowel, is often written as йо (yo), which has the same pronunciation: Ёкосука -> Йокосука (Yokosuka), Тоёта -> Тойота (Toyota). Although, the spelling "йо" is not common in Russian words, these are more generally accepted for Japanese names than the transliterations using "ё".^[1]

Exceptions

Some proper names, for historical reasons, do not follow the above rules. Those include but are not limited to:

Examples

English (Rōmaji)	Russian spelling	Cyrillization	Japanese
Japan (Nihon, Nippon)	Япония	Нихон, Ниппон	日本 (にほん, にっぽん)
Tokyo (Tōkyō)	Токио	То:кё:	東京 (とうきょう)
Kyoto (Kyōto)	Киото	Кё:то	京都 (きょうと)
Yokohama	Иокогама (also Йокохама)	Ёкохама	横浜 (よこはま)
Yokosuka	Йокосука	Ёкосука	横須賀 (よこすか)
Toyota	Тойота (Тоёта in older publications)	Тоёта	トヨタ (originally: 豊田)
jujitsu (jūjutsu)	джиу-джитсу	дзю:дзюцу	柔術 (じゅうじゅつ)
yen (en)	иена	эн	円 (えん)

Some personal names beginning with "Yo" (or used after a vowel) are written using "Йо" instead of "Ё" (e.g. Йоко for Yoko Ono, but Ёко for Yoko Kanno and all other Yokos). The letter "Ё" is not often used in Japanese Cyrillization due to its facultative use in the Russian language (and possible substitution with the letter "Е" which would affect the pronunciation), but professional translators use ё mandatory.

See also

• Japanese language education in Russia
• Romanization of Japanese

References

1. Смоленский, Вадим (21 March 1999). "Как гайдзин гайджынам. Последний раз о дилемме "СИ" и "ШИ"". Виртуальные суси. Retrieved 2011-03-13. External link in |publisher= (help)

External links

• Online Japanese→Polivanov transcription converter
• Proposal for a coordinated Japanese transcription system for several Slavic languages
• Суси or Суши (Susi or Sushi) – Cyrillization of し (and others) controversy (Russian)
• Automatic cyrillization of hiragana and katakana
• Say no to romaji!, a resource promoting the use of kana in the Japanese learning industry, contains a discussion between students and teachers of Japanese on the subject of rōmaji and kiriji.
• Kiriji and Yevgeny Polivanov