Genealogical Distribution of Sino Japanese Reading on New List of Commonly Used Kanji

In this study, among the 2,136 characters in the New List of Commonly Used Kanji(新常 用漢字表), a total of 2,357 Sino–Japanese readings from 2,069 characters were analyzed based on the traditional group(攝) and rhyme(韻) phonological categories. These readings were classified into five categories: identical Go’on and Kan’on forms, Go’on, Kan’on, To’on, and kan’yo’on. The study ultimately analyzed how the readings from each phonological system are distributed. To determine the reading systems of each character, historical sources were examined to identify how the characters appeared phonetically in ancient phonetic borrowings, and in Go’on, Kan’on, and To’on data. The study also addressed points of contention in classification, dividing them into five main issues. 1) General problems related to character reading notation. 2) Cases where readings in Kikiｍanyo(記紀万葉) differ from Go’on. 3) Multiple phonetic forms for one rhyme in Go’on. 4) Multiple phonetic forms for one rhyme in Kan’on. As a result of the analysis of the 2,357 readings across the rhyme categories, the following distribution was observed: Kan’on 887 readings(37.63%), Identical Go’on/Kan’on forms 780 readings(33.09%), Go’on 576 readings(24.44%), Kan’yo’on 117 readings(4.96%), To’on 16 readings (0.69%).