Those in italics are duplicates; and _(w)i_ and _(w)e_, though written with different characters from _i_ and _e_, have practically the same pronunciation. It will be seen that both of these arrangements are more or less artificial; at least, they appear to be mnemonic contrivances, and are certainly very convenient, because they are flexible. For instance, the demands of modern times and European languages for a v sound has led the Japanese to represent it by the simple device of attaching the common diacritical mark to the _w_ series. By a similar device they might utilize the r series for _l_ and the _s_ series for _th_! The Japanese characters, not difficult or complex in formation, are modifications and simplifications of Chinese ideographs. There had been in Japan no written language until after the introduction of Chinese civilization in the sixth century A. D., when Chinese words and characters were absorbed by the wholesale. Later, two systems of contracting the complex and cumbersome Chinese ideographs were invented, and are still used to some extent, indeed almost entirely by the uneducated class. The oldest and simplest modification is called _Kata-kana_ (side-letters), and consisted merely in taking _part_ of a Chinese ideograph. But, as these characters were separate, and did not easily run together, they have not been used much, “except in dictionaries, books intended for the learned, or to spell foreign names.” The next modification was a _contraction_ of Chinese characters into a running, or grass, hand, and is therefore called _Hira-gana_ (plain-letters). These are all that the ignorant, especially the women, can read. But a Japanese who aspires to the smallest degree of education must be familiar with many Chinese characters; and a pupil is, in fact, instructed in that language and literature from the primary school up through the university. Some books are written entirely in Chinese, and, of course, can be read only by the best educated. But the commonest method for newspapers and books which are not intended for a limited circulation among the erudite only, is the use of a mixture of Chinese and Japanese characters, of which the root forms are Chinese, and the connectives, agglutinative particles, and grammatical endings are Japanese; this is called _Kana-majiri_. For even more general circulation the Chinese characters will be explained by Japanese characters at the side; this is called _Kana-tsuki_.