When should I write 海山 and when should I write うみやま?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-05T15:26:02.193
8315
2015-07-24T03:00:48.450
2012-11-06T03:15:16.537
1872
question
kanji hiragana
When should I replace kanji with hiragana?
Well, it's _always_ safe to use the hiragana. You could technically write
Japanese entirely in kana, although it would become very difficult to read and
lack the context clues provided by kanji.

If `海山` is someone's (family) name, first make sure it is really pronounced as
`うみやま` because [it could have some other
pronunciation](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/5532/78). Secondly,
[depending on the context for which you're writing the
name](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/5316/78), you have several
different options.

If you're using `海山` to just mean "the sea and mountains" (or the phrase
`海山の恩`), you can, and probably should use kanji.

So what's the rationale for replacing kanji with hiragana? Well, if you don't
know how to write the kanji, you can always fall back to hiragana as I
mentioned. Another rationale would be writing something like a children's
book. Since young children may not know kanji, or how to read a certain kanji,
the author may use hiragana (although I believe `海` and `山` are likely taught
at a young age).

And although you didn't ask the inverse question, I'll answer it anyway.
What's the rationale for using kanji instead of all kana? As I said, ease of
reading. Once you start learning kanji, reading anything written in all kana
can be "difficult"; not that it's hard, but certainly can take longer. Kanji
also gives context. Japanese has **many** homonyms, so seeing something
written in kanji can give you a reasonable, if not exact understanding of what
it means. For example, if I write the word `いし`, you don't know if I mean
"rock" (`石`), "doctor" (`医師`), "will/volition" (`意志`), or any of the many
other words with that pronunciation.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-05T15:59:53.243
8317
2014-05-03T02:48:28.403
2017-04-13T12:43:44.260
-1
78
8315
answer
Hiragana is a script, which in normal Japanese texts is used alongside kanji
and katakana.

Hiragana is usually used for grammatical functions (e.g., particles, verb
inflections, etc.) and for words for which there doesn't exist kanji, or for
words whose kanji are non-standard.

海山 would usually be written in kanji. However, 海山 could in principle also be
read かいさん (or かいざん, see dainichi's comment below), which may be a reason for
writing it with furigana (like so [海山]{うみやま}) or with hiragana alone, for
example in books for primary school kids.

Does this answer your question?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-05T16:04:08.567
8318
2014-05-03T02:46:03.073
2014-05-03T02:46:03.073
125
1628
8315
answer