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The kanji characters were borrowed from China, so what were the written
language characters called before kanji was introduced?
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2017-03-27T12:00:47.780
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2017-03-27T19:02:50.160
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question
meaning words
What term refers to the written characters used before kanji?
The generally accepted view is that there was no pre-kanji written script in
Japan.

There are occasional claims of the existance of pre-kanji scripts called
[神代文字]{じんだいもじ}. As the [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jindai_moji)
page mentions:

> Some have claimed since the mid-Edo period that such ancient characters, for
> example such as Chikushi characters and Hokkaido characters, have been found
> in archeological remains, in Kofun and on mountains, but **all jindai moji
> are generally considered to be forgeries**.
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answer