As far as I understand 明日（あした） is jukujikun (also called semantic ateji), so,
as with for example 今日, I would expect for the "reading" to be considered over
the whole word, instead of being split into the individual kanji readings as
is done with normal words.

But in a lot of places (dictionaries, etc) I see the reading of 明日 split into
明（あ）日（した）.

I can see where that might come from, since あ is a normal Kun-reading for 明,
but the again した is no valid reading for 日.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-31T16:03:06.140
83385
2021-01-02T14:26:02.503
2021-01-02T14:26:02.503
question
words kanji etymology readings
Is it correct to split the reading あした of 明日 as 明（あ）日（した）?
There’s no really “correct” or “incorrect” when it comes to ateji like 明日{あした}
or 大人{おとな}, you just have to pick _something_ or _least bad_.

With _jukujikun_ (kanji picked purely for meaning and not readings) it’s even
worse since you may have not enough kana for the kanji. Some examples [from
Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji#jukujikun):

> kera (啄木鳥, woodpecker), gumi (胡頽子, silver berry/oleaster), and Hozumi (八月朔日,
> a surname)

I think the best choice in such cases is simply center the reading above the
whole word and do not align kana to individual kanji.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-31T16:51:17.033
83388
2020-12-31T16:51:17.033
3295
83385
answer