Japanese syllables

It's worth noting that there are two ways to transliterate the kana alphabet:
The first (more logical) uses a uniform consonant (ex. 'sa si su se so - ta ti tu te to') - called the 'kunrei-shiki rômaji'. The other (more accurate) varies the consonant occasionally to represent the sound properly in English (ex. 'sa shi su se so - ta chi tsu te to') - called the Hepburn system.

(L5R is internally inconsistent with Japanese, since they have HoTUri (kunrei-shiki) but KaCHIko (Hepburn). If it was being consistent, it should be Hotsuri and Kachiko, or Hoturi and Katiko... hmmm...)

I much prefer the 2nd (Hepburn) system, because it means you can pronounce them right, but I'll put the other (kunrei-shiki) in brackets.

Here are the basic kana:

a i u e o
ka ki ku ke ko
sa shi(si) su se so
ta chi(ti) tsu(tu) te to
na ni nu ne no
ha hi fu(hu) he ho
ma mi mu me mo
ya yu yo
ra ri ru re ro
wa wo ('wi' and 'we' used to exist but are obsolete and were pronounced without the 'w', as 'i' and 'e'; 'wo' is not used in words or names but on its own as a preposition, and is pronounced without the 'w', as 'o')
n (which you can stick on the end of any one of the others)

Now, if you add ten-ten to some of those, you can make these sounds too:

ga gi gu ge go
za ji(zi) zu ze zo
da ji(zi) zu de do
ba bi bu be bo
pa pi pu pe po

And if you use a small ya, yu or yo with the above, you can make these;

kya kyu kyo
sha(sya) shu(syu) sho(syo)
cha(tya) chu(tyu) cho(tyo)
nya nyu nyo
hya hyu hyo
mya myu myo
rya ryu ryo
gya gyu gyo
ja(zya) ju(zyu) jo(zyo)
bya byu byo
pya pyu pyo

That's all the legal syllables. Now if you put them together in words, you normally just stick them onto the end of each other.
Ex. a + ka = aka (red)
ma + i = mai (counter for thin objects)
sa + n + po = sanpo (walk)

Long vowels - they're just the assimilation of a syllable followed by the same vowel on its own.
Ex.
ba + a = baa (long a)
shi + i = shii
tsu + u = tsuu
ne + e = nee OR more often se + i = sei (pronounced as a long e)
to + o = too OR more often to + u = tou (pronounced as a long o)

That's the simplest way of transcribing them; however there are other ways, including the following:

long a: aa â ah
long i: ii î ih
long u: uu û uh
long e: ee ê eh (ei is pronounced the same but always written ei)
long o: oo/ou ô oh

I tend to favour the first, most simple. I find the 'h' style confusing since it's not actually pronounced as a 'h' sound.

Some double letters can be used to represent when two words have been assimilated and the first finished in -tsu. In Japanese, this is done by using a small -tsu-
-tsu + k becomes kk (mitsu + ka = mikka)
-tsu + p becomes pp (kitsu + pu = kippu)
-tsu + t becomes tt (hatten)
-tsu + s becomes ss (massugu)
-tsu + ch becomes tch (botchan)
-tsu + sh becomes ssh (ressha)
-tsu + ts becomes tts (mittsu)

When the syllable 'n' is followed by a vowel or a 'y' syllable in a word, it is conventional to use an apostophe between them so as not to confuse the two syllables (ex. n + a) with the an 'n' syllable (na).

Ex. 'ma + n + i + chi = man'ichi' and is different from 'ma + ni + chi = manichi'

Okay, now onto a few comments on the above:

- One thing which is sometimes done in transcribing Japanese is turning the syllable 'n' into 'm' before the labials 'b', 'p' or 'm', but it's less confusing not to. (ie. 'konban' rather than 'komban')

- In a dictionary, you may find words which include the sounds 'che, di, fa, fe, fi, fo, gwa, hye, je, kwa, kwe, kwi, kwo, she, ti, tsa, tse, tso, va, ve, vi, vo, vu, we, wi, wo'. These are all words of foreign origin, which are written in katakana. Some of them the Japanese can't actually pronounce properly (they have no problem with 'di' but I don't think I've ever heard a native Japanese say 'v' correctly. It usually comes out, and is often transcribed as, 'b'.)

- Any L5R names containing 'l' or 'zh' or "x" or ending in 'ng' are probably not taken from Japanese, but Chinese.
Any L5R names with 'q's in that aren't Naga are taken from... the kami only know where, because it's never used in transcription.

Wow, there are more rules than I thought... ^____^;;;

Clo~