Japanese Writing Question

[lechinmaru]

I am wondering. I have read online that the traditional way to write Japanese is right to left...top to bottom. So does that mean that you begin your sentence from the right and write it top to bottom? Or do you write your sentence right to left and then begin a new sentence right below that sentence and write left to right again? I just wanted to ask before I start practicing writing the Japanese way. Thank you.

[Jade]

This is mainly if you're using 原稿用紙 (genkouyoushi) or sometimes when using unlined paper. Explanations of how to write correctly using genkouyoushi can be found here, here, and here.

Otherwise you can write how you would write in English: horizontally, left to right.

[lechinmaru]

That is very helpful! Arigato gozaimasu! ^_^

[Jembru]

*blows off the dust*

Maybe you can help me with something Jade (or anyone else who took formal lessons so had to use genkouyoushi).

So, I have been using regular squared paper for writing essays, and following examples from my textbook with regards to where to write punctuation and so on. Oddly (or at least coincidentally), the images in the book use regular squared paper too. In fact, I'll take a picture with my web cam because that might help clarify my question... Good lord the light in here sucks...



Maybe using squared paper at second grade is normal? Anyway.. my sister has kindly ordered me some genkouyoushi notebooks that will hopefully arrive in time for me starting third grade next month. lol

So I thought I'd come back and check out those links Jade shared, to make sure I know the correct way to use genkouyoushi before I start. There's something I'm confused about though.

What is the most conventional way to write kagi (Japanese quotation marks)? In my book, and in one of Jade's links (this one) the opening kagi is drawn in the bottom right of the box. However, in the other 2 links, we are told to write them in the top right, like other punctuation marks.

Then we have the closing kagi. The link I shared above, tells us to put that in the bottom left, but my kokugo textbook shows them in the top left.

So which convention is most common for writing kagi?

There is one other thing that's a bit off in my textbook. All the sources Jade shared tell us to indent the title by 3 squares (although the one I've re-posted says 'two or three'). The examples in my book only indent the title by one square.

I wonder if the 'rules' are a bit vague, or if this is because 2nd graders are using regular squared paper so the rules of genkouyoushi don't apply.

Your help will be very much appreciated. How did/do your teachers tell you to write kagi?

Edit: I noticed after posting, how hard it is to make out the image. There is a quote in the 3rd line, and you can see an opening kagi clearly at the start of the 4th line from the left. 'tsu' look a bit like kagi in the photo for some reason. 

[Jade]

For the kagi, I looked up a few more images, and in most of them the opening one is at the bottom right and the closing one is top left. (Image ♦︎ Image)

My teacher never told me the correct way to use kagi in genkouyoushi, so I can only go off what I find on Google, but I did always get told to have three spaces before the title.

This site says that if the title's short then leave three spaces, but if it's not then just leave two. It also has the kagi at bottom right/top left.

[Jembru]

Thank you Jade! This was very helpful. Well, from this, I think sticking to bottom left/top right will be a safe bet!

That makes sense about the title. It would look weird if the title started in the 4th box then reached all the way to the bottom. 2nd graders use a lot of kana, so their titles are typically longer. That's probably why they start higher up! Seems so obvious now it's been pointed out to me.

[Jembru]

Just had a bit of a face-palm moment.

So I already mentioned that I have some genkouyoushi notebooks on their way. Well, I also wanted some vertically lined notebooks so I could start writing down the page. I posted about this on facebook and a few people somewhat tongue-in-cheek suggested I just buy a horizontally lined book and turn it on its side. As if I could stomach such foolery with my OCD about notebooks and stationary.

So I ordered some proper A4 vertically lined notebooks from Japan. My idea being that I'd write my notes in that, and then when I come to write an essay, I'd write it first on lang-8 and then hand write it neatly on genkouyoushi, with a reference number relating it to the notes in my notebook. I've tested the system already in fact, and it seems pretty sound.

Then my mum bought me an A4 notebook because it was spiral bound and she knows I have a thing about notebooks being spiral bound. I really want to use THIS instead, especially as the books I've ordered aren't spiral.

So for the last week or so, I've been stressing about how I'm going to keep my notes, especially as one of the first articles in the next textbook (of course I looked ahead ^^), is about how to keep your notes neatly. It's based on vertical writing and some of the ideas don't translate so well to horizontal notes.

Then just now, unable to sleep for thinking about it (yes, I am that bad), I decided to google images of kokugo notes.

Guess what I discovered..

No, seriously, guess..

The Japanese turn regular notebooks on their side! 

The front cover is still the front cover, so you're actually opening the book left to right as usual, if you do it this way. It then works kinda like a scroll. Then you have the option of writing something horizontally, then flipping the next page over and writing vertically and so on. I could kick myself for ordering those notebooks now.. 

Maybe when I use up all of my genkouyoushi notebooks, I can start writing my essays in these other books. I just don't imagine I'll be studying like this for much for than a year or two. Especially as I told myself I wanted to ease off from studying next year. I definitely don't imagine I'll be able to fill 4 notebooks with essays... what a waste ^^ 

To add salt to the wound, my mum got this notebook in the sales for just 30 pence. I spent £20 on just 4 books.. Gah!! 

EDIT -----------------------------------------

So the books arrived this morning. They weren't at all what I expected. They've been printed like a proper glossy-covered textbook for some reason. They were thicker and heavier than I thought they'd be and the paper is good quality and thick enough to use it for brush writing. The weirdest part is that they're printed as if reading from left to right. So I've actually torn the front cover off one and am using it upside-down so I can write right to left.

It's fine and all, but I'll probably be tearing out the pages and keeping my essays together in a plastic wallet that matches my notebook. So when you think about it that way.. I could have just printed my own. Then again, I now have 400 sheets of the stuff. It would probably have cost more to print that, and I've at least saved myself the time and effort.