The Japanese writing system, c 1690.

JAPAN - APRIL 02: Engraving showing ancient, standard, semi-cursive, and cursive styles of writing characters, and the hiragana and katakana syllabaries. Characters were introduced from China, but the Japanese also developed their own syllabaries from cursive characters. From 'The History of Japan' (1727) by Engelbert Kaempfer (1651-1716). Kaempfer was a German physician working at the Dutch trading post in Japan from 1690-1692, where he assembled a large collection. On his return to Europe he wrote 'The History of Japan', which records many aspects of the country in the Genroku period (1688-1704). (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)