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천자문

Cheonjamun (천자문, , せんじもん) is an old Chinese poem written in the 5th century, and traditionally attributed to Chu Heung-sa 周興嗣. It is known in English as the 1000 Character Classic. The text is historically important, because it has been used for more than a thousand years as a primer for the studying of Chinese characters and Classical Chinese. It is not clear how the text was transmitted to Japan; nevertheless, it also became an important text in the history of Chinese characters in Japan.

The 1000 Character Classic is particularly important in Korea. Until the 20th century, it was an essential part of school curricula. All students were expected to master it, memorizing the pronunciation of words and their method of writing. Even now, in the 21st century, vendors can be seen walking up and down subway trains selling books that teach it, while used bookstores overflow with volumes devoted to it, even books that teach it specifically to kids.

It consists of exactly 1000 characters laid out in 125 rhyming couplets, each composed of two 4 character lines. None of the characters used more than once. The phrases have a variety of meanings. Some teach basic observations of the world, such as "Sea water is salty, while river water is insipid." Other compounds deal with morality, "good things happen to people who are kind." Still, other compounds deal with Chinese history, society and cosmology, "families of vassals receive 1000 soldiers from the emperor."

An English translation with notes by Nathan Sturman can be found at http://www.angelfire.com/ns/pingyaozhuan/tce.html. Here is the original text with hypertext links:

--

1字~200字

, , , 宿, , , , 調, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 使, , , ,

201字~400字

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

退, , , , 滿, ,


401字~600字

, , , 西, , , 殿, , , , , , , , , , , , , , 稿, , , , , , , , 祿, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

601字~800字

, , , , , , , , , , 綿, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

801字~1000字


, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 姿, , , 耀, , , , , , , , , , , ,

 
     
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