Traditional usage Traditional scripts in Okinawa is called 古文書. Before the Satsuma invasion in 1609,
Man'yōgana (万葉仮名) was used in Japanese Epistolary style (候文). Unlike modern writing system あ could be written in 安・阿・愛・亜・悪 with
Cursive script (崩し字). Tana family documents (田名家文書), which are letters of rank appointment issued by the Shuri Royal Government, are written in Japanese Epistolary style (候文) with
Hentaigana. However, after the Satsuma invasion, Japanese culture was banned as part of the policy of exoticizing Ryukyu, and under the policy of
Haneji Ōji Chōshū, documents within Ryukyu also began to be written in
classical Chinese. Comparison of official documents of Tana family documents. Chinese translation of Okinawan Script in 1721 tells that Okinawan scripts were written in the same phonetic system as in mainland Japan. The system is called
iroha order. Conventional usages The modern conventional
ad hoc spellings found in Okinawa.
Council system The system was devised by the Council for the Dissemination of Okinawan Dialect.
University of the Ryukyus system This system was devised by Okinawa Center of Language Study, a section of
University of the Ryukyus. Unlike others, this method is intended purely as a phonetic guidance, and basically only uses
katakana. For the sake of an easier comparison, corresponding hiragana are used in this article.
New Okinawan letters 新沖縄文字 (
Shin Okinawa-moji), devised by , in his textbook
Utsukushii Okinawa no Hōgen (美しい沖縄の方言; "The beautiful Okinawan Dialect"; ). The rule applies to hiragana only. Katakana is used as in Japanese; just like in the conventional usage of Okinawan. A
TrueType font incorporating the New Okinawan letters into the has been released by Hitoshi Kobayashi (Institute of Cultural Informatics,
Surugadai University).
Unified Orthography for the Ryukyuan Languages The is an orthographic system created with the assistance of about 20 linguists for the general public who wish to write in or express themselves through the various Ryukyuan languages, and published in 2015 in (), edited by . Sounds found in languages ranging from
Amami to
Yaeyama are represented within a unified writing system. Part I proposes general principles of orthography, while Part II presents specific examples of writing from eight dialects selected to represent the Ryukyuan archipelago. This article discusses the orthography of the
Shuri dialect, authored by , as described in Chapter 4 of Part II.
Shimakutuba Orthography The is a system established by Okinawa Prefecture in 2022. Since it was officially enacted by the prefecture, this system can be regarded as the closest to an official orthography of the Okinawan language. However, at present it has not yet become widely adopted among the general public. Because this orthography was created as a standard writing system for representing the Ryukyuan languages spoken in various regions of Okinawa Prefecture, it provides rules not only for Okinawan, but also for
Kunigami,
Miyako,
Yaeyama, and
Yonaguni. Please see its
article for other languages' systems. Like the University of the Ryukyus system, Shimakutuba Orthography only uses katakana. For the sake of an easier comparison, corresponding hiragana are used in this article. ==Basic syllables and kai-yōon (palatalized syllables)==