On Comparism Between Initial Consonants In Chinese And Onyomi Of Kanji—[B][P][M][F]

As we all know, Japanese Kanji originated from the Chinese language, which has resulted in the close relationship between onyomi of Kanji and the pronunciation of the corresponding Chinese Pinyin. Nevertheless, through the historical development of the two different languages, the pronunciation of modern Chinese is a world far away from onyomi of Kanji. According to the history of Chinese phonology, onyomi of Kanji is formed under the affection of the pronunciation of mid-ancient Chinese (5AD-11AD) and modern Chinese (12AD-19AD).This study focuses on Chinese characters with [b]、[p]、[m]、[f] as their initial consonants, which are chosen from "the list of Chinese characters in common use " published by the Japanese government. Through analyzing historical development of pronunciations of every single Chinese character in different periods from ancient times to modern times and corresponding onyomi of Kanji from Wu accent, accent of Han Dynasty as well as accent of Tang and Song Dynasties in Japanese, the author attempts to find rules of Kanji from Wu accent, accent of Han Dynasty in Japanese corresponding Chinese characters with [b]、[p]、[m]、[f] as their initial consonants. Being not concentrating on all of the initial consonants, the study is manly on the very four labials:[b]、[p]、[m]、[f], through which reasons of the corresponding rules are revealed and elucidated.The results show that Chinese characters with initial consonants—[b]、[p]、[f] is similar to" ha""ba" transversal pronunciation in Japanese, and with initial consonant—[m] is similar to "ma""ba" transversal pronunciation in Japanese. The corresponding rules are mainly attributed to the historical development of pronunciations of Chinese characters indifferent periods from ancient times to modern times.Knowing the corresponding rules and the reasons for that is of great help for the Chinese to learn Japanese and the Japanese to learn Chinese. In addition, it can facilitate the comparison between pronunciations of other initial consonants and corresponding onyomi of Kanji, and thus prompt Japanese learning and teaching as well as Sino-Japan cultural exchange and innovation.