Kaida
Kaidā glyphs (カイダー字, Kaidā ji) are a set of pictograms once used in the Yaeyama Islands of southwestern Japan.
Image is in the public domain. Source: Wikimedia.
Script details
Section titled “Script details”See all script details: code, region, status and more
| Code | x-kaida |
| Script type | logo-syllabary |
| Region | East Asian |
| Status | Historical |
| Direction | vertical (RTL) |
| Baseline | vertical |
| Case | no |
| White space | unspecified |
| Complex behaviors | unspecified |
| OpenType code | unspecified |
| ISO 15924 Number | none |
Script description
Section titled “Script description”Kaida was primarily used for record-keeping and the characters comprise of a combination of pictographs, kanji-like characters, markings and numerals, and symbols used to indicate families.
Read the full description…
Kaida has been found on boards, paper, wooden sticks and knotted strings of rope. It was used in the Yaeyama islands and the island of Yonaguni, both of which are today part of Japan. The script dates to at least the late 19th century. Today it is found in folk art, and items such as tee-shirts.
There are different types of characters in Kaida writing. The pictographic glyphs themselves are referred to as kaida-di. Not all of these glyphs are arbitrary, as some were designed to look like their referent, while others were not. Characters for numbers and indicators of the month and day bear a strong resemblance to the kanji characters of China and Japan. In addition, there are six characters, called sūchūma, used to represent different volume measurements. These characters not only represent volume, but can also be used to express numerical values. Kaida also makes use of several dots, although their significance is still yet to be determined. Lastly, there are symbols, called dahan, which indicate individual families.
This script is not currently recognized by the ISO 15924 standard
, but is included in Writing Systems Technical Resources for research purposes. If you have any information on this script, please add the information to this site. Your contributions can be a great help in refining and expanding the ISO 15924 standard. The Script Encoding Initiative is working to support the inclusion of this script in the standard, and contributions here will support their efforts.
Languages that use this script
Section titled “Languages that use this script”There are no known languages that use this script.
Unicode status
Section titled “Unicode status”The Kaida script is not yet in Unicode. The script has a tentative allocation at U+1A780..U+1A7FF in the Roadmap to the SMP for the Unicode Standard. It may not be considered a script but could end up being a collection of symbols.
Resources
Section titled “Resources”External links
- Sample pictograms from the Kaida script (Wikimedia)