KIT-81258 is a personal experimental project for the digital transliteration of the
Koreana (Tripitaka Koreana) inscriptions, with the sole aim of restoring readability and chantability to a cultural heritage text that is increasingly unreadable to modern readers.
This project focuses on transliteration, not translation.
This is a personal, non-official transliteration experiment.
No claim is made regarding textual accuracy, authority, or liturgical correctness.
Source textual data is based on publicly available Daejanggyeong digital resources (AC Muller / DDB).
The Tripitaka Koreana is one of the world’s most important Buddhist textual heritages.
Yet today, the majority of Korean readers can no longer read or vocalize the original Hanja inscriptions fluently.
This project follows a simple but firm principle:
A scripture that is never read aloud is effectively dead.
Historical precedent across Buddhist traditions shows that:
- Pāli → Sinhala / Thai / Burmese: phonetic shifts occurred
- Sanskrit → Chinese: pronunciation drifted
- Chinese → Korean / Japanese / Vietnamese: further drift followed
Yet oral reading and chanting survived, even when textual purity did not.
This project accepts imperfection as the cost of continuity.
The workflow implemented in this repository is:
Hanja (unofficial source) ↓ Hangul (readable, Sino-Korean based) ↓ Romanization (chant-acceptable)
- No semantic interpretation
- No doctrinal correction
- No claim of canonical accuracy
- Focused on pronounceability and continuity
Accuracy is expected to degrade across stages:
- Hangul ≈ readable approximation
- Roman ≈ chant-supportive notation
This is intentional.
- Source data:
koreana.zip - Format: UTF-8
.txtfiles containing Hanja text - Source is considered unofficial and used solely for experimental purposes
The script performs the following steps for each .txt file in the ZIP archive:
-
Hanja → Hangul
- Uses Sino-Korean substitution
- Unknown characters are preserved as-is
-
Hangul → Roman
- Romanizes per Hangul syllable
- Preserves original line breaks
- Inserts spaces to support oral reading / chanting
- Normalizes spacing without collapsing structure
Each input file produces:
*-hangul.txt*-roman.txt
python convert.py koreana.zip
### Key Characteristics
- **No semantic interpretation**
- **No doctrinal correction**
- **No claim of canonical accuracy**
- Focused on **pronounceability and continuity**
Accuracy is expected to degrade across stages:
- Hangul ≈ readable approximation
- Roman ≈ chant-supportive notation
This is intentional.
---
## 📂 Input Data
- Source data: `koreana.zip`
- Format: UTF-8 `.txt` files containing Hanja text
- Source is considered **unofficial** and used solely for experimental purposes
---
## ⚙️ How It Works
The script performs the following steps for each `.txt` file in the ZIP archive:
1. **Hanja → Hangul**
- Uses Sino-Korean substitution
- Unknown characters are preserved as-is
2. **Hangul → Roman**
- Romanizes per Hangul syllable
- Preserves original line breaks
- Inserts spaces to support oral reading / chanting
- Normalizes spacing without collapsing structure
Each input file produces:
- `*-hangul.txt`
- `*-roman.txt`
---
## ▶️ Usage
```bash
python convert.py koreana.zip
Output will be written to:
koreana_output/
├── file01-hangul.txt
├── file01-roman.txt
├── file02-hangul.txt
└── file02-roman.txt
🧪 Project Status
Experimental
Unreviewed
Uncertified
Unendorsed
This repository is published as-is.
Anyone may:
Fork
Audit
Correct
Improve
Replace parts entirely
⚖️ Disclaimer
This project does not claim textual authority.
This project does not represent any institution.
This project does not seek approval, validation, or endorsement.
Errors, distortions, and historical mismatches are expected.
The author assumes full responsibility for this experiment.
🧭 Motivation
Across Buddhist history, texts survived not because they were perfect, but because someone kept reading them.
Perfect scriptures without readers disappear.
Imperfect texts with voices endure.
This project exists to keep the voice alive.
📄 License
Educational, research, and cultural preservation use.
Please verify source text licensing before redistribution.
🙏 Closing Note
This is not a final form.
This is a continuation attempt.
If this work enables even one person to read or chant a text that would otherwise remain silent, it has served its purpose.
# KIT-81258
Koreana Inscription Tripitaka (KIT-81258): Digital transliteration experiment from Hanja to Hangul and Roman for reading and chanting purpose. A personal, non-official project for cultural preservation through readable scripts.