Kyushu

…major subdialects: Eastern, Western, and Kyushu. The Eastern subdialects were established in the 7th and 8th centuries and became known as the Azuma (“Eastern”) language. After the 17th century there was a vigorous influx of the Kamigata (Kinai) subdialect, which was the foundation of standard Japanese. Among the Western subdialects,…

…either three groups—Eastern, Western, and Kyushu dialects—or simply Eastern and Western dialects, the latter including the Kyushu group. Linguistic unification has been achieved by the spread of the kyōtsū-go ‘common language,’ which is based on the Tokyo dialect. A standardized written language has been a feature of compulsory education, which…