Makibi came back with a young man called EN Shinkei (later called, KIYOMURA no Sukune) who mastered phonology, and according to FUJIWARA no Nagazane, KIYOMURA no Sukene tried to change the reading of kanji (Chinese characters) from the Wu reading to the Han reading, which is said to have contributed to the creation of katakana (one of the Japanese syllables).
真備は、袁晋卿（後の浄村宿禰）という音韻学に長けた少年を連れて帰朝したが、藤原長親によれば、この浄村宿禰という人物は、呉音だった漢字の読み方を漢音に改めようと努め、片仮名を作ったとされる。