Independent Non-Inflecting Words

General Rule 4

Main Rule

Nouns that derive from inflecting words, or nouns that are nouns created with nominalizing suffixes such as さ, み, げ, etc., take the okurigana of the inflectional word.

Examples:

(1) Words that are nominalizations of inflected words

動き　仰せ　恐れ　薫り　曇り　調べ　届け　願い　晴れ
当たり　代わり　向かい
狩り　答え　問い　祭り　群れ
憩い　愁い　憂い　香り　極み　初め
近く　遠く

(2) Words created with nominalizing suffixes such as さ, み, げ, etc.

暑さ　大きさ　正しさ　確かさ
明るみ　重み　憎にくしみ
惜おしげ

Exceptions

Okurigana is not attached to the following words.

謡うたい　 虞おそれ　 趣おもむき　 氷こおり　 印しるし　 頂いただき　 帯おび　 畳たたみ
卸おろし　 煙けむり　 恋こい　 志こころざし　 次つぎ　 隣となり　 富とみ　 恥はじ　 話はなし　 光ひかり　 舞まい
折おり　 係かかり　 掛（かかり）　 組くみ　 肥こえ　 並（なみ）　 巻かん　 割わり
Note

The word 組 raised here, used in cases such as 花の組 or 赤の組 is read as くみ, but it is not used in the same way, for example, as in 「活字の組みがゆるむ」[which is a nominalized verb]. Similarly, this case applies to words like 光, 折, and 係, when the noun is not used in the same way as the nominalized verb. It follows that words [bearing the meaning of a nominalized verb] will following the general rule for attaching okurigana.

Noun vs Nominalized Verb

There is a nuance in focus here. Both 組 くみ and 組み くみ are nouns with a distantly related meaning. The verbal-noun (nominalized verb) carries a meaning more directly related to the verb. It is somewhat like an English infinitive or gerund form. The nominalized verb has okurigana. The noun form with no okurigana typically carries a more specific meaning than the nominalized verb. 組み has a more generalized meaning of "assembly" or "form", while 組 has the specific meaning of "set" or "group". Other cases have similar meaning nuances.

Allowance

Nouns whose readings have no chance of being misread may omit the okurigana, as shown by the cases below in parenthesis.

Examples:

曇り(曇)　届け(届)　願い(願)　晴れ(晴)
当たり(当り)　代わり(代り)　向かい　(向い)
狩り(狩)　答え(答)　問い(問)　祭り(祭)　群れ(群)
憩いこい(憩)