Anyone know about abbreviation symbols used in Japanese---ie. Kanji for "-masu"?

[Xi'Er Dun]

Does anyone know about abbreviation symbols used in Japanese, like for example, the Kanji used for the polite grammatical structure ending in "-masu", or what about he symbol for "toki"-time, "shite" for the "Te Form" contracted verb "to do" or even an archaic copula/to be "gozaru"? ( I am wondering if there is there a Kanji that was once used for the copula/to be "-desu", although I know that this is modern Japanese and the Classical Japanese equivalent is "-nari" what I know for a fact a kanji for this does exist).These abreviation symbols, some of the Kanji do exist, but what is the proper term for them(are they called Japanese Typographic Symbols)? Does anyone know of a website that has more information and usage information on these extra Japanese symbols and posssibly a complete list of ones used and found in pre-modern Japanese literature?

By the way, the reason I can't input Japanese or any CJK for that matter is because I am using a computer (not mine) that is not fully set up for that, shame..... So I had to do a copout and use Roumaji, sorry.

Thankyou

Doumo-arigatou-gozaimasu.

Ki-ru-ton (Ki-ni-ton) yori

[furyou_gaijin]

What a confusing (and confused) question... How is -masu an abbreviation?

[prep_girl_Nessa]

You mean Hiragana?

It's a series of 46 characters that are from Chinese characters but have become a syllabary (like the alphabet) that represent sounds and not objects. Chinese characters, kanji, are characters that represent objects.

Wikipedia's take - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiragana