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I'm usually on a mobile phone, and apps like YouTube or Twitch don't seem to allow ふりがな, so I was wondering if my usage of parentheses was acceptable from a Japanese perspective or if there's a better way?? Because I want to show the hiragana like でんせつ so others who don't know 伝説 would know that is what it is?? Though I don't know Kanji enough to know it myself without the furigana above it, for certain ones not that common outside of the Japanese, mostly for education of the English speakers that want to know…

Example: 伝説(でんせつ/Densetsu)

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  • They can. Whether they should would be a matter of opinion/context. For example, I don't see any harm in doing it for the occasional word but, if you did that for a whole sentence/paragraph I think it would become very difficult to read.
    – user3856370
    Commented Oct 20 at 13:34
  • Parentheses are also used for article titles in Japanese Wikipedia. Examples: 内閣総理大臣, 石破茂.
    – Arfrever
    Commented Oct 20 at 21:15
  • Is this about mentioning one Japanese term or two in otherwise English text? Or fully in Japanese?
    – Yusuke Matsubara
    Commented Oct 21 at 13:14

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Of course it's better to use furigana properly where possible, but I have definitely seen parentheses used the exact way you describe:

  • in older JRPGs etc., where the text engine didn't support it
  • in Youtube chat

(That said, it would be unusual to see Japanese people use any such guide for 伝説, unless it was e.g. in a book for children, or chatting with a Japanese learner. Per Jisho, both kanji are N3 level and taught in grade 4. English-speaking nerds will often learn the word rather early, if only because of the popularity of the ゼルダの伝説 video game series.)

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