Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/614

586 JAPAN [LITERATURE. ng preceded by a vowel in Chinese is generally rendered in Japanese reading by a long o, while an initial h is not un frequently changed Foreign into k. Of late years, since the restoration, there has come into words, prominent notice an ever-increasing tendency to introduce into ordinary conversation numerous Chinese words that had in many cases been never heard before that time. This style is, of course, affected chiefly by men of letters and by officials, and several suc cessive editions of small dictionaries containing these newly intro duced expressions alone have been published at intervals ; the increase in bulk of the last edition as compared with the first is very perceptible. A rather stilted style of address has always found favour with the military and literary class ; the personal pronoun of the second person being usually rendered by the word scnsei, "teacher," or kimi, "lord." Intercourse with foreign countries has of late years naturally created a demand for certain words and phrases hitherto unnecessary and consequently unknown, and these have therefore been freshly coined as it were for the occasion. It is worthy of remark that certain European words have for years back been in such common use as to be now deemed actually Japanese. Among these may be mentioned the following : Pan, bread, derived from the Latin, through the Spanish or Italian. Kasutera, a kind of sponge-cake, an adaptation from the Spanish (Castile). Tabako, tobacco. Dontaku, Sunday, derived from the Dutch. The English words "minute," "second" (of time), "ton," "electric," &c. , are now freely used, the pronunciation being only slightly at fault. Several Malay expressions have also from time to time crept into use ; but these are as a rule heard only among the lower classes at the treaty ports. Dialects, Although differences of dialect are distinctly apparent in various localities, these are not by any means so marked as is the case in China. As a rule, a man speaking the pure Yedo dialect might travel through nearly the whole of Japan without experiencing any considerable difficulty ; his words would generally be fully under stood, though he might now and again be unable to catch the true meaning of the answers he received. In the capital a slight n sound is given before the consonant g, making it almost ng ; and in the case of an initial h, a slight sibilant is plainly perceptible, giving almost the sound of sh. The interjection ne is often heard in the vulgar Yedo dialect ; it has no meaning, is little used by men, and serves merely to draw the attention of the person addressed. In the north this n& is changed to na, and in other parts of Japan to no. In most of the northern provinces, and also in the far west, a series of aspirate sounds take almost an initial /instead of h ; it is thus apparent, for instance, why the name of the large island off the coast of Hiz;-n is so often termed Firando instead of its true name Hirado. A nasal intonation is very noticeable in Oshiu and other northern districts, particularly in the neighbourhood of Sendai, and this is also heard in the Ozaka dialect. In Ozaka and its vicinity, too, the Yedo n6 is rendered by the exclamation sakai; at Kioto, as might be expected, many of the older forms of expres sion prevail. The Satsuma dialect presents, perhaps, the greatest difficulty: the letter r, particularly at the commencement of a word, is replaced by a very decided j, and there is a strong tendency to clip off final vowels in all words. This dialect possesses, too, many words peculiar to its own province, so much so indeed that a conversation carried on between two Satsuma men is often all but unintelligible to a native of Tokio, although the latter might be able to make himself understood by either of the others.. In many country districts also a patois is used known only to tne peasants, and presenting great difficulty to any Japanese of the better class who conies from a different locality. Even in cases where the word or expression itself is identical, a peculiar intonation or pro nunciation so completely disguises it as to convey the impression that it is totally different. Reading and writing are often almost unknown in remote dis tricts, and the abstruse Chinese characters are beyond the knowledge of the ordinary Japanese peasant. Some few of the easier charac ters are used, and the kana supplies the place of the rest ; on most of the Government notice boards, &c. , and also in the newspapers published for the express benefit of the lower classes, the reading of any Chinese characters used is generally added at the side in kana. It is only among the better-educated ranks that the Chinese Diction- writing is well understood and in common use. The dictionaries aries. used are arranged after the Chinese style, each character being looked out, according to the number of strokes contained in it, under its proper radical. The list of radicals is the same as in China, and they are always printed in regular index form at the commencement of the dictionary. At the side of each character in the work is placed the Japanese attempt at the rendering of the true Chinese sound, and underneath is given the meaning in Japanese colloquial. There are special dictionaries for the running hand. This style consists of the ordinary cursive hand, which is not as a rule very unlike the square hand, and also of what is termed the "grass" hand, which is very much abbreviated and exceedingly difficult to acquire. Unless the square hand of a particular "grass " character be known, it is often wholly impossible to look it up in a dictionary. The pens and ink used in writing are precisely the same Wr as the Chinese ; the lines of writing are perpendicular, and are read mal downwards, commencing with the column to the extreme right of and the reader. The beginning of a Japanese book is thus where our usa| volumes end. The paper used for letters is thin, and in rolls, the written part being torn off when the note is finished ; for official despatches large ruled sheets of superior paper are now in fashion. The signature of the writer is always placed at the foot of the page, while the name of the person addressed is written near the top, with some honorific title appended to it. Whenever the title of the sovereign occurs in an official document, it is either placed as the first character in a fresh column, or else a small space, generally of size sufficient to contain one character, is left vacant immediately above it. In a letter numerous honorifics are used, and these serve to distinguish the second person ; in speaking of himself the writer omits these, and sometimes also writes the characters in a rather smaller hand and slightly towards the side of the column instead of in the centre. This is of course done in affectation of humility, and is a truly Asiatic idea. The honorific expressions applied only to the mikado himself would suffice to compose a small glossary ; some of these are exceedingly flowery, as, for instance, the "Phoenix Car," the "Dragon Chariot," the "Jewelled Throne," &c. The language of the Aino tribes in the island of Yezo is totally Aii distinct from the pure Japanese tongue. There does not as yet exist any satisfactory dictionary to throw light upon it, and it can now only be regarded as a kind of local patois, intelligible to the Ainos alone. Whether this be the descendant of the most ancient form of speech amongst the inhabitants of Japan, it is impossible to conjecture. It does not in sound resemble pure Japanese, being guttural, and spoken in a much lower key. The natives of the Riukiu group also possess a language of their Ri own, but this does not differ in any great degree from Japanese. Many of the persons of the better classes speak Japanese with per fect correctness, and it is also stated that the higher officials arc ac quainted with the court dialect of China. The Eiukiu tongue may be described as nothing more than a very strongly marked dialect of Japanese, and in it there are still preserved many words long since obsolete in Japan itself. In writing, the Chinese characters are chiefly used. 1 LITERATURE. Literature in Japan has of late years received far more attention and careful study than in ancient times, if we are to judge by the multitude of recently published books as compared with those exist ing even less than a century ago. The introduction of printing presses with movable type has no doubt been the principal cause of this ; wooden blocks were in use far earlier, but it was a work of great labour to prepare them ; and, as only a certain number of copies could be struck from them, in the case of any work much sought after the demand very soon exceeded the supply. As many of the old manuscripts have been set Tip in type and published in the modern style, there is no great difficulty in procuring specimens of the ancient literature. In the earliest times Kioto was the principal if not almost the only seat of learning and literature in Japan. Interminable wars and feuds kept the inhabitants of the eastern portion of the empire too fully occupied with military affairs to allow of their being able to engage in more learned and peaceful pursuits, even had they so wished. The court of the mikado at Kioto enjoyed a far more tranquil existence, and the nobles composing that court devoted themselves with zest to literary pursuits. Poetry was by them held in high honour, and received perhaps the greater share of their attention ; but the writing of diaries seems also to have been a favourite occupation, and examples of these, still extant, afford a very interesting insight into the mode of life then prevalent at the court and in the neighbourhood of Kioto. The ancient literature of Japan contains but few works of a popular character. Almost everything then composed that is still extant was written by and for the members of the learned circle around the court, and was thus exclusively adapted to the minds of the well-read and highly educated class. Later on, in the 10th century, when the learned were devoted chiefly to the study of Chinese, the cultivation of the Japanese language was in a great measure abandoned to the ladies of the court. A very large pro portion of the best writings of the best age of Japanese literature was the work of women ; and the names of numerous poetesses and authoresses are quoted with admiration even at the present time. 1 The scientific study of Japanese in Europe is of comparatively modern date. The chief names associated with it are Franz von Siebold, J. Hoffmann, Ldon do Kosny, and Pfizmaier. Among Leon do Rosny s works may be mentioned Intro duction a Tettide de la Jangue japonaise (1857), Manuel de la lecture japonaise (1859), Recueil de textes japmiais (18G3), Cours de japonais (1869), Dictionnaire japonait-franfait-anglai* (Paris, 1857). Pfizmaier is the mithor of a Janancse- German-English Dictionary (Vienna, 1851), of a Japanese chrestomathy (Vienna, 1847), Untemufhungen iiber den Bau der Aino Sprache (1852), Ac., and has pub lished a variety of critical papers and Japanese texts in the Sitzungsberichte of the Vienna Academy. English workers in Japanese are E. Satow, Aston, Chamberlain, Alcock, Hepburn.