Rakuyōshū
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The was a 1598
Japanese dictionary have a history that began over 1300 years ago when Japanese Buddhist priests, who wanted to understand Chinese sutras, adapted Chinese character dictionaries. Present-day Japanese lexicographers are exploring computerized editing and electronic di ...
of
kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
"Chinese characters" and compounds in three parts. The
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Mission Press published it at
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along with other early Japanese language reference works, such as the 1603 ''
Nippo Jisho The or ''Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam'' (''Vocabulário da Língua do Japão'' in modern Portuguese; "Vocabulary of the Language of Japan" in English) is a Japanese to Portuguese dictionary compiled by Jesuit missionaries and published in N ...
'' Japanese–Portuguese dictionary. The ''Rakuyōshū'', also known as the ''Rakuyoshu'' or ''Rakuyôshû'', is notable as the first dictionary to separate ''kanji'' readings between Chinese loanword ''on'' ( "pronunciation") and native Japanese ''kun'' ( "meaning"). In contrast with the numerous ''Rakuyōshū'' studies written in Japanese, the primary research in English is by Joseph Koshimi Yamagiwa, Professor of Japanese at the University of Michigan, and Don Clifford Bailey, Professor of Japanese at the University of Arizona.


Title

Although the title ''Rakuyōshū'' (落葉集) literally reads as a ''shū'' (集 "collection; assembly") of ''rakuyō'' (落葉 "fallen leaves", or ''ochiba'' 落ち葉 in ''kun'' reading), the preface explains it metaphorically means "collection, in ''iroha'' order, of fallen (left-over, overlooked) words".
To be sure, many Japanese dictionaries have appeared in the world before now. Of these, however, it may be said that they are deficient either in that they provide the ''koe'' hinese readingof characters, omitting the ''yomi'' apanese reading or that they record the ''yomi'' and ignore the ''koe''. Herein we propose to assemble "left-over 'rakusaku'' ''kanji'' and compounds long in use but hitherto overlooked and to arrange them, after the manner of the ''Irohashu'', in ''iroha'' order, their ''on'' hinese readingsto be on the right and their ''yomi'' to be on the left, and thus to produce in one volume a dictionary to be designated the ''Rakuyōshū''. Thereafter we propose to add a section of characters and compounds similarly grouped in ''iroha'' order but arranged in terms of their Japanese readings.
''Rakusaku'' comes from the
Classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...
word ''luosuo'' (落索 "wither, shrivel; fall low, fall on hard times; lonely, lonesome"). Thus, the title blends ''raku'' (落 "fall; drop") meaning words "dropped" (overlooked, missed) by other Japanese dictionaries plus ''yōshū'' (葉集, or ''hashū'' in ''on''-reading) abbreviating ''Irohashū'' (色葉集 "''iroha'' collection") meaning a dictionary collated in ''iroha'' order (e.g., the 12th-century ''
Iroha Jiruishō The is a 12th-century Japanese dictionary of ''Kanji'' ("Chinese characters"). It was the first Heian Period dictionary to collate characters by pronunciation (in the ''iroha'' order) rather than by logographic radical (like the '' Tenrei Bansh ...
''). Despite the compiler's intention of including overlooked words, Bailey discovered that more than half of the ''Rakuyōshū'' entries are found in contemporary Japanese dictionaries, primarily 15th-century ''
Setsuyōshū The was a popular Muromachi period Japanese dictionary collated in ''iroha'' order and subdivided into semantic categories. The title word ''setsuyō'' means "reduce usage; economize" and alludes to the ''Lunyu'' (compare the '' Kagakushū''). "Co ...
'' editions, and many others occur in Chinese
rime dictionaries A rime dictionary, rhyme dictionary, or rime book () is an ancient type of Chinese dictionary that collates Chinese character, characters by tone (linguistics), tone and rhyme, instead of by radical (Chinese character), radical. The most import ...
.


Contents

The ''Rakuyōshū'' text comprises 108 folios (''chō'' 丁 "leaf of paper, folio; block") in three parts, succinctly described by Joseph Koshimi Yamagiwa.
(1) A 62-folio section consisting of (a) the ''Rakuyōshū'' proper, which is a listing of Chinese-Japanese characters (''kanji'' 漢字) and compounds arranged in terms of their ''on'' 音pronunciation, that is, the pronunciations borrowed into Japanese from Chinese, (b) a list of the characters used in writing the numbers, and (c) some errata;
(2) a 27-folio section consisting of (a) the "Irohajishū 色葉字集," which is a listing of ''kanji'' and compounds arranged in terms of their ''kun'' 訓 pronunciations, that is, the pronunciations of the Japanese words represented by the Chinese characters, (b) some errata, (c) a listing of the names of one hundred Japanese government offices together with their Chinese equivalents, and (d) a listing of the sixty-odd provinces of Japan; and
(3) a 19-folio section consisting of (a) the "Shōgyokuhen 小玉篇," which is a listing of ''kanji'' in terms of 105 "radicals," and (b) some errata.
Part (I), entitled the ''Rakuyōshū'', gives Chinese ''on'' readings of ''kanji'' and ''kanji'' compounds. It includes nearly 1,700 main character entries (''boji'' 母字 "mother character; head character") with approximately 12,000 run-on entries of multi-character compounds (''jukuji'' 熟字 "compound; idiom; phrase"). Part (2), the ''Irohajishū'' ("''Iroha''-ordered character collection"), gives the equivalent Japanese ''kun'' readings of ''kanji''. It is less than half the size of (1) and only gives about one-fourth as many ''kanji'' compounds, around 3,000. The ''Irohajishū'' frequently lists graphic variants that have homophonous ''kun'' readings, for instance, defining ''hō'' 芳 "fragrance; aroma", ''fun'' 芬 "sweet smell; fragrance; perfume", and ''kō'' 香 "scent; aroma; fragrance; incense" as Japanese ''kōbashii'' "nice-smelling; savory; aromatic; fragrant; favorable". This part includes two appendices: the ''Hyakkan narabi ni Tōmyō no taigai'' (百官並唐名之大概 "Outline of the hundred government offices and their Chinese equivalents") and the ''Nippon Rakujūyoshū'' (日本六十餘州 "The 60-odd provinces of Japan") gazetteer. Part (3), the ''Shōgokuhen'' (小玉篇 "Little ''Yupian''"), classifies 2,366 characters, mostly from Parts (1) and (2), according to 105 (''bushu'' 部首) " radicals" and gives their respective ''on'' and ''kun'' readings. The title and format follow the circa 543 CE Chinese ''
Yupian The ''Yupian'' (; "Jade Chapters") is a c. 543 Chinese dictionary edited by Gu Yewang ( 顧野王; Ku Yeh-wang; 519–581) during the Liang dynasty. It arranges 12,158 character entries under 542 radicals, which differ somewhat from the original ...
'' ("Jade Chapters") dictionary, in analogy to the circa 1489 ''
Wagokuhen The was a circa 1489 CE Japanese dictionary of Chinese characters. This early Muromachi period Japanization was based upon the circa 543 CE Chinese ''Yupian'' (玉篇 "Jade Chapters"), as available in the 1013 CE ''Daguang yihui Yupian'' (大廣 ...
'' ("Japanese ''Yupian''"). The ''Shōgokuhen'' begins with an index that semantically classifies the radicals under 12 headings (''mon'' 門 "gates") of ''tenmon'' (天文 "natural phenomena"), ''chiri'' (地理 "geographical features"), ''jinbutsu'' (人物 "human matters"), etc., and gives the radical numbers within the main text. Unlike previous Japanese dictionaries, this index also gives a common name for each radical. Another feature useful to students of Japanese ''kanji'' was cross-listing some characters under more than one component radicals (''kō'' or ''suki'' 好 "like; love" can be listed under the "woman radical" 女 and the "child radical" 子).


Textual arrangement

''Rakuyōshū'' Parts (1) and (2) are called the ''honpen'' (本編 "main text") and (3) is the ''kōhen'' (後編 "later text"). The main text is dated 1598 and the undated ''Shōgokuhen'' probably was published circa 1599. One of the most significant lexicographical improvements in the ''Rakuyōshū'' is separately listing the ''on'' and ''kun'' readings of ''kanji''. Contemporary
Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...
Japanese dictionaries like the ''Setsuyōshū'' listed characters by one or the other, or mixed them. Bailey believes the reason was because the ''Rakuyōshū'' was designed for Europeans who could not easily distinguish between ''on'' and ''kun'' readings. This dictionary's internal arrangement combines the main text giving ''on'' and ''kun'' readings for ''kanji'' according to ''iroha'' order with the later index giving readings arranged by graphic radicals. Dictionary users who know either the Japanese or Chinese reading of a character can locate it in the main text, and those who cannot ascertain a character's reading can find it through the radical index. Unlike the ''Nippo Jisho'', this dictionary does not use ''
rōmaji The romanization of Japanese is the use of Latin script to write the Japanese language. This method of writing is sometimes referred to in Japanese as . Japanese is normally written in a combination of logographic characters borrowed from Ch ...
'' to romanize Japanese pronunciation, other than the title page spelling ''Racuyoxu''. This unique Jesuit romanization system was based on Portuguese and differs from the usual Hepburn romanization. The Japanese historical linguist Morita Takeshi (森田武) discovered that many ''Rakuyōshū'' character entries and almost half of the compound entries are alphabetized in the Jesuit system; most consistently after the 12th ''kana'' ''wo'' を. Bailey summarizes that
the arrangement of compounds in the main text of the ''Rakuyōshū'' is primarily alphabetic, but inconsistent to the extent that words of related meanings are often grouped together, especially in the early portions or the ''honpen''. In addition, there are a few places where entries are listed in apparently arbitrary order, neither alphabetic nor semantic arrangement obtaining.


Historical aspects

Japanese ''Kirishitan ban'' (キリシタン版 "Christian publications") refers to the books, grammars, and dictionaries published 1591–1611 by the Jesuit Mission Press.See . In 1590, the Italian Jesuit missionary
Alessandro Valignano Alessandro Valignano, S.J., sometimes Valignani (Chinese: 范禮安 ''Fàn Lǐ’ān''; February 1539 – January 20, 1606), was an Italian Jesuit priest and missionary born in Chieti, part of the Kingdom of Naples, who helped supervise the i ...
brought a
movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuatio ...
printing press to Japan. Compared with contemporary
woodblock printing in Japan Woodblock printing in Japan (, ''mokuhanga'') is a technique best known for its use in the ''ukiyo-e'' artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period. Widely adopted in Japan during the Edo period (160 ...
, Üçerler calls this technological superiority the "First IT Revolution". The ''Rakuyōshū'' is printed in ''kanji'' characters and ''
hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...
'' syllabary. The ''kanji'' font resembles handwritten
semi-cursive script Semi-cursive script (), also known as running hand script, is a style of calligraphy which emerged in China during the Han dynasty (3rd century BC – 3rd century AD). The style is used to write Chinese characters and is abbreviated slightly w ...
more than printed Japanese
regular script Regular script (; Hepburn: ''kaisho''), also called (), (''zhēnshū''), (''kǎitǐ'') and (''zhèngshū''), is the newest of the Chinese script styles (popularized from the Cao Wei dynasty c. 200 AD and maturing stylistically around the ...
. The ''hiragana'' font includes some outdated
hentaigana In the Japanese writing system, are variant forms of hiragana. History Today, with few exceptions, there is only one hiragana for each of the forty-five moras that are written without diacritics or digraphs. However, traditionally the ...
forms. In the history of Japanese printing, the ''Rakuyōshū'' was the first movable-type dictionary to incorporate two ''kana'' innovations that were already used in handwritten Japanese, and have survived to this day. ''
Furigana is a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller kana or syllabic characters printed either above or next to kanji (logographic characters) or other characters to indicate their pronunciation. It is one type of ruby text. Furigana is also known ...
'' is printing smaller ''kana'' alongside a ''kanji'' to indicate the pronunciation, a practice which allows less-educated people to read Chinese characters. ''Handakuten'' (半濁点) is printing a small circle to the upper right of a ''kana'' to indicate the
voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...
bilabial stop ; for example, compare ''ha'', ''hi'', ''hu'' (は, ひ, ふ) with ''pa'', ''pi'', ''pu'' (ぱ, ぴ, ぷ). Most of the original ''Rakuyōshū'' copies were lost. Today, only four complete copies, two incomplete copies and two collections of fragments are known. Two complete copies were survived during the turbulent feudal period of Japanese history: one is now held by the Tenri Central Library, in Tenri, Nara, and the other is held by the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
through
Ernest Satow Sir Ernest Mason Satow, (30 June 1843 – 26 August 1929), was a British scholar, diplomat and Japanologist. Satow is better known in Japan than in Britain or the other countries in which he served, where he was known as . He was a key fig ...
who bought this copy from antique dealer in Edo. Other two complete copies are preserved in Europe, by the Earl of Balcarres, and the
Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
in Rome. Two ''Rakuyūshū'' copies missing Part (3) are owned by the
Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
Library and the
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in Paris. Two collections of fragments are held by the Tenri Central Library, Bibliothèque Nationale of France, respectively.


Conclusion

"The ''Rakuyōshū'', being a product of the Jesuit Mission Press and the Jesuits' views on the treatment of ''kanji'' and ''kana''," concludes Bailey, "possesses a rigid yet comprehensive format making it somewhat a milestone in dictionary compilation in Japan." He lists six of this dictionary's aspects that enhanced its usefulness four centuries ago and make it of interest today: #Its reproduction of ''kanji'' not in the square or printed style but in a form resembling longhand. #Its attempt to use phonetic rather than historical ''kana'' spellings of Japanese words. #Its use of alphabetization as a major sorting device in the listing of entries in the main text. #Its semantic classification of radicals in the index of the "Shōgokuhen." #Its listing of ''kanji'' under more than one radical in the "Shōgokuhen." #Its fairly consistent use, in ''kana'' spellings, of small circles (''han-dakuten'') to distinguish words pronounced with a voiceless bilabial stop.


References

* * * Bristol: Ganesha Publishing 1998 reprint. * Footnotes


Further reading

* Doi, Yoichi (1986). Introduction, Two Copies of Rakuyōshū''. Tenri, Nara: Tenri University Press.


External links


''Rakuyōshū'' 落葉集 (''Racuyoxu'')
bibliographic entry from the Ricci Roundtable on the History of Christianity in China
''Racuyoxu''
title page and description from , Doshisha University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rakuyoshu Kanji Japanese dictionaries Society of Jesus