＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
The other day, while writing a blog, I was glancing at my wife’s Korean drama “SKY Castle: Upper Class Wives” and came across a surprising scene.
It was a scene in which a young, elite doctor became indignant when a celebrity university professor ridiculed him for “not being able to read Chinese characters.”
I am aware that “Hangul” is now the mainstream in Korea, and that in China, simplified “simplified characters” have replaced the original “traditional” Chinese characters. However, I vaguely thought that both Chinese and Koreans could read the “original Chinese characters.”
But have Chinese characters now become something “incomprehensible” to many Koreans, like “ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics” or “the characters of a foreign language they have never learned”?
I would like to consider this question in this article.
1. Korea has abandoned Chinese characters
In South Korea, Chinese characters are common in many fields of expertise and even in names, but the number of generations unable to read and write them is increasing.
According to a 2011 survey of 427 people aged between 30 and 80 conducted by Professor Lee Myung-hak of Sungkyunkwan University, 47.8% of respondents wrote their children’s Chinese characters incorrectly, and 30.2% were unable to write a single character. It appears that the younger the age group, the more likely they are to be unable to write Chinese characters.
Since names written in Hangul often result in identical surnames, people tend to write them in Chinese characters to distinguish them from others. “There has been an increase in online message boards where people take photos of Chinese characters on gift envelopes and condolence envelopes with their smartphones and ask how to read them,” reported the Seoul Shinmun on October 21, 2017.
2. Abolition of Chinese Character Education in South Korea
The abolition of Chinese character education is due to the rise of nationalism. It seems that the thinking behind this is that “using Chinese characters created by a foreign country, China, makes people feel like they are a vassal state of China, so we don’t want to use them,” and “We should use Hangul, created by the Korean people.”
The 1948 “Law Concerning the Exclusive Use of Hangul” stipulated that official documents be written in Hangul, and official documents written in both Chinese characters and Hangul were converted to Hangul.
Initially, Chinese characters were used, but in the 1970s, President Park Chung-hee (father of former President Park Geun-hye) declared the “abolition of Chinese characters.” However, I believe this was based on foolish and narrow-minded nationalism.
As a result, Chinese character education was limited to classical Chinese in middle and high school. As it was an elective subject and did not affect entrance exams, the number of students decreased, and by the 1980s, Chinese characters were no longer used in newspapers or magazines either. Kanji teaching was completely banned in elementary schools, and teachers who taught them faced severe disciplinary action, including dismissal.
Meanwhile, Japan, utilizing Chinese characters introduced from China, invented hiragana and katakana, and developed a unique Japanese language that uses them in conjunction with Chinese characters, a tradition that continues to this day.
3. The revival of Chinese character education in Korea
I believe the usefulness of Chinese characters lies in the following:
(1) Because Hangul is a phonetic alphabet, it cannot distinguish between homonyms, making it less convenient than ideographic Chinese characters.
(2) Not being able to read domestic and international books written in Chinese characters, which are a cultural heritage, is a major cultural disadvantage for the Korean people.
(3) It also contributes to the government’s “policy of ignoring the people” by preventing the public from reading ancient Chinese characters.
(4) If Koreans cannot communicate with people from Chinese character-using countries such as Japan, China, and Taiwan, they cannot communicate by writing, which is not a good idea for international exchange. (Note)
(Note) However, it is important to note that the meaning of idiomatic words may differ in each country. For example, “手紙” (letter) means “toilet paper” in China, and “愛人” (lover) means “spouse” or “lover” in Chinese. “手紙” (letter) is called “信” (sign) or “書信” (letter), and “愛人” (lover) is called “情夫 (affair husband)” (affair wife) or “第三者” (third party).
The South Korean government appears to have finally realized its mistake, and starting in 2019, kanji education was reinstated in fifth and sixth grade textbooks. However, this only covers around 300 of the 1,800 basic kanji characters. In Japan, 1,006 characters are taught in elementary school and 1,130 in junior high school, for a total of 2,136 characters taught in compulsory education. Korea will likely gradually increase its number of characters from now on.
4. History of “Hanji” and “Hangul”
(1) The Origin of Kanji
The origin of kanji dates back to the Shang Dynasty in ancient China (c. 17th century BC – 1046 BC), when oracle bone inscriptions (inscribed on tortoise shells and animal bones) were used for divination. Around 1300 BC, the characters that would become the basis for kanji were established and gradually evolved and developed.
(2) The Introduction of Kanji to Japan
Buddhism was introduced to Japan in 538, when King Seong of Baekje on the Korean Peninsula presented Buddhist statues, Buddhist implements, and sutras to Emperor Kinmei of the Yamato court. These sutras are officially considered the “first large-scale source of kanji.”
However, kanji appears to have been known even before that, as the “Inscription on the Iron Sword of the Inariyama Kofun,” excavated from the Inariyama Kofun in Gyoda City, Saitama Prefecture, is dated to 471 and is the “oldest surviving source of kanji.”
Subsequently, in Japan, katakana, hiragana, and kunten (reading marks) were invented using Chinese kanji, creating a unique Japanese language.
(3) The Origin of Hangeul
Until the mid-15th century, the Korean Peninsula lacked a native script to represent its own language, Korean. The educated classes used Chinese characters.
However, King Sejong, the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, actively promoted the creation of a “native Korean script” and promulgated Hangeul under the name “Hunminjeongeum” in 1446.
However, Hangeul faced opposition from the outset from conservative, subservient forces for the following reasons: “Since ancient times, there have been no examples of dialect-based writing in China, despite the different climates. Only Mongolia, Western Xia, Jurchen, Japan, and Tibet have their own writing systems, but these were all the work of barbarians (uncivilized peoples), and this is not even worth mentioning.” “Chinese characters are the only writing system, and there is no such thing as a native national script.”
In response to this opposition, Sejong insisted that “Hangeul is not a script (it is not a rebellion against Chinese culture), but merely a Hunminjeongeum (a symbol used to teach pronunciation to those without a background in Chinese characters).”
5. Japan’s “National Language Reform” and the Problem of “Katakana Writing of Animal and Plant Names” (For Reference)
Although not as dramatic as China’s “Simplified Characters,” Japan also underwent a “national language reform” after the war, which replaced old characters with new ones. I believe this reform was a mistake.
Also, after the war, it became common to write the names of insects and plants in katakana in illustrated books and other publications. I also believe this is a mistake. Personally, I would like to see them all revert to kanji writing and include “ruby” (furigana).
Whether it’s an animal or plant, the name always has a origin. However, if everything is written in katakana, it is often difficult to understand why the name was chosen.
Here are some specific examples of the negative effects of writing insect and plant names in katakana.
For example, take the “Myamaikaburi” beetle. If written in kanji as “蝸牛被,” its name immediately suggests it feeds on snails (蝸牛).
There’s an insect called “Yotsuboshi Kesikisui.” If written as “四星芥子木吸,” you can imagine it’s a beetle that sucks the sap from small trees with four star-shaped spots. In katakana, though, it’s like, “What the heck is this?”
Have you heard of the grain weevil? If written as “穀象虫” (koku zō mushi), it’s easier to imagine it as a small insect with a head like an elephant’s trunk, found in rice stored in rice bins.
These days, rice sold in 5kg bags at supermarkets uses pesticides, so grain weevils are rarely seen anymore…
Fewer people might know about the “silverfish.” It’s written as “紙魚” (paper fish), but it’s not a fish.
As a child, I lived in an old Kyoto townhouse built in the 1880s. On the second floor was a dim storage room called the “falling space.” It took courage to go in alone at night with a flashlight.
Inside were old chests holding kimonos worn by previous generations, folding screens, ancient tools whose purpose I couldn’t fathom, and old books.
One summer day, I opened an old book in that storage room and was startled when a tiny, silvery-white insect resembling a deep-sea fish emerged. That was the “silverfish.” It was a strangely unsettling little creature.
Also, among plant names, there is a tree called “Asebi.” Written as “馬酔木” (asebiki), it clearly conveys that horses become anesthetized if they eat its flowers.
Sometimes it’s surprising how unexpectedly cruel names ancient people gave to flowers. There is a flower called “Mamako no Shiri Nuguī(「継子の尻拭い」).”
Written in kanji, it means “stepchild’s butt-wiping cloth.” The thorns lining this plant’s stem are extremely sharp; anyone trying to wipe their butt with it would surely scream in pain. This naming reflects the grim reality of insidious “stepchild abuse.”
Incidentally, in Korea, it’s apparently called “bride’s butt-wiping grass(「嫁の尻拭き草」).”