＜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) on X
(Reference) Original article in Japanese
・音読みがチョウの漢字には「ﾃﾌ･ﾃｳ･ﾁｬｳ･ﾁｮｳ」の4種の歴史的仮名遣いがある！
My mother often told me that in the old “national textbooks,” first-graders learned that “butterflies” were pronounced “tefutefu.”
For people like me, the “baby boomer” generation, who received post-war education, “historical kana orthography” is complicated and troublesome.
I previously wrote an article arguing that the correct spelling of Kei Ogura’s famous song “The Scent of Cyclamen” is “kaori,” but those unfamiliar with “historical kana orthography” often make mistakes.
By the way, while “butterfly” is written as “tefu,” “bird” is written as “teu,” as in Hiratsuka Raichō (ptarmigan). There are also kanji that are written as “chō,” like the “chō” in “itchōme.”
How do we distinguish between these?
1. Four Historical Kana Orthographies for Kanji Pronounced “Chō”
In modern kana orthography, there are four historical kana orthographies for kanji pronounced “Chō”: “Tefu,” “Teu,” “Chau,” and “Chō.”
According to a Chinese-Japanese dictionary, the following examples are given.
Distinguishing how kanji pronounced “Chō” are written in historical kana orthography seems impossible without knowing the original Chinese pronunciation.
The reason for this is that when kanji were originally introduced from China, the “Wu pronunciation,” which represents the sounds of southern Chinese dialects, was initially transmitted, followed by the “Han pronunciation,” which is based on the pronunciation of the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China. This resulted in the creation of kana orthographies (kana orthographies based on Chinese pronunciation). Later, “Tō pronunciation” was also introduced, resulting in three types of kanji pronunciations: “Wu pronunciation,” “Han pronunciation,” and “Tō pronunciation.” While each pronunciation may have its own unique “tendencies,” there is no systematic regularity.
This applies not only to “chō,” but also to “kyō,” “gyō,” “shō,” “yō,” “ryō,” “ō,” “hō,” and “bō,” which similarly have four different historical kana spellings.
(1) “Tefu”
In Chinese pronunciation, the on’yomi (Sino-Japanese reading) of kanji where the consonant is followed by “ie” is “tefu.”
Examples: 蝶 (butterfly), 牒 (to affix)
(2) “Teu”
In Chinese pronunciation, the on’yomi (Sino-Japanese reading) of kanji where the consonant is followed by “ao” is “teu.”
Examples: 鳥 (bird), 朝 (morning), 潮 (tide), 調 (adjustment), 弔 (death), 兆 (omen), 彫 (carving), 跳 (jump), 誂 (attached), 超 (super), 凋 (decrease), 鯛 (sea bream), 吊 (hanging)
(3) “Chau”
In Chinese pronunciation, the on’yomi (Sino-Japanese reading) of kanji where the consonant is followed by “ang” or “ing” is “chau.”
Examples: 丁, 庁, 町, 長, 張, 帳, 頂, 腸, 聴, 停, etc.
(4) “Chou”
In Chinese pronunciation, the on’yomi (Sino-Japanese reading) of kanji characters that end in “eng” or “ong” after a consonant is “Chou.”
Examples: 重, 徴, 澄, 懲, etc
(Reference) The reason why “butterfly” is written as “tefu” in historical kana orthography
In Japan, the insect butterfly was formerly called “kahahirako,” a native Japanese word. However, during the Heian period, this was replaced by the Chinese term “tiep,” a loanword.
The pronunciation “tiep” was simply transcribed into “tefu.”
This pronunciation “tiep” changed over time. Specifically, from the mid-Heian period to the Kamakura period, it changed to “teu,” and by the Edo period, it was pronounced “chō.”
However, the spelling “tefu” remained unchanged. Because of this discrepancy, “tefu” came to be read as “chō.”
2. Types of “On-yomi” (Sino-Japanese Readings)
(1) “Go-on,” “Kan-on,” and “Tō-on”
There are two types of readings for kanji: “On-yomi” and “Kun-yomi.” “On-yomi” includes “Go-on,” “Kan-on,” and “Tō-on.”
Go-on, Kan-on, and Tō-on arrived in Japan at different times.
Go-on was the first to arrive. It is said to have been transmitted from Baekje, a Korean kingdom that had contact with the Kingdom of Wu during the Six Dynasties period (222-589), by around the 7th century. It is considered to be “a pronunciation based on the southern dialect of China.”
Next came Kan-on. It was transmitted from the Nara period to the early Heian period by Japanese envoys to Tang China and Chinese people who came to Japan. It is “a pronunciation based on the pronunciation of the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China.”
In 792, Emperor Kanmu issued an imperial decree encouraging Kan-on, and students studying Confucianism at the Daigaku-ryō (Imperial University) were required to study using Kan-on. At that time, it was required to pronounce correct Chinese using Kan-on pronunciation. The requirements were extremely high, making it impossible to replace the previously established Go-on pronunciation with the Kan-on pronunciation.
Later introduced was the Tang-on pronunciation, also known as the Song-on pronunciation. This pronunciation was introduced to Japan from the mid-Heian period to the Edo period. Because it covers a long period, it naturally extends to the late Tang, Song, Yuan, and Zhen dynasties within China.
(2) Examples of “Tang-on” pronunciation
As seen in the example of “明” (Ming), which is pronounced “Min” in Tang-on, there aren’t that many kanji characters pronounced using Tang-on.
Most of these are words deeply rooted in daily life, such as andon (lantern), isu (chair), osho (monk), shumai (steamed dumpling), suika (watermelon), and tansu (chest of drawers), but are not easily pronounced using Tang-on.
(3) How to Distinguish Between “Go-on” and “Kan-on”
On the other hand, Go-on and Kan-on are very commonly used sounds, such as reading “明” as “myō” or “mei.”
Is there a way to distinguish between these two sounds?
Aside from complex linguistic discussions, the following five rules can be considered “rules that anyone can understand.”
① When there are two on’yomi (Sino-Japanese readings), one starting with the “na” row and the other with the “za” row: The “na” row is Go-on, and the “za” row is Kan-on.
Examples: 日 = nichi/jitsu, 然 = nen/zen, 若 = nyaku/jaku, 人 = nin/jin
② When there are two on’yomi (Sino-Japanese readings), one starting with the “na” row and the other with the “da” row: The “na” row is Go-on, and the “da” row is Kan-on.
Examples: 男 = nan/dan, 女 = nyo/jo, 怒 = nu/do, 内 = nai/dai
③ When there are two on’yomi (Sino-Japanese readings), one starting with the “ma” row and the other with the “ba” row: The “ma” row is Go-on, and the “ba” row is Kan-on. Examples: 無 (mu) = mu/bu, 万 (man) = man/ban, 美 (mi) = mi/bi, 幕 (maku) = maku/baku
④ When there are two on’yomi (Sino-Japanese readings) in the same row, one starting with a voiced consonant (ga, za, da, ba) and one starting with an unvoiced consonant (ka, sa, ta, ha): The voiced consonant is the Go-on (Wu pronunciation). The unvoiced consonant is the Kan-on (Han pronunciation).
Examples: 極 (goku) = goku/kyoku, 成 (jou/sei), 白 (byaku/haku), 分 (bun/fun) = bun/fun
⑤ When there are two on’yomi (Sino-Japanese readings) ending with chi and one ending with tsu: Chi is the Go-on (Wu pronunciation). Tsu is the Kan-on (Han pronunciation).
Examples: 一 (ichi) = ichi/itsu, 質 (shichi) = shichi/shitsu, 吉 (kichi) = kichi/kitsu, 達 (tachi) = tatsu
Comparing them in this way, the Go-on sounds more mellow.
3. What is “Historical Kana Orthography”?
“Historical Kana Orthography” (rekishiteki kanazukai) is a type of kana orthography, also known as “Old Kana Orthography” (kyū kanazukai) in contrast to “Modern Kana Orthography” (modern kana orthography), and also as “Revival Kana Orthography” or “Classical Kana Orthography.”
Generally, “Historical Kana Orthography” refers to “the kana orthography used in official documents and school education from the Meiji era until immediately after the end of World War II, based on actual spellings unearthed from the early Heian period.” After World War II, it was taught as the official kana orthography in public education until “Modern Kana Orthography” was officially announced as part of the national language and writing reform. Currently, in public education, it is only used in the study of classical literature.
The principle of “Historical Kana Orthography” is “to maintain the original notation from the time of kana invention, regardless of subsequent changes in pronunciation habits (phonetic shifts),” but in reality, it is not possible to completely determine the original notation. Since research based on historical documents begins with Keichū, there is a good possibility that some errors still exist.
4. What is “Jion Kana Orthography”?
“Jion Kana Orthography” refers to “kana orthography created to represent the older pronunciations and phonologies of Chinese characters.” The systematic establishment of Jion Kana Orthography in historical kana orthography was extremely late; many characters lacked a definitively established correct notation until Motoori Norinaga wrote “Jion Kanazukai” (a treatise on the use of Jion Kana) during the Edo period.
The historical kana orthography used after the Meiji era, which continued until the implementation of modern kana orthography, followed Jion Kana Orthography, but this was based on Motoori Norinaga’s research. Therefore, this is also included in the broader definition of historical kana orthography.
Furthermore, Jion Kana Orthography varied greatly depending on the era (the date of notation, the phonology of which era was used as the standard, etc.), and many aspects remain unresolved.
Given the circumstances described above, among the theorists of historical kana orthography, there are those who do not include phonetic kana orthography from the perspective of emphasizing “logo (ideographic)” (such as Tokieda Seiki, Fukuda Tsuneari, and Maruya Saiichi), and those who do include it (such as Mishima Yukio).