first introduced, the Japanese translated them as: monohami (food container) for stomach; kuso bukuro (a bag for excrement) for intestines; and kuchi yori shiri yori koku yamai (a disease that breaks through mouth and bottom) for cholera. All these can be found in the Chinese-character dictionary of the Heian period (794–1160), Ruiju Mygish.7 The Japanese translations of these words, however, failed to gain popular usage. For one thing, people felt that medical expressions should be foreign and important-looking. But more than that, it was probably because Yamato words were long and cumbersome.
This reasoning can also be applied to the great number of Chinese character words coined as translations for European words in the Meiji period. For instance, some poets referred to tetsud (railroad) as kurogane no michi (a road of black iron) and denshin (telegram) as harigane dayori (communication through wire), each of which was quite a mouthful. In this respect, too, we are grateful for Chinese character words.
In the third place, the Chinese character word strongly influenced Japanese through its own characteristic sound system. Literary critic Kamei Katsuichir
Although the Yamato words are exceedingly elegant, they are too weak to express strong emotions like anger, distress, and jealousy. The Yamato words lack elements that express such accents, but a strong emphasis can be attained by using Chinese characterwords. Through the simplicity and strength of these words, we can express human emotions effectively.8
The Chinese character word has thus contributed to the development of the Japanese language. On the debit side, however, it has unfortunately encouraged the proliferation of homonyms and the creation of expressions that need to be seen in their written forms to be understood. Sweden’s Bernhard Karlgren, a Chinese linguist, talks about the strange fact that since homonyms abound in Chinese, sometimes one cannot make himself understood orally and must write out the words. This is all the more true with Japanese. The following exchange is not a mere creation by a novelist, but a typical example of what happens every day in the life of a Japanese:
Son: Father, to you a love affair is only a kind of shk (disgraceful conduct), isn’t it?
Father: Shk?
Son: Sh as in shaku (ugliness).9
Furthermore, Chinese character words entered Japan where Yamato words had already existed, so an enormous number of synonyms developed. Hayashi
It should also be noted that of the two, Yamato words and Chinese character words, the latter more frequently have favorable connotations and give pleasing impressions. Thus, a barber (tokoya san) is not satisfied if he is not called a rihatsugy (hairdresser), and when we go to a department store and ask, “Where are the omocha (toys) sold?” the clerk might respond, “Do you mean the gangu (plaything) department?”
The following senry (satirical verse)* illustrates the point:
Shitsunen to It sounds better
ieba kikiyoi To say “lapse of memory”
monowasure. Rather than “forgetfulness.”
There are many other similar verses:
Sakkaku to It sounds better
ieba kikiyoi To say “an erroneous perception”
kanchigai. Rather than “a misunderstanding.”
Such depreciation of Yamato words has been foolish.
Moreover, when the Chinese character words displaced Yamato words, it was not done thoroughly, so in some cases the sphere of influence is divided. On the whole, this has resulted in an asymmetric system. For example, in counting persons we say hitori (one person), futari (two persons), sannin (three persons), yottari or yonin (four persons), gonin (five persons). Likewise, in counting days we say ichinichi (one day), futsuka (two days), and mikka (three days).† I think it would be better to reserve the Yamato words hitori and futari for special cases such as “bachelorhood” or “a young couple” respectively, and to use the Chinese character words for numerals in general.
Originally the ren’y (continuative) form* of verbs of Yamato words could form nouns, but the introduction of Chinese character words nipped this development in the bud. Linguist Izui Hisanosuke says: “The noun form for the verb kuu (to eat) or taberu (to eat) is now usually shokuji and that for yomu (to read) is usually tokusho or etsudoku.”
Several years ago, when I took part in the editing of NHK’s Nango Iikae Sh (Anthology of Simplified Terms fordifficult Words), the chairman asked, “How can we say insotsu (to lead a party) in some other way?” I said, “Tsurete aruku will be all right, won’t it?” “No, I mean the noun insotsu,” he said. I was at a loss for an answer as it would not look right to say tsurete aruki† (taking along). It seems we cannot avoid retaining the word insotsu after all. Insotsu-sha (the person who leads a party of people), also seems to have no counterpart in Yamato words.
Chinese character words—what shall we do with them?
One of the fascinating things about Chinese character words is that they offer the possibility of combining a number of word roots to form innumerable new words. Sports editors create baseball terms like kaish (an outstanding victory), rakush (an easy victory), shinsh (a narrow victory), sampai (a crushing defeat), and sekihai (a regrettable defeat). To describe the pitching, they have created such words as kky (a good pitch), akky (a wild pitch), kant (pitching the whole game), and shitt (a bad pitch). Recently such expressions as zekkky (a great pitch) and myt (a fine pitch) have appeared. The remarkable thing is that people understand the meaning if they see the written characters. We combine shgakk (elementary school) and chgakk (middle school) and call this shchgakk, and when we want to express the plural of kikan (organs), we say shokikan. Such tricks as these are possible only with Chinese character words.
In short, Chinese character words have many good points, and it would be unwise policy to heedlessly decrease them. Then, what measures should we take?
The first thing that recommends itself is the borrowing of Western words without translating them one by one into Chinese character words. Many people of nationalistic persuasion would object to such a policy. However, although we say we are borrowing foreign words, we have always first Japanized the words thoroughly. When the Japanese say rajio for the English word “radio,” the word they are using is something quite different from