Reform of the Usage of Kana in Newspapers during the Meiji and Taisho Periods

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  • 明治・大正期における新聞の仮名遣い改革
  • メイジ タイショウキ ニ オケル シンブン ノ カナズカイ カイカク

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Abstract

In April, 1900 (Meiji 33), Hara Takashi, president of the Osaka Mainichi Newspapers, published Furigana Kaikaku Ron (A Plan for the Reform of Furigana), and tried to reform the usage of the kana syllabary that is used to write Sino-Japanese. Thereafter, the usage of kana proposed in this reform plan was practiced in the newspapers published by the company until the Gendai Kanazukai (modern usage of kana) law was enacted. Hara then became Prime Minister during the Taisho period. He established Rinji Kokugo Chosakai (Extraordinary Investigation Committees on the Japanese Language), and at a general meeting, Kanazukai Kaitei An (A Reform Plan for the Usage of Kana) was submitted. What encouraged this proposal was the need to revise the usage of kana in newspapers. In this reform plan, which aimed at the phonetic notation of Sino-Japanese, the long dash "-" used in the Bobiki Kanazukai law enacted in the same year does not appear. Furthermore, the limit of the number of furigana letters in the printed form of the newspaper gave the plan specific characters for the notation of yocho-on (the contracted and prolonged sounds) of the u-sequence and o-sequence. As a result of investigating the newspapers of the period, it was found that the phonetic use of kana proposed in the reform plan was adopted in them, and that the reform of the usage of kana was carried out by other newspaper companies, too. That makes it possible to guess that the newspaper companies of the time actively participated in making policy concerning the Japanese language, and urged the reforms the usage of kana.

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