The Well of Japanese Undefiled. Joao Rodrigues' Advice on How to Study Japanese

The Well of Japanese Undefiled. Joao Rodrigues' Advice on How to Study JapaneseAuthor(s): Joseph MoranSource: Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Autumn, 1975), pp. 277-289Published by: Sophia UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2383583 .

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The Well of Japanese Undefiled

Joao Rodrigues' Advice on How to Study Japanese

by JOSEPH MORAN

J oXo RODRIGUES1 is the author of the two grammars of Japanese published by theJesuit Mission Press, the first, entitled Arte da Lingoa de Iapam, in Nagasaki, 1604-8, and the second, Arte Breve da Lingoa Japoa, in Macao, 1620. Two

printed copies survive of each of the two grammars, and there is a modern Japanese translation of the earlier and of a small part of the later one.2 Neither work has been translated into English, however, or republished in the original Portuguese.3 Rodrigues' Arte and Arte Breve are the first comprehensive grammars of Japanese in any language, and are indispensable to students of the history of the Japanese language.

At the beginning of the Arte Breve, immediately before the Table of Contents and under the heading To the Reader, are the following four paragraphs.

In the large grammar of the Japanese language, which I wrote and which was printed, I set out at length many things, in order to make more readily intelligible the main difficulties of this language, which is very complex in its usage, with the order of the parts of speech the reverse of that of our European ton- gues; also because those who use a grammar to learn this language are adults,

THE introduction and translation are adapted from the author's unpublished doctorate thesis (Oxford, 1972), entitled 'A Commentary on the Arte Breve da Lingoa Iapoa of Joao Rodrigues, S. J., with particular reference to pronunciation.'

1 Michael Cooper, Rodrigues the Interpreter, Weatherhill, New York & Tokyo, 1974, pro- vides the first full-scale biography of this extraordinary Jesuit missionary. Rodrigues came to Japan as a boy in 1577, and joined the Society of Jesus in Japan three years later. His mastery of the Japanese language made him the representative of the Jesuits and the Japanese Christians to the rulers of Japan,

and Rodrigues was the foreigner with whom Toyotomi Hideyoshi and (in his first years in power) Tokugawa Ieyasu had the most regular and closest contact.

2 Doi Tadao ; tr., Nihon Daibunten E t-:-,, Sanseido, 2nd ed., 1967. Doi Tadao, tr., 'Ro-shi Shobunten no R6maji Tsuzuri' C ,] :t - C -20, in Kokugogaku Ronshuf W&A.,44k-A, Hashimoto Hakase K6seki Kinenkai **%t,rXkt*, 1944; this is a translation of Arte Breve, ff. 6-12v.

3 A facsimile edition of the copy of Arte Breve preserved in the library of the University of London was published by Tenri Central Library in 1972.



278 Monumenta JVNipponica, xxx, 3

usually experienced in the use of letters, who, after some preliminary study and some practice in the language, reflect on what they are studying and are not satisfied with a set of precepts and rules which do not cover the greater part of the difficulties of the language; and lastly, to give the masters who are teaching an adequate supply of reliable, carefully checked material, and this is not easily obtainable without a great deal of hard study and reading.

But because the abundance and variety of the precepts and rules provided in the large grammar may prove confusing for those who are beginning the study of this language, it seems necessary to make this short resume of the large grammar (in the grammar we promised to do this, and now we have again been told to do so by the Superior) to serve beginners as an introduction to that grammar, which will be of more use to everyone after the perusal of this compendium. Some points which people thought obscure in the grammar are explained more clearly in this compendium, which we have divided into three books.

The first contains some general remarks concerning the language and how to learn it, and the orthography we use to write it with our letters; also in general how to pronounce it, together with the declensions and conjugations used in speech; the second, the rudiments and the classification of parts of speech, and some general rules for elementary composition; the third, some particular points about style in writing, and others which will be of great assistance in understanding the books which the students will be hearing and reading.

And since our purpose is merely to give a simple introduction to those who are beginning on the first principles of the language, we refer them for all other rules and precepts to the detailed treatment given in the large grammar. Vale.4

This foreword to Rodrigues' second grammar gives the impression that it is a simplified resume of the earlier, larger work. But it is more. Sometimes it arranges more logically, and less diffusely, what is essentially the same material, and sometimes completely new material is introduced. The treatise on Japanese names and titles (Arte Breve, f. 75v onwards), for example, does not appear anywhere in the earlier Arte. And the treatise on spelling and pronunciation, which in the earlier grammar is divided into two separate sections, neither of them near the beginning of the book, appears as one section in the shorter grammar and has been brought forward to the beginning of the book. It follows immediately on the Introduction, which contains three pages of 'general remarks on the Japanese language', and eight pages (ff. 2v-6) on 'the best way to learn and teach this language'. It is these eleven introductory pages which are translated below.

4 Unnumbered page preceding table of contents, in Arte Breve,



Moran: The Well ofJapanese Undefiled 279

The 'general remarks on the Japanese language' is an expanded and revised version of the preamble, entitled 'Some notes to make the contents of this grammar more readily intelligible', which follows the foreword to the earlier Arte. It deals with the relationship between the spoken and written Japanese language and with what are nowadays usually referred to as the on and kun ways of reading the one (originally Chinese) character. There is an explanation of the system known as kambun5 (Rodrigues does not actually use this term), in which Japanese is written not only entirely in Chinese characters but also in Chinese word-order, and of the difficulty of construing the written kambun back into spoken Japanese. The section concludes with a few words about 'respect language', in which, as Rod- rigues notes in the preamble to the first grammar, 'this language is preeminent and different from every other language we know of.'

The section on 'the best way to learn and teach this language' has no counter- part in the earlier grammar. There Rodrigues' aim was 'to set out as simply as possible rules and precepts to inculcate correct and elegant speech.'6 He adds,

After mastering these necessary principles, it remains for anyone who aspires to a polished and elegant style of speaking to devote himself to reading the books which the major authors of Japan have composed about Japanese things, for in these books is enshrined the pure and elegant language which not even the natives themselves know perfectly without such study. And with this, together with everyday intercourse, one can attain the desired end, namely, with a knowledge of the language to assist in the conversion of this nation and in the propagation of Christianity, to the greater glory of God Our Lord....

'Nevertheless,' writes Rodrigues in the 1620 Arte Breve, 'the fact is that few of those who have learned the language by this method so far have ended up able to speak like natives. On the contrary, almost all of them make many mistakes in speaking, and get into a sort of rut from which they cannot escape, nor can they make progress in the language.'7 He now holds that 'the best way to learn and teach this language' requires that students be assigned to one of two different groups, namely,

Those who aim only at understanding the language quickly, so as to be able

5 5' t 6 Arte, in the foreword; the pages of the

foreword and preamble to the 1604-8 grammar are not numbered. Rodrigues then mentions, 'I have added various things which I have noted over the course of many years, and which I have learned from some natives who are very well versed in their language and literature.'

In fact the Arte is notable more for diffuseness than simplicity, as Rodrigues himself implies when he says in the preamble, 'For those who are just beginning there is going to be a short resume of this whole treatise, so that they may not be confused by the abundance of precepts and explanations.'

7 Arte Breve, f. 3.



280 Monumenta JVNipponica, xxx, 3

to hear confessions and to speak to the Christians about what concerns their souls and about the most ordinary matters of everyday conversation.8

and

Men of ability and maturity, who aim at a mastery of the language which will enable them to preach to the Gentiles and refute their errors and superstitions in debates and in writing, defending the Faith against its adversaries.9

Rodrigues is now writing for the second of these two groups. He is insistent that their language teachers must be native speakers and that the books used must be the Japanese literary classics.

In the preamble to the earlier Arte, Rodrigues says, 'We are concerned here mainly with the spoken language and with ordinary conversation,' and that his examples are taken 'from the books of the major authors of Japan, and . . from those books which our Japanese Brothers composed in their language and which have been printed in our [Roman] script.' In the later grammar Rodrigues explains that these books were composed because of the difficulty of the written language, and 'because people were unable to pick out phrases from the written language for use in everyday speech.'10 But he is no longer greatly concerned about the everyday spoken language. His 'men of ability' are to use only the elegant literary classics. European books translated into Japanese are not to be used. Even less acceptable are 'dialogues in colloquial style, such as those printed under the title of colloquial Monogatari'. Still more unsuitable are 'classical Japa- nese books transposed into colloquial style by our Japanese [Jesuits]. . . such as the colloquial May and the colloquial Feikemonogatari, written in our [Roman] letters.' 1

Modern language-teaching experts would probably approve of Rodrigues' (characteristically vehement) insistence on native teachers and texts. His emphasis on the classical literary language at the expense of the modern colloquial is more controversial, however, and his analogy between the learning of Japanese and of Latin seems singularly ill-chosen. But in Rodrigues' time it was even more true than it is today that in Japanese 'the style of ordinary speech is one thing, and the written style quite another,' and he wants the formal instruction of his 'men of ability' to be directed toward a mastery of the written language. Rodrigues, it

8 Ibid., f. 3v. 9 Ibid., f. 3v. 10Ibid., f. 4v.

11 Ibid,, if. 4-4v. One copy of Feiqe no Mono- gatari, published in Amakusa, 1592-3, is preserved in the British Museum, but no copies of the other Monogatari or the May have been discovered, although there are quotations from them in the 1604-8 Arte and in Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam, Nagasaki, 1603-4. Feiqe no

Monogatari is an abridged version, in colloquial language and in dialogue form, of the classical Heike Monogatari, and the May appears to have been a similar version of the fifteenth- century classical mai X. The other Monogatari were dialogues on various topics, probably composed by Japanese Jesuits or catechists, and intended to serve as language textbooks. See Johannes Laures, S. J., Kirishitan Bunko, Sophia University, 1957, pp. 94-5.




is clear, is no detached descriptive linguistician. Mastery of Japanese is an important means to 'the desired end', and he is prescribing to the missionaries who are to learn Japanese the form of the language which he considers most acceptable to men of culture and influence in Japan.12

Rodrigues was a Jesuit priest, and he wrote his two grammars (and also his Historia da Igreja do Japdo)13 at the request of his religious superiors. Probably because he had left his native Portugual as a boy, he was far from being an accom- plished master of the Portuguese language. Both he himself and his superiors were well aware of the shortcomings of his prose style, some of which (his re- petitiveness, for example) are evident even in translation. But however inelegant his Portuguese, Rodrigues possessed a mastery of the Japanese language matched by few, if any, of his fellow-missionaries, and this is why he was chosen to write the two grammars.

The translation follows the original Portuguese fairly closely, and Rodrigues' romanization of Japanese words is retained throughout.

12 Even when dealing with the spoken language Rodrigues recommends the older forms, so that even in the earlier grammar the greater part of his examples are in literary style. And in classifying expressions it is usually the written forms which he regards as elegant. This ten- dency to equate the elegant with the old and the vulgar with the new was shared by his Japanese contemporaries. See Doi Tadao, KIfirishitan Gogaku no Kenkyii J4113Z -f i )YE I

Sanseido, rev. ed., 1971, pp. 37-8. 13 See Michael Cooper, S. J., tr., This Island

of Japon: Joao Rodrigues' Account of 16th-century Japan, Kodansha International, Tokyo & New York, 1973. This is an abridged translation of part of the Histo'ria. Doi Tadao, ed., Nihon Kyokai Shi 0 t*4t, Iwanami Shoten, 2 vols., 1967-70, is aJapanese translation of the Histo'ria.



282 Monumenta N'ipponica, xxx, 3

General Remarks on the Japanese Language

IT SHOULD BE NOTED first that the Japanese received the Chinese letters in the year of the Lord 285, as appears from their histories, or, according to others, 290, in the 15th or the 20th year of their 16th king, V6jin Tenno, otherwise known as Fachiman daibosat;14 up till that time they lacked the use of letters. Together with these letters they also received the Chinese names of the said letters, or characters, which normally consist of a single syllable, or sometimes of two. In Japan each of these letters has two names. One is the Chinese one, with the pronunciation somewhat altered because of the Japanese pronunciation, and this Chinese name the Japanese in their language generally call Coye,15 meaning voice or Chinese word. The other name is Japanese, and this they generally call romi,16 which is to say the interpretation and meaning of the Coye word in the Japanese language. For example, Ten, Clhi, Iin or inl7 are Coye words, meaning sky, earth and man; Ame, Tfuchi, Fito are the romi of these Coye, and have the same meanings in the native Japanese language. Now because of these two types of words the Japanese have three types of language: the first is pure romi, with no admixture of Coye, and this is the native language, indigenous to this nation, and this they use nowadays in their poetry, and in books of soft and smooth style, such as Ghenji monogatari, Ixe monogatari,18 and others; the second is pure Coye, which the [Buddhist] priests use when they pray with the books of their sects; the third is a mixture of romi and Coye, and in recent times (ever since they came to have the use of letters) is the usual language of the Kingdom. In ordinary conversation and common usage it is all more or less romi, with a certain admixture of Coye, while in written style, in preaching, and in serious addresses, a large proportion of Coye is brought in. In the course of this grammar we often use these two words romi and Coye, and the Japanese themselves use them in the sense we have explained.

Secondly, the Japanese, like the Chinese, do not write their writings, books, and letters in the ordinary language and common style in which they speak, nor do they speak in the style in which they write. The style of ordinary speech is one thing, and the written style quite another, differing in the phrasing, in the endings of the voices, tenses, and moods of the verbs, and in a great variety of particles, some of which they use only in the written style and others only in ordinary speech. Thus it would be inviting ridicule to write and compose books and stories in the style of ordinary conversation, as indeed it would be to use

14 mv-iPP /:ZA 15 a 16 -S,

17 i 111, AK 18 -J, p 15 * 7m



Moran: The Well of Japanese Undefiled 283

written style in everyday speech, even though, for the most part, everyone understands it. However, in matters of grammar, and in the linking together of the parts of speech, they are almost the same, with little difference. They have, then, one verb-conjugation for spoken style and another for written. Because of these two styles, the spoken and the written, we often say that this form is used in writing and that in speaking.

Thirdly, the nouns in this language are indeclinable, with the one word serving for both singular and plural. They distinguish number and case with certain particles which come after the nouns, or they are clear even without a particle from what precedes and follows, and from what is required by the verb which governs them. In the same way the verbs, whatever the tense and mood, have just the one word, without distinction of person and number.

Fourthly, we spoke of two languages, viz. pure romi (in which is included the language composed of Coye and romi) and pure Coye. When the Japanese write them in the Chinese letters and characters, without admixture of the Cana letters or Catacana,19 both have the same order of collocation of the parts of speech in reading them and in speaking them. The Coye language, which is really Chinese, is spoken straightforwardly, as in our languages, keeping the same order in the collocation of the parts of speech in both writing and speaking; the adversative particles, if there are any, come first, then the negative particles, and after that those indicating the future tense; next comes the verb, and last the words governed by the verb. romi, the native Japanese language, follows the reverse order, with the words governed by the verb first, then the verb, then the temporal particles, then the negatives if any, and last the adversatives, ending where the Coye sentence or clause began. For this reason, when the Japanese read any Chinese writing or book in their romi language, they turn back, jumping from one word to another. And sometimes they will leave some central words and go in search of some faraway word in order to make sense and to grasp the meaning of what they are reading, as we do in construing Latin, and they have definite and particular rules about this. So from our point of view Yomi is a twisted sort of speech, the very reverse of our own, in that it begins where we end. For those who are learning the language, then, it is very important, if they are to speak correctly and be able to translate this language into ours and ours into theirs, that they should grasp the order and collocation of the parts of speech in iomi language.

Fifthly, this language, in the use of verbs and nouns, has various degrees of honor, courtesy, and condescension, for all its verbs have particular words for all the tenses and moods, together with a certain level of respect or contempt for speaking about or to high and low persons. They have besides various particles which, together with the nouns, are very subtle and elegant in indicating respect

19



284 Monumenta Nipponica, xxx, 3

or contempt. The use of these verbs and particles always varies according to the persons to, or about, or before whom, and the things about which one is speaking. Accordingly, it is necessary to learn to speak this language with or without honor and courtesy, making use of the appropriate verbs and particles. The conjugations will be set out in their simple form, without attending to this point, but once the conjugations are learned the student must always pay attention to this point if he is to master the language.

The Best Way to Learn and Teach this Language

THERE ARE TWO main ways to learn this language and become proficient in it. The first is to learn it naturally by using it, being in daily contact with native speakers, carefully noting various phrases and ways of talking in different cir- cumstances, and at the same time learning to read their easiest letters, although unable to write them. For the study of the letters is a very effective way to get to know the roots of the language, the etymology of the words, the right way to pronounce, and the beauty and elegance of it; all this is contained in the letters themselves.

The other method is the normal ordinary one for people wanting to learn foreign languages quickly, namely, with the use of a grammar and grammatical rules, with good teachers, having read to you books which contain the pure and elegant language, doing composition and other relevant exercises, as people do in learning Latin, Greek, or Hebrew.

The first method of learning is more solid, and you come to speak more correctly by this method, in that you acquire the ability naturally, as a habit. This is evident in the case of many of Ours [Jesuits] from Europe, and also of people from other nations who live among the Japanese, such as the Koreans, who sound completely natural when they speak. All the same, this method of learning raises considerable problems and difficulties for those who are religious in that it takes more time and requires that you should be with the natives at all times, in con- tinual contact with them. It demands, too, extraordinary application (to say the least) if we are to become proficient in the language in a short time so as to be able to carry out our ministries. Our Fathers and Brothers in the Chinese Mission have used this method.

The second method, using a grammar and rules, is more suitable for those who come from Europe to this mission and are accustomed to it. Normally they are adults, experienced in studies, and by this method it takes less time to acquire a foundation in the language, so as to be able, in a few years, to speak, hear confessions, deal with people, and perform such other Christian ministries as do not require a particularly wide-ranging or elegant mastery of the language. For by this method one learns by way of concise rules, with precepts as to how to build up a large vocabulary, and it has many other advantages too. Nevertheless, the fact is that few of those who have learned the language by this method so far have




ended up able to speak like natives; on the contrary, they almost all make many mistakes in speaking, and get into a sort of rut from which they cannot escape, nor can they make progress in the language. Now this cannot be put down to any ineptitude on the part of the persons concerned, many of whom have been men of notable ability and talent, capable of learning other more difficult things; all the same, they failed to learn by this method, whereas others of far less ability suc- ceeded by the first method. Even less can it be ascribed to the use of a grammar and rules, which make it so much easier and in a short time teach so much that one could not learn in the ordinary way. Considering the reasons for this, then, and taking into account what I have seen over the course of so many years, I believe that the fault lies with the means and the method, which have not been suitable for the people using them. If, then, Ours learn the language through a grammar, and the means and the method are what they should be, they will certainly come to have a good grasp of the language in a short time and will go on improving in it; they will thus be able to preach to the Christians and the Gentiles, to debate and discuss as they wish, and further, be able to write in an acceptable style.

The possibility of such progress in the language depends mainly on three things: first and foremost, the kind of masters who are to do the teaching; second and no less important, the books with which one is to study from the time when one starts to listen to reading from books; thirdly, the method and the order to be followed in listening, studying the grammar and rules, and also in composition exercises and practice in the use of the language.

But before we speak of teachers it should be noted that the method we give here for learning the language is only for men of ability and maturity, who aim at a mastery of the language which will enable them to preach to the Gentiles and confute their errors and superstitions in debates and in writing, defending the Faith against its adversaries. They should also be aware of the dangers in the way of speaking and the terminology of the other sects, how they seem to be suitable for explaining our teachings, but in fact contain built-in errors, so as to be able to avoid them. Again, they should be able to write whatever they want concerning our teaching in a good and natural style, and to speak and discourse like the natives themselves about everything in the Kingdom. We are not concerned here with those who aim only at understanding the language quickly so as to be able to hear confessions and to speak to the Christians about what concerns their souls and about the most ordinary matters of everyday conversation. If these people are to learn as efficiently as possible they should not study together with those we have just been speaking about, nor should they study the same things, nor from the same books. There should be two classes of persons and two ways of studying the language, with different teachers and methods, because their purposes in studying are different.

With regard to the kind of teachers needed, clearly, if they are to produce good pupils, they must be learned in the language, in correctness and elegance of phrase



286 Monumenta Nipponica, xxx, 3

and style, and in correct and natural pronunciation. Thus their pupils will have a good grounding in correct and elegant speech and in the true way of pronouncing the accents which this language has, and will not acquire bad and incorrect habits which cannot be remedied later. For this it is necessary that the teachers be native Japanese, learned in letters and in language, and conversant with the books and stories in the various styles that they have. They should not be Euro- peans (as they have been up till now), however well these may know the language. Such teachers lack the essential, viz. a knowledge of letters, of the style of the books in which is to be found all the elegance and propriety of the language. In addition, being foreigners, they do not know enough to be able to teach and help the students, nor do they have the thorough knowledge which would enable them to add phrases and precise synonyms over and above the words being read; on the contrary, what they do add is wrong, for it is modelled on European sentences, in order to explain our concepts in Japanese. This will not be so if the teachers are native speakers, following a good teaching method; the pupils will benefit so much in the same time, or indeed in less time, that they will acquire a taste for the elegance of the language, and, thus encouraged, will study the books for themselves. This, together with everyday dealings with people, will fit them for whatever they wish.

These teachers, besides having to be learned, as we have said, must have a good knowledge of the precepts and rules of grammar, so that when they lecture on passages they come across they may point out and gradually instil into the memory of their pupils the essential grammatical rules, without, however, making a great fuss about small details of grammar, for this is more of a hindrance than a help if insisted on overmuch. Furthermore, to give the students an adequate vocabulary in all fields, they must teach words dealing with matters with which people in the Kingdom concern themselves, with phrases selected from all these various matters, such as Cha or Suki,20 or aesthetic pursuits, arms, swordsmanship, hunting, riding, government, and courtesy, public events, May, feasts, rites and ceremonies of the various sects, the seven liberal arts which they call Xichigei, Fatnd,21 the Japanese poetry called Vta, Renga,22 and the Chinese poetry called Xi and Rengu,23 the stories and deeds of their heroes, and other things which go to make up an educated man. Thus when they deal with people of good family, or find themselves in company where these things are being spoken of, they will understand what the talk is about and will speak where necessary (not least in their preaching) without making mistakes.

As to the books to be used in learning, they should be in the literary style, by old classical authors highly esteemed by the Japanese for their elegant style, in which is contained all the beauty, elegance and correctness of the Japanese language. The Japanese themselves make a point of learning from these in order

20 tk 21 +L ,\tb 22 ; t 23 - g



Moran: The Well of Japanese Undefiled 287

to perfect themselves. So the books to be used in learning should on no account be our books translated into Japanese, not even if they are literary in style, for the phrasing is not correct, as it is altered to suit our concepts. Even less should they be dialogues in colloquial style, such as those printed under the title of colloquial Monogatari; and much less should they be classical Japanese books transposed into colloquial style by our Japanese [Jesuits] so that the Europeans can learn the language, such as the colloquial May and the colloquial Feikemono- gatari, written in our [Roman] letters, and dialogues composed in colloquial style, and Japanese books in written style put into the same [colloquial] style. This was done because of the difficulty which people experienced in learning the written language, and because people were unable to pick out phrases from the written language for use in everyday speech. Here, however, we are not speaking of those who aim only at understanding and hearing confessions-they must study as best they can-but of those who are to become proficient so as to preach and write and be teachers of the law of God among the Gentiles, and for these it will suffice if they learn selected phrases in conversational style concerning various matters. The teachers will add these and will teach them everyday usage. Again, those who are studying the language should certainly not read books in the written language in the style of the sects called Buppo,24 with the idea of learning the doctrine of the sects at the same time, thinking that this will be useful for their preaching. For this style is very obscure and harsh, and different from normal Japanese usage; it is also very speculative, which makes it very difficult to attend to the words, and is more of a hindrance than a help in the language. After the language has been mastered these books can be studied with special teachers so that the subjects and terminology may be learned. Nor again should they read Chinese ethics books until they have mastered the language, for these books are in a very obscure and outlandish style of Japanese, and of no help for the language. Such books are, for example, Xixo and Gokio, i.e., Rongo, Daigacu, Chu'yo, M6ji, reki, Raiki, I6xo, M6xi, Xunjuf, etc.25

The books in Japanese properly so called are the following (one can group them into classes for reading and I begin here from the easiest ones). In the first and lowest class are the May and S6xi,26 for their style is simple and nearest to ordinary speech; in the second the lives of their hermits written by Saighio6fdxi, called Xenjixo,27 and those written by Camono cholmei, called Foxxinju ;28 in the third class are those with the name of Monogatari, i.e., tale, such as Feike monogatari, Fdglhen Feigi monogatari,29 which are those with the best and most elegant style

24 3-' 25 It =4 i I y I

26 ,4 2 7 NIT3,'gX, 4 '. The context makes it

clear that this is the work Rodrigues is refer-

ring to. The normal romanization would be Xenjuxo, which in fact occurs six times in the earlier Arte, so Xenjixo here seems to be a mis- print.

28 st ,

2 9 T t 5 ,J-y,it1 Ee, It -:



288 Monumenta N'ipponica, xxx, 3

among works of this kind; in the fourth class is the tale called Taifeiki,30 which is the most weighty and elevated style that there is in Japan. These are the classes of books which one can read, together with others of the same sort, in which Japanese is to be found in all its elegance and purity.

Besides those mentioned above there are some selections from their poetry, such as Vta, Xirengu, Ixe monogatari, Ghenji monogatari,3' and some selected letters in epistolary style, which one can read from time to time when one is already ad- vanced [in the study of the language] so as to be aware of these things, and to be able to write letters, which have their own particular style. In reading these and other similar books written in the pure and elegant language, together with the tales and the richness of the Japanese language to be found in them, students will be drinking at the pure sources of the language, and without doubt will come to have a good grasp of the language in a short space of time. Not only will they be able to converse with all kinds of people, whatever the subject, but also to write or to compose treatises about the things which concern us in the appropriate Japanese style. We have an example here with the case of those who learn Latin: no Latin is good or perfect if it is learned from modern authors, however good they may be, unless the student drinks also at the springs of the ancient authors to whom that language was native.

Concerning the grammar and grammatical rules that are to be taught, and the order to be followed in this, it is essential first of all that the master be thoroughly competent in grammar, and that during the lessons he should, as occasion offers, try to instil the rules into his pupils so that they know them by heart. He must teach them orally the rules and precepts and the use of the parts of speech, having them repeat them by heart, or pointing them out and teaching them in the course of reading the books. He should read now this section of the grammar, now that, without spending a great deal of time over them, so that the precepts will gradually be memorized in the course of reading the books. This he should do without making the students learn the rules of the grammar (apart from the conjugations and one or two small points) by heart, and in this way the rules will become fixed as if by nature in the students' memories. He must be very careful, however, not to neglect the syntax and the explanation of the various ways of using the parts of speech in the big grammar, for it is here that the root and the power of this language lies. The pupils will grasp these points gradually in the course of reading the books, in which all of this is to be found. The teacher must also pay sufficient attention to what is said about writing and style; this is important for the lessons in which the pupils listen to readings from books.

The exercise of composition is one of the most important means of learning the language, and pupils must be given a grounding in this, so the teachers must make the pupils do composition often, and they must be given materials suited

30 -k 31 * -' -j X




to Japanese phrasing. It can be taken from some classical book turned into Por- tuguese, and should not be taken from our foreign books, nor from our concepts. To do this is, as we have seen, to twist and barbarize the language. It is a mistake to think it necessary for us, if we are to know the language, to be able to put our phrases and concepts into Japanese, for it is certain that if we know the pure and genuine language, we will be able to express whatever we wish in it. And in practicing composition with themes taken from their books we are absorbing little by little their real and natural way of expressing themselves. The first steps in composition will be in everyday language; but when a little progress has been made, composition must on no account be in anything other than written style, for it is thus that one acquires the pure language and the style which will allow one to write, to preach, and all the rest. And to this end it is a great help if one learns to read the ordinary characters found in Japanese books, those in the language of Japan, and in the books of letters, and at least to read Cana with some characters intermixed, even if one cannot write.

Finally, from the very beginning, before they pick up bad habits in the way of pronouncing and producing the Japanese syllables or reading their language, whether in our letters or theirs, the pupils must be taught very carefully by the teachers to pronounce the language as native speakers do. This is so important that a little of the language with a good pronunciation goes further than a great deal with a bad one. Now European teachers cannot do this. We must have native Japanese teachers. This pronunciation consists in the following; first, in pronouncing the syllables and words rapidly and clearly, as liquids or not, etc.; second, in the length or shortness of time proper to each; this language is very precise in this, so much so that without it speech becomes unintelligible; third, in the accent and tone, although in this there is variation between the native speakers of one area of the country and those of another. The teachers must teach what is true and correct.



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The Well of Japanese Undefiled. Joao Rodrigues' Advice on How to Study Japanese

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