著者
石井 雅巳 Masami ISHII
出版者
島根県立大学北東アジア地域研究センター
雑誌
北東アジア研究 (ISSN:13463810)
巻号頁・発行日
no.29, pp.169-181, 2018-03

What made Amane Nishi translate western thoughts into Japanese employing Chinese character: kanji, whereas he was considered as one of strong advocates of the abolition of kanji? The purpose of this paper is to offer an integrated view on this seemingly conflicted attitudes of him. First, the present study compares his debate on the revision of national language and character with those of his contemporaries. This comparison demonstrates his linguistic view in the age of civilization and enlightenment. Second, this paper examines Nishi's approach to academic translation and it's impact on the current translation studies and philosophy of translation. In particular, we focus on his Japanese translation of the word philosophy. Our analysis will not simply juxtapose his academic usage of and the problematization of kanji. His intention was to create the national language and character in colloquial style that reflect the nature of spoken Japanese. His proposal on the abolition of kanji was a solution for fulfilling the goal. On the other hand, in his translation of academic concepts with kanji, he made a strong effort to preserve their original meanings (gi-yaku). He was particularly careful not to employ ancient Confucian expressions. It can be argued that Nishi seeked the establishment of modern Japanese avoiding the simple transcription of western language and the misappropriation of Chinese character coupled with its thoughts. Therefore, the paper proposes that his understanding of the nature of language and his linguistic practice, whether it is the debate on the revision of national language or the translation of western concepts with kanji, are the reflection of his consistent attempt at the creation of the new unified "modern Japanese". What we should not overlook is the fact that he unfailingly recognized the uniqueness of both western and Chinese thoughts.
著者
胡 藤 Teng HU
出版者
島根県立大学北東アジア地域研究センター
雑誌
北東アジア研究 = Shimane journal of North East Asian research : North East Asian region (ISSN:13463810)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.33, pp.1-17, 2022-03-31

Qian Daxin is one of the most representative scholars of the School of Evidential (kaozhengxue, koukyogaku) in Qing Era. He has a keen command of history studies and claims that Confucian Classics studies (jingxue) and history studies should not be treated separately. He believes that only studying both could prevent knowledge from becoming impractical like the Neo-Confucianism (school of principle, lixue, rigaku). This article takes his assessment of the Shi Tong (by Liu Zhiji) as a clue to analyze his understanding of historical records and what he perceives as the ideal way of historiography. Qian Daxin holds the point that the facts should be truthfully recorded, though the recording may be subject to interference by the political power of the time to ‘create myths’ to legitimate its rule. It is thus valuable to document other narratives of various historical sources to resist such political interference. Only in this way will the historical records be free from becoming moral judgments. And this means reading history will be to understand the ancients immanently through historical records. Qian’s point of view is usually seen to be close to Zhang Xuecheng’s, who is believed to hold a modern historiographical perspective. Although Zhang makes a similar point with Qian that all Confucian Classics should be regarded as historical materials instead of principles, he still attempts to establish in his historiography a continuous "orthodoxy" where the authority of political power overrides scholarship. Qian, unlike Zhang, focuses on discovering and understanding the specific ‘Other’, which was shared by most scholars of the School of Evidential at that time and is thus seen as the motivation of their studies.