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24 Hiragana Syllabary In the Nara period, Abe no Nakamaro (770?-770) went to China to study. I have described how his poetry and prose were highly praised in the literary circles of Tang Dynasty China, leading to close friendship with such first-rate Chinese literary figures as Libao (701-762), and others. In the following Heian period, the monks Sichou and Kuukai went to China, immediately took up studies and understood the most profound principles of Tendai (Heavenly Platform) and Shingon (True Word) Sects of Buddhism. Winning the trust and respect of the leaned monks of Tang Dynasty China, they returned with the orthodox leaning in their respective fields. Consequently, the Japanese gained confidence in academic leaning, literature and art, and in religion. It was natural then that they formed a firm identity, and started developing native Japanese culture. The invention of kana syllabaries contributed greatly towards this undertaking. Until this time, no system existed for writing the Japanese language. Only Chinese characters were used. However, a unique method was devised for using Chinese characters. The characters were rendered at times in Chinese pronunciation called the "on-reading." At other times, they were rendered in the ideogramically-corres-ponding Japanese pronunciation called the "kun-reading." The two styles redily interchanged. For example, when the Chinese character 音 meaning "sound," was pronounced as "on," this was Chinese rendering; pronounced as "oto," it was Japanese rendering. Similarly, when the Chinese character 山 meaning "mountain," was rendered as "san," this was Chinese rendering, and as "yama," it was Japanese rendering. By using the two styles interchangeably, the Japanese came to read even the Chinese classics in Japanese style. (an omission) At this point hiragana syllabary was invented. It evolved as people wrote Chinese characters in flowing, cursive style. The characters gradually became simplified in this process, and settled into a system of natural, agreed-upon forms, as follows. They are presented in the order of a song called Iroha Song: 1; phonetic sound 2; hiragana syllabary 3; original Chinese characters 1 2 3 i い 以 ro ろ 呂 ha は 波 ni に 仁 ho ほ 保 he へ 部 to と 止 chi ち 知 ri り 利 nu ぬ 奴 ru る 留 wo を 遠 wa わ 和 ka か 加 yo よ 與 ta た 太 re れ 禮 so そ 曾 tsu つ 川 ne ね 禰 na な 奈 ra ら 良 mu む 武 u う 宇 wi ゐ 爲 no の 乃 o お 於 ku く 久 ya や 也 ma ま 末 ke け 計 fu ふ 不 ko こ 己 e え 衣 te て 天 a あ 安 sa さ 左 ki き 幾 yu ゆ 由 me め 女 mi み 美 shi し 之 we ゑ 惠 hi ひ 比 mo も 毛 se せ 世 su す 寸 In order to lean the above syllabary (phonetic sounds) by hear, phrases were invented that used each of the sounds once. In the early stage, the phrases were made up of individual words: ame (rain) tsuchi (earth) hoshi (star) sora (sky) yama (mountain) kawa (river) mine (mountain peak) tani (valley) kumo (cloud) kiri (fog). Ultimately, howevere, the Iroha Song became the definitive memorizing device. This song persisted for the next thousand years, to this day. Much to our regret, it is not clear who composed the Iroha Song. It can be said that a great genius had a hand in it. The song necessarily consists of 47 phonetic sounds, none occurring in repetition. Merely aligning simple words in that manner is difficult enough. But this Iroha Song embodies profound meaning and observes poetic rhythm. A syllabary table, and at the same time a fine poem, it was composed by someone of exceptional talent. It means: "Colors are fragrant, but they fade away. In this world of ours none lasts forever. Today cross the high mountains of life's illusions [i.e., rise about this physical world], and there will be no more shallow dreaming, no more drunkenness [i.e., there will be no more uneasiness, no more temptations.]" The content is clearly of Buddhist origin, suggesting a Buddhist monk as the composer. He must have been brilliant, exceptionally talents, and gifted with poetic sensitivity. (an omission) Other evidence is found in an ancient poetry collection called Cloud-borne Collection (Ryouunshuu), compiled in the 5th year of Kounin era (814), during Kuukai's lifetime. Prince Nakao visited Kuukai in a secluded temple, and touched by Kuukai's personality and accomplishments, he composed a poem: "The phrase consisting of the four-characters broadened the three vehicles of Buddhism, True words (Shingon) were illustrated in the phrase consisting of the four-characters." We can presume that the Iroha Song is the Japanese language expression of these phrases "consisting of the four-characters," although some theories question this from the standpoint of phonetics. At any rate, it is possible that the Iroha Song was composed by Kuukai, before the 5th year of Kounin era (814), and after the first year of Daidou era (806), when he returned from studying in China. Many accomplishments are attributed to Kuukai. Millions of people have benefited from the composition of the Iroha Song, whose value is still evident even after a thousand years. |
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