Sekinan Table

Thursday, 9 July 2026

Modern Theory and Paper

of
Sekinan Library

17 August 2020

Sekinan Library 1986 Established

Tokyo
Founded 1986
For Geometrization Language

Ginza Tokyo

If you are permitted to enter Translated by Google 2026

9.1969

If you are permitted to enter

From Author ;
This translation has some inaccurate turn of phrases.

So sorry.

In April 1969, I successfully transferred to the third year of the Department of Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Wako University. When I first visited Wako, probably one day in February, with my transfer application documents, I must have been nervous, because I have absolutely no memory of the scenery around Wako-zaka, where winter rice paddies must have stretched in a long, narrow strip along the road between the university and the Odakyu Line at that time. I only remember thinking, as I climbed Wako-zaka, "Ah, this university is built in a good location." I was born and raised in the western suburbs of Tokyo, at the foot of the Sayama Hills. The hills are not just familiar to me, but deeply ingrained in me. In a room at the university, I was concerned about whether the documents, especially the subjects and credits I had acquired, met Wako's transfer requirements. In the first year, the number of Chinese language courses, which are specialized subjects, was overwhelmingly large, and although I wanted to specialize in Japanese literature, I had not acquired any credits of a similar nature other than the general education course "Literature."

The person who assisted me was a young Masafumi Yamazaki, who would later achieve leading academic accomplishments in fields such as vocational education. Professor Yamazaki's warmth during our meeting truly soothed my anxious heart. I told him what I had been thinking beforehand: "I haven't taken any specialized courses related to Japanese literature, so if I apply to the literature department, will I have to transfer in as a second-year student?" He replied, "The second year of the literature department is full, so we are not accepting transfer students this year." He continued, "However, there are openings in the third year, so we will be accepting applications. If you apply, I think it will be as a third-year student." He then took my credit history sheet and examined it. At that time, I thought it would be almost impossible to transfer directly to the third year since I had absolutely no experience in Japanese literature. However, I was truly relieved by the professor's response after he examined my credit history sheet. The professor calmly and gently explained to me, reassuring me, "While your credit acquisition situation is different from Wako, your total number of credits meets the requirements. It's true that Wako includes specialized literature-related subjects from the first year, but in your case, you've taken many specialized Chinese language subjects, so if you review those, you should meet the requirements for completing the second year at Wako."

Without touching on any personal circumstances, such as why I aimed for Wako University, he reassured me by saying, "Your eligibility to take the entrance exam is fine, even with a three-year transfer." The feeling that he was such a kind teacher remains completely unchanged even after more than half a century; in fact, it has grown even stronger and continues to linger in my heart. Much later, in the 1990s, when information disclosure via the Internet became commonplace, I learned from back issues of student newsletters posted on the Wako University homepage that Professor Yamazaki had played a central role in the preparation staff for the establishment of Wako University, handling complex tasks, including legal matters. I have always held deep respect and admiration for a professor who, amidst such busy days, could speak to a transfer student with such meticulous care and kindness. In 1969, I had absolutely no other transfer options besides Wako University. Looking back now, I wonder what I would have done if it hadn't worked out, but when Wako University was featured in the Asahi Shimbun in January of that year, 1969, as one of several new universities, I chose Wako without considering any factors such as its size or the professors who worked there.

Mr. Kamiyama, a senior alumnus of my high school who lives in my town and continues his research even though he is over eighty years old, specializes in modern Japanese history and later became the principal of a high school. When he was discussing the collected works of Professor Tsuneyuki Kawasaki at his home, he said that my encounter with Professor Tsuneyuki Kawasaki of Wako High School was "fateful." Until then, I had never thought of it that way, but now I realize that it was indeed fateful. Perhaps my transfer to Wako High School was also fateful. When one grows old, as the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel once said, "when one's entire self becomes a distant landscape," will one realize anew that there were several such things that happened.

There was another major turning point for Wako. In 1978, my eighth year as a teacher, I sent off my graduating class as the homeroom teacher for the third year students at my second school, Tokyo Metropolitan Ome Higashi High School. At the same time, in April 1979, I also began to think about pursuing a new direction, and I submitted a transfer request that year, incorporating my desire to transfer to an evening part-time high school and resume some kind of new study, such as a master's program, during the day. However, even in February 1979, there was no prospect of a transfer to an evening high school, so I prepared to transfer to a regular full-time high school and had already interviewed at one Tokyo Metropolitan high school. On the day of my final acceptance interview, as I was putting on my shoes at the entrance, the phone rang. When I picked up the receiver, it was the principal calling to confirm that a position had opened up in the evening part-time high school and asking if I wanted to apply. I accepted on the spot and went for an interview at Tokyo Metropolitan Agricultural High School in Fuchu City, and my transfer there was quickly decided a few days later. If I hadn't received that phone call that day, I would have been transferred to a full-time school, and my hopes of continuing my daytime studies would have been impossible for the time being.

However, around the end of February 1979, the university had already entered the end of the academic year, and it was difficult to apply for master's programs and other programs at the university at that point. However, because I was a high school teacher and a graduate of Wako, I received a new university guide from Wako every year. When I opened it again, it seemed that it was still possible to apply for the advanced course. There was no application form for the advanced course included, so I think I clearly wrote "Application for Advanced Course" on a regular university entrance application form and sent the documents to Wako. If it didn't work out, I could always transfer to the evening program, so I thought I would consider a new direction the following year. Fortunately, Wako accepted my application for the advanced course, and in April 1979, I took the exam and was able to enter the advanced course.

At that time, I vaguely thought that if I were to enter a master's program, given my experience as a high school Japanese language teacher, I might be able to apply for a program in Japanese linguistics or Japanese language history. I think I was thinking that from there, I might be able to move towards language in general later on. However, in the end of the academic year, Wako was the only option left, and I ended up taking the entrance exam once again as a humanities major student in the Faculty of Humanities, where I had studied before. What came to mind at that time was Professor Tsuneyuki Kawasaki's history of Buddhism, and the history of Japanese Buddhism, which I had only briefly researched during my undergraduate years, and that perhaps I could at least read some ancient Japanese Chinese texts. In that short amount of time, I seriously considered what my immediate research topic should be. However, more than eight years had already passed since graduation, so I hesitated to contact Professor Kawasaki in advance, and I took the exam without making any such contact.

There was an English reading comprehension test in the classroom, followed by an oral examination in a separate room. There were two professors: Professor Shigeru Araki, a literature specialist in medieval and early modern Japan, and another professor whose name I did not know. Professor Araki mainly conducted the examination, and at the end he asked if I had contacted Professor Kawasaki, to which I simply replied that I had not yet. I wondered if that was what I should have done. Fortunately, after passing the exam, I called Professor Kawasaki and asked for his guidance, which marked the beginning of a seven-year period of further study under him as a postgraduate and research student. If my transfer to the evening division had been decided promptly, or regardless of whether I passed or failed, I might have aimed to take the master's exam at another university instead of Wako, which at the time did not have a master's program. But things unfolded this way. Perhaps that, too, was a matter of fate.

In the spring of my second year of high school, after reading Louis Heymond's "The White Virgin Land," I submitted my ethics and society end-of-year report, albeit a naive one, concluding that despite the difficulties, I would choose free will over religious determinism. From that point until now, I don't think my fundamental stance has changed drastically. Long ago, during a conversation with my father, he casually told me that he thought fate existed. As a young boy, I was dissatisfied, but from then until his death at the age of eighty-two, he always supported me in all my actions, telling me to "live as you please." Now, with deep gratitude, and adding the words, "Perhaps fate does exist," there are countless things I want to tell my father.

Let's go back to my transfer in the spring of 1969. Thanks to Professor Yamazaki's kind encouragement, I decided to take the transfer entrance exam. It was here that I met Professor Kenzo Miyazaki of the Department of Literature. I remember there was an English reading comprehension section in the written exam in the classroom, but I can't remember if there was a free writing or assigned essay section. After that, I think I moved to Professor Miyazaki's research lab in the research building and went there alone. There I had an interview. I think I was the only one taking the third-year transfer entrance exam for the Department of Literature that day. The research building was eerily quiet.

Towards the end of my examination in Professor Miyazaki's laboratory, he asked me about my favorite poets. I mentioned, among them, Shuntaro Tanikawa's poetry collection "Two Billion Light Years of Solitude," which I had seen at the Tokyo Metropolitan Ome Library and which he had found deeply impressive when he was 21 years old. However, I can no longer remember who else I mentioned. Perhaps I also mentioned Junzaburo Nishiwaki. His "The Traveler Does Not Return" greatly changed my image of poetry up to that point, and I repeatedly read it because I could feel the atmosphere of the Tama region, including Kodaira, in the content of the poem. I also liked Sakutaro Hagiwara and Tatsuji Miyoshi, but I don't remember if I mentioned their names. Finally, the professor said to me, "I don't know how your written exam went, but if you passed, come to my house."

After passing the entrance exam for Wako, probably sometime in March before I even started attending school, I visited Professor Miyazaki's home. I still wonder how that was possible, but I can only assume that he gave me his phone number after the interview. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to find out the location of his home in Nakano or decide on a date for my visit. His house was impressive, surrounded by a black-painted wall, and since my first impression of him during the exam was that he was somewhat imposing, I was probably quite nervous. He invited me into the drawing-room and we talked about many things. I only remember some of the details now, but one thing he mentioned was the research he was currently working on. "I'm currently researching Irako Seihaku," he said. I knew the poet's name, but I had never read any of his poems, so I just listened.

My professor spoke about Seihaku, but sadly, I can't remember it at all now. According to the Daijirin dictionary (Sanseido, 1988), Irako Seihaku (1877-1946) was described as "a central figure of the 'Bunko' school as a fantastical, mysterious, and exquisite symbolic poet. His poetry collection is 'Kujaku-sen' (Peacock Ship)." After transferring to the university, I took my professor's lecture on modern and contemporary poetry, and I learned that he highly valued Kambara Ariake (1876-1952) and Usuda Kyūkin (1887-1945), who are representative Japanese symbolic poets, but I don't think he made any special mention of Irako Seihaku. Perhaps he kept it to himself.

After transferring to the university, I was always puzzled as to why my professor, who was so upright and always made careful decisions, even to the point of being the head of academic affairs, would say, "If you pass, come to my house." Whenever I talked with my wife about the past, it always came up. My wife was also puzzled each time, saying, "I can't believe something like that happened." And why would he tell me that he was researching the Meiji-era poet Irako Seihaku, when I had absolutely no background in classical Japanese literature? Much later, when I began to see my younger self as someone I encountered in my youth, like a faint distant landscape, I began to understand my professor's feelings a little.

This relates to the time I visited the home of Professor Tsuguo Ando, a foreign language professor, poet, and French literature scholar, without an appointment, and he warmly welcomed me. I think he treated me with generosity because, even though I was an uneducated and untalented young man, I was serious about learning, I didn't seem to read much literature, but I liked poetry, and I seemed to have some ambition—a country boy. My close friend from high school, Kaneko, said to my face, "Are you really going to study physics?" But I probably grew up with a glimmer of my original optimism. I liked languages, but I didn't have much ability in them, and although I longed for mathematics, I only scratched the surface of modern mathematics before growing up. I seemed to like poetry, but I didn't seem to be able to write much poetry either. That's the kind of person I was, for sure.

But somewhere within all of that, there was always a glimmer of seriousness, wasn't there? As an outsider, I was such a poor young man. At Kitatama High School, a Tokyo Metropolitan school located in Tachikawa City, where I was first assigned, the art club students drew detailed yet somewhat comical caricatures of most of the teachers, including their toes, and displayed them in the hallway near the staff room on the second floor. I think there were nearly 30 of them. Mr. Saito, an art teacher who often helped me when I was inexperienced, invited me, saying, "Tanaka, Tanaka, they're funny, come and see them in the hallway." There was a variety of them: the physics teacher dropping an apple, the teacher pushing his desk and walking out into the corridor, the teacher with a sour face like a pickled plum, and so on. But of course, everyone's feet were on the ground. Amidst all that, I was the only one flying through the air like Superman. Mr. Saito found it amusing and teased me, saying, "So this is what Tanaka looks like." There were days like that.

That's why Professor Ando of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Professor Miyazaki of Wako supported me, even though I was as unreliable as a paper doll, yet somehow endearing. Professor Saeki, who taught me haiku, did the same. Now I can only feel gratitude, unable to reciprocate in any way. To return to the story. When Professor Miyazaki finished his talk, he led me to the second floor of his house. Almost the entire spacious second floor was his library. Rows and rows of bookshelves lined the floor, each packed with books. From among them, he took out a collection of poems and showed it to me. It was none other than a copy that Nakahara Chūya had personally signed and sent to Professor Miyazaki as a dedication. When I left his house, he gave me a book on classical grammar that he had written himself. He also added words of encouragement, telling me to become a specialist. And so I continued my studies at Wako.

Two years passed in the blink of an eye, and in early spring, around February of 1971, as graduation approached, I received a postcard from Professor Miyazaki. The contents were roughly as follows: "Congratulations, Tanaka-kun, your appointment at Kitatama High School has been confirmed. The principal contacted me yesterday." The next day, I visited Professor Miyazaki's office to express my gratitude. He smiled and told me, "The principal of Kitatama is a junior of mine from university, and he contacted me with an inquiry about Tanaka-kun, so I recommended him, and everything will be fine now." And so, I was interviewed by Professor Miyazaki, enrolled in the school, and graduated with his recommendation. I wonder if this, too, was a matter of fate.

Even after graduation, I visited the professor several times at the beginning of each year with two friends. One New Year's Day, in the tatami room we were shown into, the professor pointed near the ceiling and said with a smile, "This year, for the first time in a long time, I went to get a good luck charm, so I immediately put it up facing south." Sakai and Yamamoto, who had become teachers, were always with us. I think this New Year's tradition continued until everyone became busy with weddings and raising children. The professor always welcomed us kindly and gently. The professor also accepted the position of the first president of the Wako University Japanese Literature Society, which was established by graduates of the Japanese Literature major in the Department of Literature at Wako University, and became an alumni association and research group for professors and graduates. After the standing committee meetings held at Nakano Sun Plaza, it was a pleasure for us standing committee members to be able to talk with the professors who came to the meeting at a coffee shop on Nakano Sun Road. Professors Miyazaki, Ikeda, Saeki, Sugiyama, and Takeda were often together, making it feel like a small class reunion. We were all still young, nearing the end of our twenties, and now those days are incredibly nostalgic.

T.A.

Sekinan Library

Tokyo

2026

1 On Time Property Inherent in Characters 2003- 2008

On Time Property Inherent in Characters

TANAKA Akio

Here I will try to consider on the generation and the function of characters that have been used in Chinese which is classified to isolating language in linguistic typology.

Concerning the early forms of characters, we can verify them by the ancient inscriptions on bone and tortoiseshell that were discovered at /Yinxu/ and so forth. At the first stage that is usually classified to five on the inscriptions, they already displayed the inceptive completion, from where it is very difficult to speculate the beginning shapes of characters. On vocabulary and syntax, inscriptions displayed the almost same inceptive completion. Here what is inceptive completion is meant that comprehension or speculation is practicable by the usage of modern Chinese. Therefore the generation and the function of characters are subsidiary after the inscriptions. On the situation of forming the inscriptions namely explanation to decipher inscriptions, many researches are accumulated. Here, in these researches, I proceed with consideration claiming the works of after 1990 in main.

1 Generation of characters

When we see the inscription of character /yu/ that means bringing up in English, it is impossible to doubt that this inscription shows the situation of childbirth time by woman. In this inscription the situation of childbirth is shown by three stages. First there is a figure in which woman is going to give birth to a baby crossing both arms at the front of her chest. She takes a bent-forward posture, sticks her buttocks out and bend her knees gently. Second the situation of what the waters break is shown by the signs similar to dotted lines. Third at central or under part of the waters, a new born baby is shown in the shape of baby’s head inverted. Through three factors illustrated in the inscription, character /yu/ is clearly expressed the situation of childbirth time and the immediately after the birth time.

When we see the inscription of character /yan/ that means language or speak in English, the form of the inscription is simplified or transformed considerably at the first stage of classification on inscriptions. So the explanation to decipher inscriptions is developed variously. Here I will show one interpretation including the result of Chinese archeology in recent years. A form of character /yan/ is able to see the three parts that are upper, middle and under. According to the result of Chinese archeology, the upper part is regarded as the tongue’s point of a bronze bell used at meeting in /Yin/ period. The central part of character /yan/ is the body of a tongue. The under part of character /yan/ is regarded to be the outside of a bell. In /Yin/ period, at the time to let the meeting begin, the bronze-like bell was ringed loudly to let the people connected to know. When the meeting was opened, the bell was inferred to put up side down on a table. That is to say, the main body of a bell is inferred to be putted up side down and the tongue of a bell is inferred to be putted upward on the form of bell’s setting. This setting of a bell is shaped regarded to become the character’s form of inscription of on bone and tortoiseshell. According to this interpretation of the inscription, /yan/ can be said to show the situation of post-notification of a meeting in /Yin/ period.

Therefore the figuration of the reversed bell was regarded to become the inscription of character /yan/.

When we see the inscription of character /geng/ that means to cross in English, we comprehend that the inscription shows the two parallel lines in which a bow pattern is included. WANG Guowei^†0 regarded that this inscription is as same as the character /heng/ that means permanent or lasting in English. Now I follow his interpretation. He wrote in his paper that two up-and-down lines are both banks of a river and inner bow shaped figure is a ship which goes and returns between the banks^†1. According to this interpretation, /geng/ or /heng/ shows the operations of crossing a river, that operations are permanently repeated in an identical space^†1.

From the inscriptions of three characters of /yu/, /yan/ and /geng/, now we can induce or infer the following.

First, Inscriptions which are original shapes of characters, in some cases, have a proceeding time in characters themselves. That is to say, as for character /yu/, that means the time of childbirth, from beginning to end. As for character /yan/, that means the time of meeting, from announcement to being open. As for character /heng/, that means the proceeding time of crossing the river by ferry.

Second, on the inscriptions, several aspects of the various phenomena which occur on the proceeding time in characters are sometimes shown by the images or implications. As for character /yu/, remarkable aspects’ figures are bending mother’s body, amniotic fluid and new born baby^†2. As for character /yan/, the one remarkable is the bell which is set in the upside down condition, which means the announcement of meeting which was already opened a few minutes ago. The other remarkable is the same bell which is set on the table in the upside down condition, which means the meeting is now going^†3. As for character /heng/, remarkable aspects are both banks and a ferry boat.

Third, on the inscriptions, several aspects, which are shown by the remarkable figures, transmit the messages. As for character /yu/, babybirth from mother’s body, the situation of birth time and new baby appeared in this world are transmitted simultaneously by the one character /yu/. As for character /yan/, transmitting is announcement of meeting, opening of meeting and contents of being discussed by the meeting. As for character /heng/, work of crossing the river, reach the opposite bank of the river and repetitions of these works, namely, constancy are transmitted for the information.

Therefore from the induction or inference on the generation of character’s meaning above mentioned, the following function of characters is led for us.

2 Function of characters

First, the time-proceeding aspect being inhered in every character has the strong tendency toward the most distinctive information of the real world. As for character /yu/, while woman is giving birth to a baby, the most distinctive information is the figure of mother’s body bending, and after birth, the existence of a new baby becomes the most distinctive information^†2. The various grammatical functions of one character are generated from the time proceeding and successive phenomena of distinctive aspects in the real world.

As for character /yu/, at the birth time, verbal aspect of giving birth is emphasized, but after birth nounal aspect of a new born baby oneself is emphasized. As for character /yan/, before the meeting verbal aspect of telling the opening is the most important thing, but while being opened or after the meeting the nounal aspect of speaking content of the meeting is the most valuable thing^†3.

Second, when two or over two characters are connected, every character wants to emphasizes selecting one distinctive aspect inherent in oneself, and want to connect to the other character or characters. Because if two or over two aspects is transmitted, there will appear the non-clearness in the information. As for character /yu/, connection with character /sheng/ (which means grow in English), namely /sheng yu/, in this situation /yu/ means give birth to in English. Connection with /cai/ (which means a person of talent in English), namely /yu cai/, in this situation /yu/ means educate in English. That is to say, character /yu/ has two phases of meanings. One is concerned with the situation of child-birth of mother’s body. The other is concerned with the situation of a person that is already growing.

Third, every character has several aspects of inherent time inclination. When there is a connection of two characters, each character has the choosing operation from the several meanings in the character. Two or over two characters generate a new meaning complex by the operations of choosing the most precedent meaning in the each. This complex can maintain the new clearness of information on the connection of characters which have many branches of meanings in total.

For example, from above mentioned characters /yu/, /yan/ and /heng/, when two characters /heng/ and /yan/ are connected to one word /heng yan/, /heng/ chooses the meaning constant in English and /yan/ chooses the meaning utterance in English. New meaning complex is the expression by the stable person. This /heng yan/ appears in the Chinese classic Mengzi by the complex meaning.

Then, when every individual character does selectivity of aspects, what functions does work in the characters? On the other hand, when two or over two characters connect by the choosing the most precedent meaning respectively, what functions does work out of the characters?

3 Self selectivity of function on character

Now I examine the situation of what two or over two characters connect and generate the new aspect complex. For instance, I adopt above mentioned characters connection word /heng yan/.

In the first place, /yan heng/, which is a reverse disposition of /heng yan/, is examined. This characters disposition is not notified as the one word generally in the Chinese. This characters set is usually recognized as a sentence. The meaning is <The utterance is eternal.> in English. That is to say, this characters set does not generate new aspect complex and two aspects of every individual character form in a line. Why this divergence, namely generating word or sentence, occurs in the characters disposition?

Here I infer that< time property inherent in characters> is worked.
Detailed inference is mentioned below.

On <time inherent in characters>, time has various longitudes, from short to long. As the case stands that two times in two characters touch in succession and the former character’ time is longer than the latter character’ time, these two characters connect tightly and generate a new aspect complex. But on the reverse situation, that is to say, the former character has shorter time than the latter character, these two characters have the difficulty to generate a new aspect complex, every individual character has a tendency to stand alone each other.

As for characters connection /heng yan/, character /heng/ has <an eternally long time> inherent, on the other hand, character /yan/ has <a temporary short time>. Like this connection of characters that the former is long time inherent and the latter is short time inherent, a new aspect complex is generated in principle.

Therefore characters /heng yan/ become one word and characters /yan heng/ become one sentence which is constituted from the two characters.

That is to say, on Chinese language that is classified to isolating language in linguistic typology, for there are no phenomena of declension, the main them of the grammatical functions is the break of words, namely characters, and the selection of parts of speech.

On the decision of grammatical functions, now I institute two conceptions for language. One is <time inherent in characters>. The other is <self selectivity of aspects on the combination of characters>.

<Time inherent in characters> is above mentioned. <Self selectivity of aspects> is also above mentioned. Say over again, when time inherent in the successive character is shorter than the former character’s, two characters are composed and become one word. But the latter is longer than the former; two characters are not composed and become one sentence.

As a result, there become two divergences. One is the generation of a new aspect complex. The other is succession of two individual aspects. The former become a word. The latter become a sentence.

This distinction leads a new view for the generation of lexis and the structure of syntax. Time inherent in characters is examined by the property of characters, especially by the inscriptions on bone and tortoiseshell in ancient China. Therefore <self selectivity of aspects on the combination of characters> is a hypothesis in the present stages.

4 Time principle on language

Generally, recognition of word or structure of meaning on word, which is estimated one of the most important themes on linguistics, is extremely difficult to examine for long time. For the examination of the theme, now I chose the inscriptions on ancient China. These inscriptions are the most effective materials for analyzing the structure of meaning on language. Then, one of the most effective means is to verify <Time inherent in characters> and <Self selectivity of aspects on the combination of characters>. Now I collectively call these two factors as <Time principle on language>.

Hakuba March 28, 2003

Written by Japanese

Original Edition

Tokyo January 3, 2005

Translated into English

Standard Edition

Sekinan Research Field of Language

www.sekinan.org

[Postscript June 23, 2008]

†0<WANG Guowei>

Sekinan Research Field of Language / 5 WANG Guowei / Tokyo November 8, 2004

For WANG Guowei