The Uniqueness of the
Japanese
Language
From the book "15,000 Years of Jyomon
Civilization" (published in
Chapter
3
JYOMON
CIVILIZATION
The
Japanese Language and the Uniqueness of the
"Japanese"(language -based) Brain
Going
Against the Current Flow of so-called "Western
Civilization"---
The
Recognition towards an independent 'Japanese Culture and
Civilization'
When was that recognition born,
that
In 1942, in the January edition
of the monthly magazine 「日本評論」 Nippon Hyou Ron or the "Critique of/on
Japan" magazine, appeared an article by長谷川 如是閑 Hasegawa Nyouzekan
titiled
"The Sea and
「海と日本ー日本文明の淵源 について」
An ambitious attmep;t at
explaining the orgins of all civilizations of the planet, as an initial
attempt
at organizing the aquatic transportation attempts.
The basic premise for this is the necessity
of water and means of a water based tranportaion. Hence
Egypt has the Nile, Sumer -the
Mesopotamia, Indus Valley with its river, the Yellow River Civilization
of
China-黄河 as the name implies, both the Phoenicians and the Greeks-the
Mediterranean, then the Venetian as well as the British had similar
sea-routes,
「西洋の都市が城壁をもって圍まれ、 日本
都市が城壁を持たないのも、日本では都市と都市外の地方との文明に境界がないことを象徴している」
Hasegawa
states thus that "unlike the Western polis, there is no
major wall of division in
「初期において支那文明、 大陸文明の継承
に似てゐたであろうが、奈良から平安初期にかけて、 大陸のそれから獨立するに至った」
Initially
(the Japanese culture) was under the influence of
「戦国末期たは『南蛮 蠻』噴火の影響を受
けたが、 徳川中期に至って、 平安時代以来の
純日本的な文化形態をあらゆる方面において
創造した」
-also
"For three thousand years they ｈａｖe managed to develop their
culture uninterrupted and unhindered by outside influence.
That is a feat of accomplishment one can be
proud of."
「
三千年来、些かの中断すらなしにその純一の文明系統を持続せしめ得たことを誇り得る」
Plus they attempted to and managed
"to unify both the political and the cultural into one
blend". 「政治園と文明園の完全な一致を見るに至った」
And
Hasegawa also states:
「太平洋における皇軍大捷快報瀕りに至日、
端しなく此の橋を起こした」
“We have managed to create a
bridging of this culture through our
Imperial Navy all across the
These
words were penned down at the apex of Anti-Western mentality and
an attempt to rebel against the enclosing encroachment of that
culture. Ｉt is
understandable that such a period would produce a reawakening for the
defining
or redefining of the Japanese culture by another yard stick contrary to
the one
imported/imposed by the West.
Yet it is of interest that
Hasegawa (1875-1969) has received the Chrysanthemum Medal for Culture
in
post-war year of 1948. Meaning that he is a very "status quo"
mainstream
scholar.
I have not researched if
Hasegawa, prior to this article of 1942 has ever made attempts to
solely define
and differentiate the Japanese culture from others.
But it in not hard, in
retrospect to see how his work evolved by researching prior attmepts
before
his, in the history of
First
of all we have writers (or better defined- official custodians or
historians) like Hirata Atsutane 平田 驚胤 and O-kuni Takamasa 大国 隆正in that
transition period from Tokugawa feudalism to Meiji Restoration period.
These
people reflecting the zeitgeist of the period, attempted like
Motoi Nobunaga 本居 宣長
to
throw the "Chinese" yoke off and to assimilate what was
then available about the West via the "East India Company" as to
create and justify their own theory about the superiority of
After an intense Westernization
of the initial Meiji decade, the second ｄｅｃａｄｅ of Ｍｅiｊｉ saw the
pendulum swing
the other way towards a nationalistic approach.
But by
the third decade of the Meiji era, the elite who had been
immersed in the Western style education started to occupy the main body
of
every governmental branch. By the Taisho
period that “velenous”(poison) immersion spread to the
middle-class. With the aid of the
Jewish Babylonian Hollywood imagery, even the masses succumbed to a
kind of
mental trap of "enchantment ", towards the West.
There was a second attempt at
Restoration at the beginning of the Showa period with people like
Kawazura Bonji 川面 凡児 Imaizumi
Sadasuke今泉 定助 from the Shinto world, and
Kokujyukai
国柱会（a Society） Inoue Nitsushou 井上日召 Kita Itsuki 北 一輝from
the Buddhistic and both groups attempted
to revive and re-direct the course of Showa history.
Their
effrot was to emphasis once again revitalize the mentalite of
traditional
The
result of these efforts can be seen by the fact that the Ministry
of Education sent out pamphlets to
people related to the educational fields, titled "The Dogmatic
Principles
of Homeland"「国体の本義」 國體would be the original kanji of the period. This
explored
This
occurred in 1936.
In
other words by the time Showa became established and大東亜戦争war (later
on all this process would be labeled under the title of World War II)
started,
Japan already have accumulated over eighty years of Western influence.
Hence
it was the accumulation of three generations of Westernization
with the elite taking hold of all the major posts of influence within
This
man Hasegawa was given the Chrysanthemum Cultural Medal in 1948,
making him without doubt, a product of pro -Anglo/American liberal
intellectualism. It is worth
scrutinizing what motivated really deep down for a man of that
inclination/influence to start defining or re-defining
THE ARCHEOLOGIUCAL REVOLT
AGAINST the POST WORLD WAR II ADORATION of the WEST
Showa
12 (1937) Kouda Rohan幸田 露伴for
literature, Sasaki Nobutsuna 佐々木信綱for studies on the
National/Japanese
language
Showa 15 (1940)
Nishida Kitaro西田幾多郎for philosophy
Showa 18 (1943)
Tokutomi Sohou徳富蘇峰 for Critique, Miyake Setsurei三宅雪嶺for history
and
mythology
Showa 19 (1944)
Takakusu Jyunjiro高楠順次郎 for
Studies on Buddhism
Showa 21 (1946)
Iwanami Shigeo岩波茂雄ー the founder of the Iwanami Publishing House
Showa 23 (1948)
Hasagawa Nyozekan長谷川始是閑for
Critique
Showa 24 (1949)
Tsuda Soukichi津田 左右吉 for history, Suzuki Daisetsu鈴木 大拙for
Reserch in
Buddhism, Shiga Naoya志賀 直哉for literature
Showa 25 (1950)
Doi Bansui土井晩翠for literature,
Tanabe Hajime 田辺 元for philosophy,
Masamune Hakucho正宗 白鳥for literature and so forth....
Observing the list of these
prominent people who had received the Chrysanthemum Medal, one becomes
aware of
the fact that most of them have been born in the time of transition
between the
ending Tokugawa feudalism and the early part of the Meiji Restoration. It is a time of great transition for Japan as
Western influence seemed to be on the verge of inundating and
completely
engulfing Japan, yet somehow managed to stop itself on the brink and
managed
not to perish but to accumulate and digest these alien aspects and to
transcend
and still survive and actually grow on them.
There have been people like the
writer Shiga 志賀直哉 who proclaimed that the Japanese language was too
outdated
and better to adopt the French language as the national language of
Japan. He earned himself a rather negative
fame with
this comment.
Post
World War II and its subsequent Occupation, finds
But despite all that and the
defeat of WWII, came a revival of all things Japanese.
And
that occurred from a quite unexpected direction, that of
archeology.
Archeology
is an off-shoot of modern science, occurring (most actively
in
But if
one insists, one can go back to the Hellenistic Empire time of
Alexander "Magnus", when the Greeks came up with the list of the
The
generally agreed upon seven wonders of that period and within the
area of Alexander's conquest were, (and still are of wonder and mystery
even
today) are:
1) the
2) the
hanging
3) the
4) the
statue of Zeus at
5) the
Mausoleum in
6) the
statue of Helios at the Isle of Rhodes
7) the
light-house of
The
only "wonder" still standing today are the pyramids of
The
others have disappeared due to neglect/ time or have been purposely
destroyed.
Either
way, for whatever reason, not a trace is left now.
The
common essence of these structures may be the fact that they are
all ancient megaliths/monoliths.
Come
15-16th century, when Christianized Europe starts off its attempt
at global domination (
a
scenario of slavery for the rest of 'mankind' and the rape and
pillaging of 'others').
Hence
War and wars start in all earnest.
Their
weapon is the Bible and the Military.
The
military is supported by the latest scientific technical
innovations.
First
they dominate the black natives of the neighbouring upper African
continent, followed by central and southern natives of the American
continent.
They
proceed in the other direction as soon as their navigational
capabilities are capable, via the
They
rapidly subdue, vanquish, demolish the native Islanders and then
proceed back towards the continent as of South- East Asia and
They
implant their global political vision and its system,
'geo-politics' on a world wide scale.
Their
basis are the Alexandrian Seven Wonders and they spread their
theory on a global scale, replacing the local traditional history with
the
concept of "archeology".
The
governmental policy of the Meiji Restoration doers were that of a
total acceptance and importation of Western scientific technology. Archeology being a part of the package, Morse
is imported to be the first transmitter of this trend.
Morse,
for a start initiates the excavation of the area around the
Lo and
behold, artifactsafter artifacts appeared and this is said to be
the beginning of the research for the 'Yayoi' ceramics.
The
premises of archeology corresponds to the basis of 'modern
scientific research'.
A
rough sketch of the usual procedure would be as following:
1)
regarding the excavation a minute recording of the whole process
would be kept and released to the scientific/archeological research
community.
2)
whatever that has been excavated would be kept in either a museum or
some municipal centre and accessible for future research, and further
scrutiny
of related researchers as well as to the general or limited public.
3) It
is crucial that the object(s) would chronologically
identified/classified
to the most precise date as possible.
4) an
attempt to revive the than current condition of the circumstance
when the object was created or disposed of, based on the most
scientific
conjecture available at the time
5)
this process would require both tremendous time and money.
That is supposedly made possible by grants
from universities, governmental agencies, research institutes etc.
6)
degrees in archeology would be created as to enable both the
education of the future researchers as well as to keep the current
research
functioning. and the interest alive....
This
kind of structure was created around the 17th century with the
birth of 'Royal Academy of Science'. The
famous '
This
was followed in
So Morse made an investigative
report that will be released around the other Societies and this became
the
beginning of 'archeology' in and of
In
other words
Archeology would later emerge and
share aspects of their research into various branches of sciences like
anthropology, biology, geology and even with cosmology. This
has been the inclination of the past two
hundred years (19th-20th.centuries)
In
Western archeology there is no separate concept/ category as of a
"Ceramics/Artifactual/Pottery Period"?
In
Japanese it is expressed as土器時代.
It is
not that ceramics does not appear. Its
position is that of a secondary, tertiary
significance. It can not be accepted as
a gauge for a civilization.
From
their eyes civilization proceeded in the following categorization;
Stone
Age- Metal Age (Bronze Age, Iron Age etc.)
The
Bronze Age
Abroad-
it starts about 5,6000 years ago but in
Abroad-
it reached its apex about/over two thousand years ago, but in
Analyzed
from this angle
Hence
in the category of primitive civilization.
The
developed civilization, i.e. the West or
As the Japanese archeologists
went excavating around
So now
came the dilemma of how to properly place these artifacts within
the paradigm of Western history, history
of China, plus the history of Japan as expressed in 古事記Kojiki、日本書紀Nihon
Shoki.
So
scholars and researchers came up with the following placements:
Jyomon
Period: Hunting/Gathering society of wandering indigenous people
Yayoi
Period: the first successful attempt towards agriculture and thus
a stable society, therefore the dawn of civilization.
After
WWII with the domination of the allies, the
"Emperorial" role in the creation of original
And the creation of
Only
what is mentioned about Japan in the history of China中国正史should be
accepted as legitimate history of Japan, and the history of Japan
re-examined from
that point of view.
The Jyomon natives were
eliminated (most likely) by the more advanced Yayoi invaders and
disappeared
without a trace was the standard accepted premise for a long time.
Following
this yard-stick , Jinmu Emperor 神武 'til the tenth Sujin
Emperor崇神were mythological characters and historically non-existent.
From
the 11th until the 14th Emperor there are no concrete records that
can be cited as 'proof' of existence.
Only
with the 15th Emperor is there a mention in the Chinese historical
records as 「讃」 who would turn out to be the Oujin Emperor.
But it may be about the 16th Nintoku
Emperor仁徳or so it is said.. Things
depend on the interpretation..
At any rate given the current
inclination, the West may finally succeed in totally demolishing the
Japanese
myths and history, and consequently
That was the discovery and
development in the interest, of the Japanese Jyomon archeology.
Hasegawa
Nyozekan ( 長谷川 如是閑） stated thus:
"而して、この原始からの日本文明の独自の系統は、絶えず大陸文明を摂取しつ
つ、三千年の長い間に栽培さねつつ、その純粋の血脈を今日につづけているのである。。。。。啻にわれわれ現代の日本人が、古い祖先からの伝統 傳統 精神
を持ち続けてゐることを示すだけではなく、
それによって、今日の日本の國家としての生
存の条件が、三千年前の古代日本のそれと、その根本性質において同じものであることを知り得るのである。。。。。。。
他本文名の特徴である自主性が、年を積むに
従って有力となり、模倣性に於いて一歩進めば、
それと同時に、自主性に於いて一歩進めると
いう歴史を持ち続けてきた。 。。。。。。
いかなる外国の力も、いかなる世界史の動き
も、 この三千年の海の日本の歴史を中断せしめる力をもたないのはいふまでもないことである"
Hasegawa speaks about the three
thousand years of Japanese history.
1940,
Showa 15 implies 'Emperial' age 2600, by relying on the
inscriptions of Nihon Shoki, and counting the first Emperor Jinmu as
the
beginning point.
2600
was a common point of reference at that period. But
notice that Hasegawa states "three
thousand years of history". That
would imply about the middle of the Jyomon civilization.
Archeologists
of his time does not accept the 'mythical'-Emperial
calendar. At least not deep down in their thinking.. They found it as a
bothersome anomaly....
Jyomon
civilization as measured by the Western archeological paradigm
would mean a group of hunting /gathering
primitive barbarians, hence far away from 'civilization'.
“FROM ANCIENT TIMES THE BLOOD,
CULTURE and CIVILIZATION OF JAPAN WAS ONE”- a statement
form OKAMOTO TARO 岡本太郎
That assumption is shifting
before our eyes now
It was
Okamoto Taro that jolted out attention towards Jyomon.
Okamoto
Taro, is a well known artist and the product of Okamoto Istupei
and Kanoko, a notoriously well known couple of the early Taisho period. Taro was raised in a very eclectic and unique
manner and was sent to study abroad . He
was based in
During
the Showa 30's or around 1955 onwards, he encounters Jyomon
artifacts, and almost over night he transformed himself from adoring
and
idolizing the West into re-evaluating all around him again.(or all of
his
surrounding culture...)-
and he
came to feel reverence for the Japanese/Jyomon style.
This
was a major act that changed the course of history as any other so
called 'revolutionary' acts. It was not
just an act of a passing trend or of influencing temporal fashion.
Okamoto
Taro, he threw a stone.
And
that stone produced a ripple.
A
ripple that was to reach and resonate in the innermost depth of the
souls of these lost and apathetic post WWII Japanese people.
The
Japanese people managed to find the original primitive home' for their souls.
Many
prominent Japanese were influenced by Okamoto's eulogy of the Jyomon.
One of
the foremost example of that may be the poet Sou Sakon 宗 左近.
The
philosopher Umehara Takeshi梅原 猛states that Japan (Eastern Japan) had
two centres of civilization; one, that of the hunting/ gathering Jyomon culture and two, that of the
agricultural Yayoi culture. This is the楕円国家
Outwardly
it appears as though the more technically advanced Yayoi
civilization vanquished and eliminated the Jyomon but it was not so. It was not so. The
roots of the Japanese heart, its
mentality, the soul, the basis of its religion are all Jyomon - rooted
in
reality-the cotidien existence of the people. .
And in the field of Jyomon
archeological excavations there came an incredible and totally
unexpected discovery
in the Aomori prefecture known as "SANAI MARU YAMA" 「三内丸遺跡」
archeological site. The research and
excavation was initiated in 1992, 40 years post the historical
statement made
by Okamoto Taro.
Around
the middle of Jyomon period, (approximately 5500-4000 ago) there
appears to have been, contrary to all expectations and assumptions a
stable,
non-nomadic and highly sophisticated and competent aggregation of
people lived
for a time span of over 1500 years there.
Hence former assumption about the Jyomon toppled over.
For more interested readers,
details can be obtained from Takashima高島忠平 and Okada's 岡田 康博 joint
venture in
the 「縄文の宇宙、 弥生の世界」page 10, published by Kadokawa Shoten 角川書店 2000)
The
new interpretation is taking roots so sooner or later it should
appear and be incorporated into the educational textbooks where issues
related
to ancient
"The traditional
assumption about the Jyomon civilization was that fundamentally post
Yayoi
it no longer had anything to do
with
in the
Jyomon artifacts. He endorsed the ethnical vivacity that the
Jyomon artifacts are capable of triggering in the views and elevated
their
formerly marginalized position into the main stream within the history
of art
of
"There
has been a great change in the position of the Jyomon
period post WWII"
"It is
also possible that as the position of
Hence
traditional concept of history was:
Jyomon→completely
demolished and exterminated, had nothing to do with later
history of Japan
Yayoi→with
their irrigation based agricultural as well as metallurgical
capabilities, came across the sea to populate Japan.
Hence this was the ancestral basis of
But
currently, starting about a 100 years ago and especially in the
last 50 years of post WWII with further archeological research, the
understanding
has become:
Stone
Age-- Jyomon-- Yayoi →current populace
Meaning
that the ethnicity and culture of
"FINGERPRINTS
OF GODS" ARE GRAHAM'S FINGERPRINTS on the RIGHT
SPOTS
In the
year 2000 Graham Hancock was here in
He
stated in an interview that although hardly known outside of
"Sunday
Mainichi"Newspaper 2000 June 11th issue
12,000
years ago, there was a major upheaval (cosmic-oriented) that
changed the shape/face of earth. and all civilizations have said to
have
perished. But
"If
Jyomon culture is not known outside of
Here it is written that the
Japanese underestimated it.
And
now an English writer is going to break its seal, and herald it
internationally...
It is
annoying to be generalized so quickly and lumped under the word
"Japanese".
Who
undervalued the Japanese culture?
First
the Japanese ruling elite with their reverence to
Next
the same group mentality of the Japanese oligarchy with their reverence
to the West.
Both
not just sought to underestimate, but to literally demolish and
cast out what has always been uniquely Japanese.
Look
at the currently ruling class elite in the finance, politics,
media, where ever there is influence, visibility- when undervaluing
continues
to the point of non-existence, extermination- then the consequence is
that
these people are psychologically geared to up-root i.e. exterminate,
all things
genuinely Japanese.
The “China-immersed” intellectuals, the “West-revering” elites may say
that, well it is an artifact of a long, long time ago anyway. Relics of
the
past made form mud, and what practical value would it render to my life
anyway....
But
here there is something utterly crucial that can be proven even
now.
The
Japanese language.
This
is the crucial point.
From
the beginning of Meiji era, a large number of Western professors
and specialists have been imported. The centre being the Imperial
University of
This way
So
This
study, imported form the West known as linguistics- is not exactly
appealing for most of the Japanese people.
But it
is not a study totally unrelated to the Japanese nor is it an
utterly benign and innocuous, non-influential
study.
Just
as a point of reference, let's briefly examine the procedures of
this branch of study.
1)
classification using the
Indo/European languages as the model and demonstrating the roots of all
these
languages as Aryan, they apply this method of branch extension to all
languages
world wide.
2)
grammar
3)
literacy and literature.
4)
phonetics
5)
Others- for example semiology
Of
course the elite intellectuals, who has spent their lives and
fortunes researching these trends would force the same concepts into
the
Japanese language whether genuinely applicable or not.
DEVELOPPED
FROM the
THE
UNIQUENESS of the JAPANESE LANGUAGE
Dr.
ISHII ISAO'S THEORY on the JAPANESE LANGUAGE
Of
course the Westernized elite scholar, somehow in order to justify
their pay and existence,
must
find a way somehow to fit the Japanese language into this
linguistic paradigm -whether it really fits or not.
The impact of Western scientific importation
does not stop here, but has included such atrocious and irrelevant
procedures under
the umbrella of 19th century "natural" sciences as acts unnatural as
autopsy, dissection and the most irrelevant evil of them all,
vivisection. This direction shows no sign
of abating. and
the whole world is subjected to this macabre and bizarre technological
advances.(retardation?)
Vivisection
as the word denotes, describes the process in which animals
are dissected alive.
vivi-from
the Latin “alive”.
Technically
speaking, included under the terminology
"animals" are human being.
So one
dissects animals(humans).
The
basis of biological life is in the cells. Life starting on a
cellular level......like an amoeba and progressing on to more complex
creatures. Regarding humans the apex of
that development would be the brain. Modern Western biological studies
also
focused into this realm as well.
It is said that what makes us
humans, humans is the cortex of the brain.
And
that brain is divided into left and right hemisphere.
Linguistic capabilities are said to function
on the left side. That is where the seat
of Logos (theory, logical thinking) is, and the other right brain is
the Pathos
(emotion, intuition and sensitivity).
Compared
to the Japanese language Western languages seems to be
emphatic on the consonants.
In the
Japanese language the vowels are emphasized.
Generally
speaking Japanese people have a hard time comprehending
foreign languages and is not very adept at speaking them.
In the
grammar of most, or almost all Western languages there is the
definite syntax of an subject, the verb followed by an object.
Also
it is expressed with clarity with the usage of pronouns of whether
it is one, two, three or more implied here in the sentence.
Words
like, 'I' 'Ich' 'Je' is used to specify who the speaker/subject
is and that it expresses the self-me.
Whereas
in Japanese this simple word can be expressed in myriads of
ways, and over ten way of saying 'I', and often is completely deleted
in
conversations.
Also
in the written expressions, it is positioned in such a manner that
this 'I' is non-emphatic, and least stressed as possible.
According
to Ishii Isao's theory, there are only two cases of absorbing
a complete and fully developed foreign language and maintaining its own
unique language
without it becoming secondary or its own language becoming completely
submerged
and dissolved in it.
First
is the Akkadians who created the akkadian language based on the
Sumerian one.
The
other is the Japanese language.
They
adopted Kanji as their national language and form the Kanji
created the Katakana alphabet.
They
also gave Kanji two way of reading and interpretation.
First
was to pronounce the Chinese style and maintaining its original
meaning and the other
was to
pronounce totally different with the newer
meaning
attached that has been born from the need and for the
adaptation to the Japanese language.
By
giving this dual interpretation to all the kanjis they ended up
creating a language that was almost home-grown and home-spun.
Anthropologically
speaking there has been only three cases of a complete
development regarding the written language; the Sumerian cuneiform. the
Egyptian hierograph, and Chinese kanji.
But
both the
THE
PARTICULARITY/PECULIARITY of the JAPANESE BRAIN according to DR.TSUNODA
For over a century Western
educated Japanese elites have been prying and interfering into the
Japanese
language.
Not
just interfering but because of its singularity, -when attempted to
be strait-jacketed into the Western linguistic paradigm, it does not
fit, hence
requires to be mutilated.
For
these intellectuals making the Japanese language confirm and adapt
into the paradigm of the West - would be a sign of progress and
'civilization'. They honestly
believe
that as Western -baptized leading intellectuals that is their mission.
The
words, the vocabulary of that particular ethnic group would be
entrenchedly related (obviously) to its music.
Japanese
music- as well as its language, when compared to the Western
and Eurasion languages and its music, becomes an anomaly.
It has
an uniqueness unrelated to the others.
It is
not a question of good or bad, or better or not, but the fact
that there is unbreachable fundamental difference here.
What
has happened is the fact that the Meiji intellectuals as a national
curriculum imposed the Western music as
a basis of their education on all elementary school children.
It
should be blatantly obvious to any body with a bit of senses and
sensitivity to understand that that traditional Japanese music has
nothing in
common with the Western music!
"By the imposition of this
music training the hearing capability towards traditional music became
demolished. Traditional music has had a
long history of development with the Japanese race and its language. This transgression has been noted by many
educational researchers," so states Dr.Tsunoda.
Tsunoda
Tadanobu 角田忠信 （１９２６born, a medical doctor specializing in
dental, oral, audio logy, rhino in ither
words a mouth, nose, throat and ear doctor...）
An
exceedingly rare type of researcher for
He
also stated that "a few years ago I encountered a person, a
prominent and influential scholar in the fields of linguistics who told
me that
linguistics is basically like fashion and the current main stream way
is to
absorb, digest and re-introduce what is occurring in the West.
Any
original research in this field is a loss/waste of time."
Since
it is written "a few years" it may be around Showa 47
or so (1972 ).
Not
only linguistics, but in all scientific fields since it is all
Western based, original research is futile.
Scholars main endeavour is to introduce the latest happenings of
the
West. This is probably the real way of
thinking, after the initial politeness and noble sounding explanations
of
attempts, of most of the current Japanese researchers and scholars.
It
spound almost oxymoric, a contradictory definition of 'research'.
Dr.
Tsunoda is not a linguistic scholar, indeed he is a doctor.
His
specialty is in the field of
He
also taught at the National University of Tokyo, in the dentistry
department
In
reality, there is a direct correlation between 'words/language' and
the physical ears.
It is
through the ears (auditory channels) that the cerebral hemisphere along
with the throat are linked.
Then
the linguistic signals are transmitted from the brain to the
nerves; enabling the throat, mouth and tongue to coordinate together
and
produce a coherent sound.
Which
is the capability to vocalize and hence speak and sing....-the
mark of humanity.
People
with auditory difficulties, have their vocal/linguistic development
hindered.
If
completely deaf, they are usually unable to speak.
And
when there is a problem in the left cortex due to accident, or
cerebral hemorrhage, verbal capabilities are also hindered or even lost.
Dr.
Tsunoda also specialized in aiding these patients with auditory
related language problem.
This
obviously is based on cerebral research but taken in a larger
context, it does involve the field of linguistics and philology as well
Because
his research is based on
it really does not involve the basic medical training nor , let alone linguistics which
theoretically
would be of a foreign field to him.
It is
my guess that people who invade the turf of
others(specialization) are really not welcomed.
But if
deeply involved in the battlefield to aid patients regain or
conquer their verbal capabilities,
then
inadvertedly-other fields (including such studies as linguistics)
end up being investigated and involved.
To
receive an advice form influential person of that field
(unfortunately the name is not mentioned) and to be told that
"linguistics
is a kind of fashion" and to do original research as a waste of
time.....
-what does all that imply? That all is not well in the field of
research if the
main motivation for 'researching' is not to research but to parrot the
West at
a simultaneous velocity.
JYOMON
CIVILIZATION IS NOT A LOST/'PAST' CIVILIZATION
Dr.
Tsunoda continued and pioneered a breath-takingly original research
that ended up proving the difference between Japanese and many other
foreign
languages.
From
his research he concludes that the Japanese people, or to put it
more precisely whoever was raised an the milieu of a Japanese language
(also
Polynesian languages) for the first decade of his/her life would have a
pattern
in the functioning of the brain different to one who has been raised in
another
language (i.e. Korean, Chinese, English and most major Western
languages).
Finally
we have an original research incorporating a point of view that
is not the mainstream assumption of post Meiji restoration that has
been
dominating the research fields of the Japanese accademia.
A
truly Japanese take but with solidly documented facts and statistics
a la Western natural science research.
But this research which
should have launched
been a minor revolutionary
initiative in this field was totally ignored by the collegues.
Instead
it was highly appreciated and acclaimed in fileds unrelated to
his studies.
"The
symposium of 1975 with specialist researchers like Yukawa
Hideki 湯川秀樹
Sonohara
Taro 園原 太郎Ichikawa Kikuya
市川亀久弥Takeshita Keiji 竹下敬次
Shinagawa
Yoshiya 品川嘉也
will
become an unforgettable experience of my life. “The encouragement and the
expected attention I was given along with the honour I received
especially from
Professor
Yukawa was what motivated me to actually pen down and
conclude my thesis."
Dr.
Yukawa, needless to say specializes in physics and won a Nobel
prize as a nuclear physicist. His research
is obviously far away from either physiology, neurology or philology.
Both
Takeshita
Keiji is a philosophy professor at the Tokyo College of
Medicine and Dentistry.
The
other person named is unknown to me.
At ant
rate this 'symposium' enabled Dr, Tsunoda to receive enough
response and encouragement, not form his colleagues-but from
researchers
unrelated to his field.
Also
writers like Abe Kobo安部公房, professor of music at the Tokyo
National Conservatory Koizumi Fumio 小泉 文夫, the poet Ooka Makoto 大岡信,
and many
other prominent figures also showed interest.
It is
of interest to note that a book which is essentially a
medical/technical
thesis would be so well received by the general public.
"The
Brain of the Japanese "
within the first seven years of publication (between 1978 to
1985) finds
itself with 29 reprints. It is still
popular and by 1993 or Heisei 5, it has been its 34th reprint. It is exceedingly impressive, given the
fact
that it is a technical thesis,not written for the laymen!
Dr.Tsunoda
deviced a combination of two systems, one called
'keytapping' and DAF Delayed
Auditory Feedback. And then created a
machine wherein these two systems were
unified
Then
he collected data which enabled him to demonstrate a certain
difference between Japanese(or Polynesian) raised subject and others.
This
is his result.
JAPANESE
LANGUAGE IS A LANGAUGE THAT HAS RETAINED ITS 'PRIMITIVE TAIL'
According
to Dr. Tsunoda, he feels that in Japan there never occurred a
division in the mind of the people of separating the brain hemisphere
into two
and recognizing distinct pattern of differences between the so-called
Pathos
(emotions, imagination, compassion) and Logos(theorizing, recognizing
coherence, and other related epistemological issues), until the
encounter with
the West.
Observing
from the data, generally speaking for the Western people; the
left brain is the seat of Logos, of words and consonants, of Logic and
calculation. The right hemisphere will
be the Pathos part, functioning for natural sounds, music as well as
the sound
of machinery and vowels.
For
the Japanese, the left brain the so called logos/verbal hemisphere
will include not just the consonants but the vowels, all human voices
as well
as the natural sounds of the animals barking or the insects buzzing as
well as
calculations. The right brain
functioning \towards the sound of musical instruments as well as
machinery.
As Dr.
Tsunoda continued his research with more candidates he came to
the conclusion that the former brain reaction belonged to only Japanese
and
Polynesians and all the other languages reacted to the Western based
pattern
including neighbouring Chinese and Korean
language
speakers.
Is the
Japanese language that different?
Watabe
Shoichi, professor at Sophia University at Tokyo, has stated that
Japanese language is a peculiar, unique language, one that has somehow
managed
to retain its "primitive tail" He feels that long ago Western
languages were also left brain oriented, a kind of brain that
incorporated all
on just that one side without so much filtering and dividing.
Aside
form the Japanese language the others may had their primitive
tail cut off time and time again.
According
to Watabe,
The first time was under Yomei
Emperor用明 天皇 when Buddhism nearly completely engulfed Japan.
The second time 頼朝period.
The third time was at the time
of Houjyou 北
条 泰時
Then Meiji Restauration.
And finally World War II and
its consequences.
The
uniqueness of the Japanese language may be that the primitive tail
is still not cut off.
Meaning
that the brain pattern has retained the same sequence since the
primitive /primordial times.
"When
I think of the Japanese culture, I get the feeling that it
is not the usual/normal culture as one accustomed to its definition. There's something funny/peculiar in it (the
Japanese culture),"comments- once again Watabe.
Here,
there is the co-existence of the primordial mentalite' ,
alongside the latest, Western scientific, technological innovations and
techniques.
Most
of the other members of earth, has had their 'primitive tail' cut
off and no longer possess it.. But
Hence
here is a real possibility that the ancient Jyomon civilization
still exists within the mentalite' of the Japanese people.
Something almost encoded in their DNA- but
not really as it is the language that maintains and preserves the
linkage.
For
It
does not fit.
It can
pretend or be coerced into pretension, but would never
spontaneously, genuinely fit.
Statements
made by people like Hancock are to be appreciated.
"Jyomon
artifacts are the wonderful crystallization of a ancient
culture.
When
one feels a Jyomon artifact, there is a sensation like being hit
by an electrical voltage-
the
high level of intelligence, the creativity, or the artistic
sensibility of these people are transmitted across time.
It is
most fortunate for us that the Jyomon culture is not a lost
civilization."
What should be emphatic here is
the fact that Hancock states that Jyomon is not a lost civilization.
Jyomon is
a continuing civilization.
Jyomon
is alive within the Japanese people.
Is
Hancock's comment valid?
For a
long time the Japanese elite have laughed/sneered at this kind of
assumptions.
That
has been the history of
It is
highly possible that the intellectual elites, so immersed and
imbibed with the dazzling concepts of Globalism/Free Trade,
Bio-technology, the
Computer for genetic engineering, the Genome Bank with its high
technological
aspirations and so forth, may continue to be inebriated with the West,
that
Jyomon may be out of their sensitivity and vision......
I plan
to re-read Okamoto Taro (Meiji 44-Heisei 8, 1912-1996) as my
next project.
Addendum
More
comments on the Japanese language.
Charts
form Tsunoda’s book
Another
article on the Japanese language by Ohta.