Abstract
The highlighting marks (referred to here as “Shishu no Shirushi”) in Honcho Bunpan (1881-82), a textbook in the early Meiji Era, represented a literary approach created in the midst of linguistic conflicts. 1. The marks “Shishu no Shirushi” in Honcho Bunpan were put on the right side of the characters following the marks called “Ganmoku no Go” in a pre-modern commentary Genji Monogatari Hyoshaku (1854). However， whereas the marks of “Ganmoku no Go” give the readers the directions on how to read，the ones in Honcho Bunpan make the readers pay attention to the important words and phrases in the textbook. 2. Some of the marks for learning in junior high school language textbooks of modern Japan show the main points in the paragraphs, such as the ones in Nichiyo Bunkan. On the other hand, other marks indicate the main concepts associated with the themes of the stories to show the techniques for reading and to show important words and phrases in line with genres, such as the ones in Honcho Bunpan. 3. The marks “◎” in Honcho Bunpan highlight the effective expressions and indicate effective expressions in making the story interesting and skillful. 4. In the modern composition textbooks in the following Meiji Period, some marks take over the principles of the ones in Honcho Bunpan to show the readers techniques for expressions.
