Understanding of Japanese Case Marking in Edo Period Dutch Language Learning: A Comparison of Rokkaku Zenpen and Oranda-goho-ge

Abstract

In the history of the study of Japanese grammar, the influence of Western grammar books on the understanding of Japanese case marking can be found in many grammar books following ever since the Edo Period Gogaku Shinsho by Tsurumine Shigenobu. This paper takes the Dutch grammar book precursors to this type of grammar books as a context in which to compare Yoshio Shunzou's Rokkaku Zenpen (1814) and Fujibayashi Fuzan's Oranda-goho-ge (1812), in order to shed light on their respective understandings of case marking in the Japanese language (also known as teniwoha). Although there are commonalities in how the function of case is interpreted in both works, special characteristics appear in each text's treatment of case marking system. In particular, it can be seen that in Rokkaku Zenpen the interpretation of expressions unmarked for case owes much to Motoori Norinaga's analysis of these as examples of the category “tada”. By examining both books understanding of case, this study throws the influence of Kokugaku (Japanese philology) into relief, and as it traces the connection from Rangaku (Dutch language learning) on case marking to Tsurumine's Japanese case research, it clarifies the understanding of Japanese teniwoha by Dutch language scholars in the history of Japanese language studies.