Historical English Studies in Japan
Online ISSN : 1883-9282
Print ISSN : 0386-9490
ISSN-L : 0386-9490
Volume 1998, Issue 30
Displaying 1-10 of 10 articles from this issue
  • Creative Oral Presentation from Little Notebook
    Ichiro Tamura
    1997 Volume 1998 Issue 30 Pages 1-14
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: September 16, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This article first examined the relationship among Hearn's lectures on Shakespeare, his little notebook in Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum in Matsue, and his books in Toyama University Library, and secondly reported on Hearn's effetive approach to the teaching English literature at Tokyo University.
    Hearn possessed in his library as many as 2, 453 volumes of books, but what he actually used in his lectures were surprisingly few-so few as a one-volume “Globe edition” and Edward Dowden's Shakespeare.
    His lectures were orally presented, and written down verbatim by his students, leaving deep appreciative impressions. His lectures were in all points “personal” and well adapted not only to his students' level of the English language and culture, but also to their special Japanese way of thinking and feeling.
    Hearn's advice to his students that they should study English literature in order to develop their own Japanese literature was enthusiastically followed up by his elite disciple-students in their later works.
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  • Reiko Takanari
    1997 Volume 1998 Issue 30 Pages 15-26
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: September 16, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    What did Hearn mean by RED in The Red Bridal'? This question occurred to me whenever 1 read the story. 'A Red Sunset, ' an essay written by Hearn, led me to a clue for the question. In this essay he tells us that the 'apparition of red' ranges from such angry colors as vivid red, violent red, etc. to tender colors, such as pink, rose, etc.. Angry colors suggest various sinister feelings, while tender colors are related to delicacy and softness. In The Red Bridal, ' Otama, the step-mother of Oyoshi, is associated with the dark side of the rising power of modern material civilization. Her color is that of blood, thatof death. On the other hand, Oyoshi, another leading character, awakens purity, nobleness, and unconquerable self-respect of dying samurai class. She belongs to those heroines that Hearn often described prefer antiquated virtue to satisfaction of worldly desires. 'The Red Bridal' is a story of conflict between the rising power of modern material civilization and the antiquated virtue of dying spiritual civilization. 'Red' would have flashed on Hearn's mind as the most suitable metaphorical color when he tried to describe the conflict, I think.
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  • Shigekazu Yamashita
    1997 Volume 1998 Issue 30 Pages 27-46
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: September 16, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    On 3rd of May, 1891, the “Japan Weekly Mail” reported Dr. B. Howard's lecture entitled 'the Christ; Judged by Scientific Method.' On this lecture, many-sided controversy continued eighteen times for two months, and one of the contributors who criticised Howard's assertion that Herbert Spencer believed in the harmony between Christianity and science was Lafcadio Hearn who was teaching English at Shimane middle school. Before his arrival at Japan, Hearn had become an enthusiastic Spencerian by studying Spencer's Synthetic Philosophy, especially “First Principles”.
    When he read Howard's lecture and his reply to the criticism by 'Secularian' in Matsue, he sent a letter to the editor of the “Japan Weekly Mail”, and this letter was published on June 20th. Hearn's criticism was that Dr. Howard falsely identified Spencer as a 'Bible-believing Christian', and he quoted four lines from “First Principles”. His letter was attacked not by Dr. Howard but by T. S. Tyng, who pointed out the mortal contradition of the thought of Spencer who does not believe in the revealed religion.
    Hearn again contributed two letters entitled 'Spencer and religion' and 'Mr. Herbert Spencer', on 27th of June and 18th of July, and pointed out the true meaning of Spencer's theory of conciliation of religion and science. He asserted that Spencer admitted religion not as a traditional religion such as Christianity but as an universal belief in the 'Unknowable' into which science can not enter. Though this controversiy is not well known, Hearn's contributions are worth examining as they show his deep understanding of Spencer's philosophy.
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  • Yuji HIRATA
    1997 Volume 1998 Issue 30 Pages 47-59
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: September 16, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Yoshisaburo Okakura was ordered to study abroad by the Department of Education in 1901. From 1902 to 1905 he stayed in Europe for the study of linguistics and English teaching. During his stay in London, Okakura gave the lecture on Japanese Civilization by request at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), which was incorporated into the University of London. This paper makes clear the historical circumstances and details of his lecture.
    Okakura's lecture was one of the first “Martin White University Lectures.” James Martin White, who was a Scottish landowner, was interested in a new social science, sociology. He had endowed the teaching of sociology at the newly organized University of London since 1904. LSE applied his endowment and held the open lecture on Japanese Civilizalion for the purpose of sociological study. The expression of “Japanese Civilization” was a key word which reflected English complex mentality and concern for “the Britain of the East.”
    The LSE archives record Lafcadio Hearn as the original lecturer. It was impossible for him to deliver the lecture because of his death in September, 1904. Okakura was appointed the lecturer as substitute for him in haste. It seems that international fame of his brother Tenshin made him selected. In January in 1905, Okakura gave the course of lectures entitled “The Japanese Spirit.” His three successive lectures contained various fields on Japan - history, religion, culture and so on. It might be sure that Japanese advantage on the Russo-Japanese War made the hall crowded at that time.
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  • Kanako Kitahara
    1997 Volume 1998 Issue 30 Pages 61-72
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: September 16, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
  • The First English Textbooks Compiled at Tokyo University
    Michiaki Kawato
    1997 Volume 1998 Issue 30 Pages 73-91
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: September 16, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In 1877 (the 10th year of the Meiji Era), the first three English supplementary readers in Japan were published at the newly organized Tokyo University. Over the next eight years, about a dozen more were also published by Tokyo University. Among those readers were T. B. Macaulay's essays, “Warren Hastings”, “Milton” and “Clive”, and S. Johnson's Rasselas which were to be regarded as models of English supplementary readers and reproduced in facsimile by the hands of the newly established publishers, such as, Sanseido, Kaishindo and Yuhikaku. Thus they became the most popular English textbooks throughout the Meiji period and were a conduit for Japanese students to realise what Western novels were like and how Western people tended to think.
    No one has ever tried to examine by whom or on what originals these Tokyo University textbooks were compiled, or what place they took in the overall curriculum at the university, or how they might have affected the careers of the young elite who studied there, even though these same works played important roles in early English or literary education. This article will make these basic facts clear and present sufficient evidence to warrant a reevaluation of the textbooks.
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  • Yoshiharu IDA
    1997 Volume 1998 Issue 30 Pages 93-123
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: September 16, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
  • Kazuko MIYATA
    1997 Volume 1998 Issue 30 Pages 125-136
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: January 25, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
  • Tomo-o ENDO, Takahiko HORI
    1997 Volume 1998 Issue 30 Pages 137-150
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: September 16, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
  • Phonological approach to determine the dialectal words
    Yumiko KAWAMOTO
    1997 Volume 1998 Issue 30 Pages 151-168
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: May 07, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The Glossary of English and Japanese Words' written by Ranald MacDonald (1824 -1894) contains a few words peculiar to the dialects of Northeastern Japan and those of Kyushu. About the Kyushu dialect, there have been comments by numbers of scholars, however, about the Northeastern dialect, no one but Dr. Yoshio Yoshimachi, has ever suggested the existence of Northeastern dialect in the MacDonald's 'Glossary'.
    This paper attempts to find out some phonological regularities in descriptions in the vocabulary of the 'Glossary' and determine the words in questions whether they are dialectal words or not, referring to the phonological characteristics observed in both dialects at present.
    Regarding the fact that MacDonald had been captured in Ezo, the present Hokkaido, for almost 3 months before being sent to Nagasaki, he must have heard the Japanese language spoken in that area. His first Japanese informant, Tangaro, is likely to be a temporary employee of the guard house in Rishiri Island, then under the control of the Soya Headquaters of the Bakufu. The history of the Northern Japan tells that there were numbers of military people despatched from northern parts of Honshu to Ezo to defend the land and the people from the Russian intrusion; besides them, many fishermen and farmers also crossed the Tsugaru Straits seeking the temporary jobs. Tangaro must have been one of them.
    This paper includes on the result of the interview check with the native speakers of the two representative cities, Aomori and Nagasaki, in order to check if the people there accept or approve of the words in questions in the MacDonld's 'Glossary' as their dialects. Also, other Word Lists written by foreign scholars such as Thumberg, Curtius, Sansom are refered to, to observe how they describe the Japanese dialectal words in their works.
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