abstract
Since Chinese characters were introduced into Japan, they have been restricted by many factors such as Japanese language, society and culture, and become an important part of Japanese culture. Through the comparison of simplified Chinese characters between China and China, this paper reveals that in order to better express Japanese culture, Japan not only pays attention to the original meaning of Chinese characters, that is, the so-called "traditional character theory", but also takes national culture as the standard ideology, which embodies the characteristics and national psychology that Japanese Chinese character culture not only absorbs and draws lessons from Japanese Chinese character culture, but also gets rid of the shackles of China culture and echoes with China Chinese character culture.
Differences between Chinese and Japanese Simplified Characters and Their Causes
According to the list of commonly used Chinese characters (198 1) and the list of commonly used Chinese characters in China (3500), we can find that there are about 600 Chinese characters with different glyphs, of which about 588 are structural glyphs, such as. There are about 46 kinds of appearance differences, such as: Asia (Asia), thirst (thirst), ear (ear), bird (bird) and so on. (The Chinese characters in brackets are simplified Japanese characters, and those in brackets are simplified Chinese characters).
The main reason for the difference in font structure between Chinese characters and Japanese is that the two sides follow different principles of choosing or using characters in font arrangement. Mainly reflected in the following two points:
1. Japanese commonly used Chinese character lists pay more attention to "original form and original meaning", that is, the so-called "traditional character theory". If we look at it from a big perspective, it can be divided into two types: one is that the glyph and the meaning of the word are completely consistent. Such as: "Wei, Tan, Qi, Che, Ma, Feng, Zi and Bei"; The other is that the intention of choosing words or using words is not completely consistent with the original intention, but there are some indirect connections. Compared with the former category, the latter category has an absolute advantage in quantity. In addition, if the number conforms to the original meaning of the initial form, that is, the so-called "traditional word theory", then choose the number with fewer strokes as the positive body. For example, "Zi" and "Long" are a pair of variant characters, both of which can reflect the original meaning of words, but the former is chosen as orthography because of its few strokes. When sorting out China's glyphs, we follow the principle of simplicity and convenience for application. "The standard for sorting out glyphs is: the same song style, if the strokes are different or the structure is different, choose a shape that is easy to identify and write; If the stroke structure of the same word is different from that of handwritten regular script, the song style is as close as possible to handwritten regular script, which is not entirely based on the tradition of philology. "
2. At a deeper level, the principle of choosing and using Chinese characters in Japan is also closely related to its culture. Glyph is the formal bearing of text content, and it is the material support for text to become text. In order to eliminate the time barrier of the spread of spoken language, Chinese characters are required to have glyphs, and the cultural functions of Chinese characters, especially the cultural implication functions, are largely realized through glyphs. The glyph is the mirror image of China's cultural implication. If the same word has more than one glyph, that is, the so-called variant characters, then there is a multidimensional relationship between its form and meaning, and the glyph with this multidimensional relationship between form and meaning has more opportunities to contain some cultural information. Homographs are not only diachronic, but also exist at the same time. After Chinese characters were introduced into Japan, they were restricted by Japanese language, society and culture, and became an important part of Japanese culture. In order to make Chinese characters express Japanese culture well, Japan not only considers the original meaning of Chinese characters, that is, the so-called "traditional character theory", but also takes national culture as the standard.
The Cultural Implication of Japanese Characters
A Textual Research on the Cultural Connotation of the Word 1.
"Disaster" and "disaster" belong to cognitive characters. Shuo Wen Chuan Bu:
This disaster. The Japanese archipelago is close to the Pacific Ocean and belongs to the famous crustal movement zone. Being an island country since ancient times, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, typhoons, floods and other natural disasters occur frequently. The reason why Japan deliberately chose the word "disaster" is not only because it describes the causes of the phenomenon referred to by the word-water and fire, which is more in line with the original meaning of the word and the natural environment of Japan. The simplified glyph of the word "disaster" in China is only a typical manifestation of the phenomenon referred to in the meaning of the word-the house was burned down.
"Harmony" and "Yi", "Yi" are Chinese characters, Oracle Bone Inscriptions from sheep, from me (knife saw), which means killing cattle and sheep with a knife as a sacrifice. The bronze inscription is unified, the seal script is neat, and the regular script writing after the official reform has semantics. And "I" is an pictographic character, the original meaning is a saw, and then it is the first person pronoun borrowed from Shuowen Wobu: "Xi, my own dignity is also", but the word is still shaped like "Xi" without simplification, and the intention of choosing words is to ensure the close relationship between the concepts referred to in this meaning (symbolized in China and simplified as "Yi"). In addition, Japanese "Xi" is neither Confucianism from China nor Buddhism from the East, and belongs to Japanese. Including conscience, reputation, kindness, loyalty and so on. In fact, it contains the responsibility not to let your name and reputation be defiled by any slander. This responsibility of "Xi" is praised in a large number of traditional documents and regarded as the same as the virtue of a warrior. Among them, the most popular is the Japanese national narrative poem "The Hidden Officials" (also known as "The Story of Forty-seven Ronal"). It tells the story of 47 loyal ronin who abandoned everything, avenged the face of their Lord, and then collectively disembowelled. The reason is that a local celebrity's self-esteem was insulted and he felt it was beneath his dignity. Although it is of little value in the history of world literature, it has been chosen as its own textbook, staged in theaters, made into modern movies, printed into popular publications, and become a part of Japan's vibrant culture, which is well known to all women and children today.
"Shame" and "shame" are a pair of variants. China chooses words with shame as the positive body, while Japan chooses words with shame as the positive body, which is just the opposite between China and Japan. Say: "shame, shame." The glyph of Xiao Zhuan is "shame", which gives people the association of "being ashamed when hearing criticism". This is the original meaning of shame. "Shame" writing "Shame" changed from literacy to pictophonetic characters, and the sound stopped at the ear. This is because after the official reform, the radicals and strokes of many Chinese characters were confused, which greatly weakened the motivation of Chinese characters. Therefore, scholars all think that "official script" is the watershed of ancient and modern Chinese characters. It can be seen that the intention of taking the word "shame" in Japanese commonly used Chinese character lists is because the glyph of "shame" is more in line with the original meaning before the word change and the traditional word theory, that is, the glyph expresses the original meaning with the result of the concept it refers to (China takes "shame" according to the principle of following customs), and on the other hand, Japan has been a relatively closed society since ancient times. For a long time, the Japanese have been completely accustomed to living in a small and closed group space, and they are always paying attention to other people's glances and eyes. Mr. Kazuhiko Kaneda, a famous Japanese linguist, is the fundamental criterion of his daily behavior. "Therefore, the Japanese" sense of shame "stems from a kind of psychology, that is, trying to hide their own shortcomings, weaknesses and differences with others and avoid being discriminated against by exposing these shortcomings, weaknesses and differences. It is a kind of inferiority complex when comparing with others with self as the core.
2. Textual research on the cultural meaning of word groups
(1) "Yan" and "Wrapped" —— A contradictory personality portrait. "Yan" is a pictophonetic character, and the seal script comes from the page. After the official reform, the word "Yan" was written in regular script. Shuowen Page Department: "Yan, brow, from page, Yan Sheng." The original meaning is between the eyebrows, commonly known as Tang Yin. Later, it expanded to forehead, face, face, color and so on. "Wrapped" refers to the inner layer of clothes: green clothes, green clothes and yellow clothes. Later extension refers to the inside. Japanese lists of commonly used Chinese characters retain their original forms, but in China they are simplified as "Yan" and "He". "This is a unique Japanese behavior concept of" strictness "and" wrapping ". The Japanese have always used the word "Yan" to express individuality, character, power and reputation. On the one hand, they pay attention to superficial phenomena, on the other hand, they pay more attention to "concealment, obscurity, vagueness" and "package". The reason why the Japanese attach importance to "Yan" is because they think it is related to personality, character and reputation, but it is "wrapping" that can affect these essential things. There is a famous Japanese saying that Japanese people don't like explicit and direct statements and actions in their daily lives, because once things are too clear, any value of things will disappear. (2) Male soup (male bathhouse), female soup (female bathhouse), money soup (bathhouse) and secret soup (located in a little-known hot spring in the mountains)-Japanese bathing culture "soup", which has both sound and meaning. Bronze inscriptions and seal scripts are based on water, and the sound of soup is also hot. Write soup in regular script after the official reform. "Shuo Wen Shui Bu": "Soup, hot water is also. From the water, sizzling. "The original intention is hot water. It also refers to hot springs (there are many warm soups in the sea, including Xinfeng Lishan Soup). Japanese took its original meaning, but it was not simplified, while China took its extended meaning (vegetables with juice) and simplified it as "soup". Based on the unique geographical environment of many volcanoes, Japan has become a hot spring kingdom, with tens of thousands of natural hot springs all over the country, which provides an inexhaustible source for Japanese people to satisfy their skin pleasure and keep fit. Not only are hot springs all over the Japanese archipelago, but coin-operated shower boxes can also be seen everywhere. The business of public bathhouses is booming, making the Japanese the nation that likes bathing the most in the world. Bathing in Japan has religious significance, that is, cleanliness, quietness, faith, gratitude to God, and the Buddhist "holy land" where body and mind are integrated into the pure land. The pursuit of "cleanliness" naturally becomes an absolute aesthetic principle beyond the times. This principle profoundly affects this nation's aesthetic feeling, moral consciousness and even cultural psychology, and endows this nation with a distinct spiritual imprint. Such as the rules and etiquette of taking off shoes when entering the door; For thousands of years, it has dominated the mainstream Japanese painting world, and what resonates with the Japanese is always the refreshing, clear or slightly hazy painting style.
3. Textual research on the cultural implication of the word system
(1) Textual research on the culture beside "Gate" —— A glimpse of Japanese harmonious architecture and space culture. Japan is an island country with an inch of land and gold. Japanese people make rational use of space, skillfully make the narrow space appear beautiful, harmonious and practical, and form a unique space culture. Japanese harmonious architecture is the representative work of space culture. Among them, the most typical are the Chinese characters beside the door-"Ru", "Jian" and "Leisure".
"Shuowen" door: door, Ye Wenren, from two households, pictographic. In order to maintain its pictographic degree, Japanese did not simplify it after borrowing the word (China is a "door"). What the Japanese call "doors" are almost all doors built on the "boundary line", that is, doors isolated from the outside world. Generally called "entrance", it is generally unlocked, and the doors in the house are mostly "~" and ~ ". Generally, there are several "doors" in a house in China, but only one in Japan. Look at the word "Ru", which is a word of understanding. The bronze inscription is like a bolt in the middle with the door. After the official reform, the regular script was cancelled and the variant characters were yin. "Shuo Wen Men Si": "Close, hold the door with wood, but from the door, sound. "The original intention is the bolt. In Japan, "a piece of land in front of the door" is called "porch", which is generally about ten centimeters lower than indoor. When the Japanese receive outsiders, they often entertain them in the "porch", such as axes and flowers, and nothing else. It seems to occupy a space in vain, but for the Japanese, it is an important space to reflect the aesthetic taste of the owner. " Pass ",originally" leisure ",is a knowing word. You can see the meaning of the moonlight party in the door. Seal script moved the moon to the door to sort it out. After the official reform, regular script writing was idle. Write for the sky instead of the moon. "Shuowen Mensi": "Idle, gap, from the door, from the month. "The original intention is the gap. The "Luo Xuan" mentioned above also shows that the "space" Xuan Yin does not belong to the "inside" or "outside" of the house, but belongs to the "room" between the "inside" and "outside". Xuan Yin "gives the host and guests a room to maneuver, and the host can judge whether to invite guests into the house in the" Luo Xuan ". Even if the guests are not invited into the house, because they are received in Xuan Yin, they will not be turned away. The reason why Japanese people attach great importance to Xuan Yin and make it neat and bright is because Xuan Yin is an important room in life, and space is a situation and an atmosphere, which gives people ample space for imagination and judgment, and this space is especially valued and respected by Japanese culture. If "Japan" is used to represent the Japanese nation and "door" is used to represent the social environment or rules, then "building" is just a map of Japanese interpersonal relations. From the "door" outside to the "sun" inside, there is a space in the middle and an opening at the bottom. This space is not a physical partition, but to locate itself and keep in touch with the outside world; This kind of openness is to leave room for reflection or maneuver in order to seek reconciliation. Even friends should keep a certain distance. Only in this way can "beauty" be produced. Therefore, when the Japanese express the scope in the sense of time and space, they pay more attention to serving as a buffer for a blank area. Even simply call "people" "people"; Partners are called "intermediate rooms"; I didn't know my son was in society, idiot). No matter who you associate with, you should pay attention to "relationship" Some people refer to Japanese culture as "interpersonal culture" (Japanese culture, written by Takehiko of Wen Chao, Japan) or "interpersonal" (put forward by a famous Japanese professor, Keijun Hamaguchi, to compare the individualism of European and American countries), which means to fully consider the position, mood and mutual relationship of others or their organizations and emphasize interdependence and respect when doing things. The Japanese feel that "sameness" is a sense of balance, which can be used to intervene in people and things, so that the original unbalanced things can be balanced. This sense of balance deeply hides the Japanese sense of harmony with people or things and is reflected in all aspects of Japanese culture. For example, Japanese rarely shake hands to express greetings, but generally keep a certain distance, which is indicated by nodding, bending, bowing until they kneel and crawl. Another example: Haiku is a unique form of poetry in Japanese culture. Some people say that it is the shortest eight-part poem in the world, with only 17 notes. The Japanese believe that a good haiku does not require it to express any thoughts, opinions and feelings, let alone any comments and judgments, but can describe a situation in language and give readers a broad imagination. That is, it can create a kind of "similarity" that produces all kinds of reverie. The famous Nuo people in the Edo era are connected in series by a word "jump", which constitutes a three-dimensional picture of the intersection of time and space and the integration of heaven and earth. Moreover, the empty and lonely situation it depicts is very in line with the aesthetic artistic conception imagined by the Japanese. Sumo, Japan's national sport, also embodies the "same" culture. Between each game, there are always rewards, drinking strong water, sprinkling salt to purify the soil platform and so on. , and use "time" to separate the tense game, so that the game is both tense and relaxed. The audience is in the interval of time and space, enjoying the ancient competition that integrates mind, skill and body. The participating athletes are also consciously or unconsciously honing their "middle" consciousness and "middle" (partner) spirit. There are also many neutral and ambiguous languages in Japanese that use "circuitous" or euphemistic negation. There are two main reasons for the birth of this "space" culture: First, since ancient times, farming operations have required coordination, cooperation and patience. At the same time, various natural disasters that occur year after year make them used to it and take a positive attitude. People learn to understand the existence of "beauty" from changes and appreciate the transition from one state to another, that is, "time". Second, Japan can almost be regarded as a nation. People's living habits and religious beliefs are very close, so their ideology is relatively stable and they have a strong sense of cultural identity with each other. Japanese people can often express their feelings tacitly, "but I feel the harmonious heartbeat of the sacred unicorn" without wasting your breath. There is also a saying called "leisure", "Speaking of literature, ladies": "leisure, orchid, and learning from the door." Originally meant fence. Later, it was borrowed as "leisure", extending from gap to leisure and silence, which can also be said to be another aesthetic pursuit of the Japanese. Because the climate in Japan has four distinct seasons, the Japanese are very sensitive to the changes in nature and often show the feeling of being integrated with nature. This "perceptual" feature makes the Japanese have an aesthetic concept of "mourning things, mystery and leisure". The Japanese-style house known as "Harmony Room" is clean and tidy, giving people a simple and carefree beauty of returning to nature in luxury and simplicity. Look from the glyph, the Japanese don't want to simplify the word "leisure" containing natural things (the Japanese prefer to understand it as a tree), so we can understand it. Therefore, the Chinese characters beside the door not only contain the aesthetic consciousness of Japanese living space, but also show their aesthetic consciousness of "distance produces beauty"
② The word "xi" embodies the harmonious unity of nature and human beings. In China, "Qi" is simplified to pictographs, and Oracle Bone Inscriptions is like a cloud. Because it is easy to be confused with the number "three", the inscriptions on bronze and seal script are slightly bent, which looks like clouds rising and flowing. After the official reform, "Qi" was written in regular script. "Shuo Wen Qi Bu": "Qi, Yun Qi also. Pictographic. " The original meaning is cloud gas. Later, on the other side, it means "cloud gas" with "qi", which is abbreviated as "qi" in Japan, that is, there is a "yi" in the lower part. "Kangxi Dictionary": "five", the ancient text is "Yi" or the bar is added up and down. Dictionary of the Origin of Chinese Characters: "five", pictographic characters, the original image of Oracle Bone Inscriptions is cross-shaped, or a horizontal bar is added up and down to highlight the meaning of interleaving, the inscriptions on bronze are the same, the seal script is neat, and the regular script writing is "five" after the official reform. Shuo Wen Wu Bu: "Five, five elements also. From two o'clock. Yin and Yang intersect in the afternoon between heaven and earth. " This is a postscript to the social thought at that time, and its original intention should be criss-crossing. However, according to the interpretation of Shuowen, Japan expresses its original meaning with a phenomenon closely related to its original meaning: "Mian" is actually the qi of the five elements, namely, gold, wood, water, fire and earth. Wang Chong once said in Lun Heng that the Qi of the five elements gives birth to everything, and people use everything to do everything. If the five elements are incompatible, they cannot be compatible, and if they are incompatible, they cannot be used. Everything is harmful to each other and animals are superior to each other, all of which are the five elements of qi at work. It is pointed out that the five elements are interdependent, mutually promoting, mutually exclusive and mutually restrictive. It is the coordination and combination of this relationship that keeps everything in the universe in a state of balance. In daily life, the Japanese not only respect and get close to nature, but also attach great importance to people's spiritual feelings and maintain a harmonious relationship with others. While introducing "Qi", they further extended and expanded the meaning of "Qi" according to their living habits and ways of thinking, making "Qi" in Japanese more vivid. The meaning of "Xi" changes with different collocation and occasions. It not only expresses the natural phenomenon of change and flow, but also is more meaningful.
label
The differences between Chinese and Japanese simplified characters are mainly manifested in the structure. The principle of selecting Chinese characters in Japan not only takes into account the original meaning of the prototype, the so-called "traditional Chinese character theory", but also embodies the ideology based on national culture. In addition, Japan has a special liking for the reservation of cognitive characters. The so-called knowing means that the relationship between the formation of glyphs and the form and meaning is relatively loose, and it is necessary to grasp its motivation with the help of some association. This nature determines that Chinese characters formed by tacit method have more opportunities to convey valuable cultural information. Moreover, from another angle, it also shows that there are some unique and valuable foreign cultural information in all the cognitive words that do not conform to the laws of foreigners' thinking or are difficult to understand and accept. On the other hand, the motivation of its formation only reflects the law of thinking and universal concept consciousness, but generally has no transnational cultural implication.