ジョアン・ロドリゲス『日本小文典』に見られるCanadzucaiという用語について

要旨

Joao Rodriguez S. J. (1561?-1633?) is famous as the author of two Japanese grammar books. One is "Arte da Lingoa de Iapam"(so-called "Arte Grande") published in 1604-1608 and the other the rearranged and revised "Arte Breve da Lingoa Iapoa" ("Arte Breve") edited in 1620. It is already known that "Arte Breve" is not only the summary of "Arte Grande" and one of the points newly introduced in "Arte Breve" is the term Canadzucai, which can be seen in a few places. Rodriguez uses Canadzucai for eight times in "Arte Breve". The most extensive description of the term can be seen in the pages 8v.-9r, where it is said as follows : ln order to master the conjugation of Japanese verbs, it is very important to know about Goyn and Canadzucai. This Canadzucai means how to write in Kana, how to compound syllables and letters for making words, and how to write each tense and mood in Kana. Other examples of Canadzucai coincide with this explanation, and most examples are seen in relation with verb conjugation. In the world of Japanese Tanka and Renga poetry of the epoch, Canadzucai usually meant how to use the correct Kana in some cases when there are several choices of Kana for one syllable. However, in that epoch there can be discovered some books with concern to the rules of writing Kana (Kanazukai-sho), which contain charts of the Japanese syllabary (Gojuon-zu) and explain about verb conjugation as one of the fundamental rules of distinction. We can come to the conclusion that Rodriguez thought useful that foreign learners of Japanese had knowledge of Goyn and Canadzucai in order to master the conjugation of Japanese, and introduced the idea in his "Arte Breve".

主題