Exegesis - Kunkogaku

The study of Chinese classical interpretation. Kun-se (also known as kun-gu or ko-kun) refers to the interpretation of ancient words in modern language, and refers to the annotations and methods applied to ancient classics that were established in the form of documents during the Qin and Han periods for the purpose of interpreting their contents.

With the development of classics (the study of the interpretation of classics), the academic study of the meaning of words flourished, and pioneering works such as "Erya," "Fangyan," and "Shuowen Jiezi" were among its pioneering works. A vast collection of commentaries known as "Jiji," "Ongi," and "Gisho" from the Later Han to the Sui and Tang dynasties have survived in the form of "Shakumon Commentaries on the Classics," "Five Classics Zhengyi," commentaries on the official histories and various pupils, and notes to "Wen Xuan."

From the Song dynasty onwards, the study of the pronunciation of characters developed, and the three elements of Chinese characters (shape, sound and meaning) were consciously investigated, and in the Qing dynasty Elementary School (ancient linguistics), Duan Yucai, Wang Niansun and the Yangzhou school pursued the correlation between the pronunciation and meaning of characters, and the results were compiled in Zhu Junsheng's Shuowen Tong Xun Dingsheng, which, together with the Jingji Su Xun, influenced Chinese language semantics. It remains an indispensable field for the study of the various phenomena unique to Chinese language, such as homophonic borrowing, double-voiced overlapping rhymes, yin-yang opposition and linked sentences (compound words).

[Yoshiro Togawa]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国の古典解釈の学問。訓詁（訓故・故訓とも）は、古言を今語(きんご)で訓釈する意で、秦漢(しんかん)期に文献の形で定着した古代典籍に、内容解釈の目的で施された注釈とその方法をさす。

　経学(けいがく)（経書解釈学）の発展に伴い、字句の意味を研究する学問が栄え、『爾雅(じが)』『方言』『説文(せつもん)解字』などがその先駆的業績であり、後漢(ごかん)から隋(ずい)唐にわたる集解(しっかい)・音義(おんぎ)・義疏(ぎしょ)と称される注釈群の膨大な集積が、『経典釈文(しゃくもん)』『五経(ごきょう)正義』や正史・諸子の注釈類や『文選(もんぜん)』の注などの形で伝存している。

　宋(そう)代以降は、字音研究が発達し、漢字の3要素（形・音・義）が自覚的に究明され、清(しん)代小学（古代言語学）では段玉裁(だんぎょくさい)・王念孫(ねんそん)や揚州(ようしゅう)学派によって、字音と字義の相関関係が追究されて、朱駿声(しゅしゅんせい)の『説文通訓定声(ていせい)』にその成果が総合され、『経籍籑詁(けいせきせんこ)』とあわせて漢語意味論に影響を与えた。漢語に固有の同音仮借・双声畳韻(じょういん)・陰陽対転・連文（複合語）の諸現象を論究するために、いまなお不可欠の分野となっている。

［戸川芳郎］

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