Reading - Roudoku

To read a text out loud. As a Chinese word, it was already in use in the Nara period, but it seems to have become common in Japanese after the Meiji period. Since the early modern period in Japan, the so-called sodoku method of reading Chinese texts out loud without fully understanding their meaning has been established as a learning method, and this word seems to have been used as an extension of that image, and its definition is extremely vague.

Related words include reading aloud, reciting, and reciting. Reading aloud is an extension of silent reading, and involves speaking out words one by one, including muttering to oneself, while reciting can be thought of as enunciating to communicate the contents of a sentence to others. However, there is also a theory that reading aloud involves enunciating monotonously to accurately convey the contents of a sentence, while reciting is reading "as an expression" to evoke images or emotions in the listener through the spoken sentences, so the distinction is unclear. Reciting and reciting are both reading aloud in a singing tone, but in the case of poetry it is difficult to distinguish them from reciting. In any case, these terms have become less commonly used in recent times, and there is a sense that they have been lumped together under the name of reciting aloud.

There are various forms of reading aloud, such as reading by oneself, reading by a large group, assigning roles to several people and taking turns to read, or reading a play or the like by assigning roles. However, group reading, which combines reading by oneself or a role with reading by a group, is also used as a theatrical technique.

It is the original job of a poet to sing or recite his or her own work aloud, and this can be seen in Japan not only in the ancient Manyoshu period but also in medieval poetry contests (utaawase), but in modern Japan the idea that poetry and other literary works are only to be read silently has become fixed. In recent years, there have been many attempts at poets reciting poetry aloud, and there are signs of a recovery in the notion that poetry is an act that involves the whole body and mind of a human being, but in the case of Japanese people, there is a lot of self-contained or self-absorbed vocalization that is completely unconscious of its impact on the listener, and it is extremely rare for them to speak to their audience and try to stir their emotions, as Western and African poets do.

Traditionally, Japanese language education has focused on reading and interpreting texts, and even on composition, but speaking and reading aloud have been largely out of the question. Recently, more and more educators have turned their attention to reading aloud, as there has been a clear trend of children becoming hunched over, their voices becoming quieter, and their emotions and images becoming less expressed. It is hoped that reading aloud, calling out to others, and resonating with the voices of others will lead to a richer expression of humanity.

[Toshiharu Takeuchi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

文章を声高く読み上げること。漢語としては奈良時代にすでに用いられていたが、日本語として一般化したのは明治以後のようである。近世以来日本では、意味がまだよくわからぬまま大声で漢文を読み下すいわゆる素読(そどく)が学習法として定着していたが、そのイメージの延長上にこの語が用いられたようで、その定義はきわめてあいまいである。

　類縁語に音読、朗唱、朗詠などがある。音読は黙読の発展として一語一語音声に出すことであって、1人でつぶやく場合も含まれ、朗読は他人に文章内容を伝えるために発音するのだとも考えられるが、また、音読は文章内容を正確に伝えるため単調に発音してゆくことで、朗読は発声された文によって聞く者にイメージや情念を喚起させるようにいわゆる「表現として」読むことだとする説もあり、区別はさだかでない。朗唱、朗詠はいずれも歌うような調子をもって読み上げることであるが、詩歌の場合には朗読と差がつけがたい。いずれにせよ近時は一般には用いられることが少なくなり、朗読の名のもとに一括されてきている感がある。

　朗読の形式としては1人で読む、大勢でそろって読む、数人で割り振って順番に読む、役割を決めて戯曲などを読む、などがあるが、1人読みあるいは役割読みと、集団のそろい読みとを組み合わせた群読は演劇的手法としても用いられている。

　詩人が自分の作品を声に出してうたいまたはよむことは本来の仕事であり、日本でも万葉の古時はもとより中世の歌合(うたあわせ)にもみられるところだが、日本の近代においては詩その他の文学作品は黙読されるだけのものという観念が固定してしまっていた。近年詩人の朗読が試みられることが多くなって、詩（うた）が人間の全心身をあげての行為であることが回復される兆しがみえつつあるが、日本人の場合、聞き手への働きかけはまったく意識されぬ自己閉鎖的あるいは自己陶酔的な発声が多く、欧米やアフリカの詩人のように、聴衆に語りかけ情念を揺り動かそうと働きかけることはきわめて少ない。

　日本の国語教育は従来文章の読解と解釈に主力を注ぎ、作文の重視にまでは及んでも、話すことや声を出して読むことはほとんど視野の外にあった。近時、朗読に関心を向ける教育者が増したのは、子供たちの体がちぢこまり声が小さくなり、情動やイメージの表出が乏しくなる傾向が顕著になってきたからである。声を発して読み、呼びかけ、他人の声と響き合うことによって、豊かな人間的表出を期待するのである。

［竹内敏晴］

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