Waji Shoransho

A book on the use of kana. Five volumes, five books. Written by the monk Keichu. It was written in 1693 (6th year of Genroku) and published in 1695. It shows the correct usage of kana with the intention of correcting the promiscuity of kana. Keichu discovered that there was no confusion in the usage of the 47 kana characters of Iroha in documents prior to the Wamyō Ruijūshō, which was compiled in the mid-Heian period, and he considered this to be the standard for writing kana. In this book, he arranged words containing the kana in Iroha order under headings such as "i," "wi," "hi," "wo," "o," "ho," "e," "e," and "he," and noted their sources. Since the Middle Ages, Fujiwara Teika's kana usage has been authoritative, but the standard was not necessarily clear. In contrast, the theory in this book was clearly based on kana usage, and was adopted by scholars of Japanese classics and became the foundational document for later historical kana usage.

[Yutaka Tsukishima]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

仮名遣い書。五巻五冊。僧契沖著。1693年（元禄6）に成り、95年刊。仮名の濫(みだ)れたのを正す意で、仮名の正しい用法を示したもの。契沖は、平安中期成立の『倭名類聚抄(わみょうるいじゅしょう)』以前の文献には、いろは四十七文字の仮名の用法に混乱のないことを発見し、これこそ仮名表記の基準であると考え、「い」「ゐ」「ひ」「を」「お」「ほ」「え」「ゑ」「へ」等の項目の下に、その仮名を含む語をいろは順に並べ、その出典を注したのが本書である。中世以来、藤原定家の仮名遣いが権威をもっていたが、その基準がかならずしも明らかでないのに対し、本書の説は明確な根拠を示した仮名遣いであったために、国学者の間などに行われ、後の歴史的仮名遣いの基礎をなす文献となった。

［築島　裕］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例