The Edo period (1603-1868) is regarded by some as the genesis of modern Japanese. Although many consider the Meiji period (1868-1912) to be the start of modern Japanese, it can be argued that although this is when the government revised aspects of how the language was used, the linguistic elements of modern Japanese were in fact beginning to take root in the Edo period.
And so, with the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, our perspective shifts to Edo. With Edo becoming the new cultural sphere from around 1751, Edo-Japanese emerged as a common dialect.
Part 1: Origins to Nara Era
Part 2: The Birth of Kana
Ukiyoburo as an Example
Fortunately, from the end of the Muromachi period (1303-1573), many materials started to appear. These allow us to surmise how things may have been pronounced and what kind of words people used in their everyday life. In the Edo period especially, some literary materials appear which seem to faithfully recreate the everyday speech of the time. One of these is Ukiyoburo (Floating World Baths) by Shikitei Sanba. This work, part of the comical kokkeibon genre, shows scenes from the bath house and gives many insights into the era’s Japanese.
A small example of the differences in language usage is in a scene where a small girl talks to her father. Although nowadays “chan” is used as a postfix for girls, children, or those you are very familiar with, Ukiyoburo shows us that in the Edo period “chan” was a childish way to refer to one’s father. Conversely, “bou” (坊) was used for young girls, even though it refers to boys now.
Slow Split of Spoken and Written Japanese
While there are many conversations within Ukiyoburo, it is interesting to see how these compare to the narrative sections of the work. Whereas the speech captures the informal everyday oral Japanese used at the time, the narrative sections are written in a vastly different form of Japanese. Discounting a few words that are commonly used in spoken conversations, the narrative sections are mainly made up of words that are originally Chinese and often only used in writing. Due to the fact that there naturally are not many records of spoken Japanese, Ukiyoburo is a fascinating insight into how the two sides of the language compare.
Pronunciation Changes
As mentioned in previous articles, the pronunciation of sounds in Japanese have changed over the centuries, and this also applies to the Edo period. However, experts believe that by the end of the period, the pronunciation of all the sounds in Japanese were essentially the same as they are today.
The sounds that had changed by the end of the Edo period were ぢ and づ. In classical Japanese the sounds ぢ and づ were thought to be pronounced “di” and “du” and じ and ず pronounced “dʒi” and “dzu.” However, by the Edo period, ぢ and じ started to share the pronunciation of “dzi” and づ and ず shared the pronunciation of “dʒi”. The choice of characters used in the phonetic kana shows us this. In one of Matsuo Bashō’s poems, he writes いず instead of いづ, which should be the correct way to write the word. The fact that he does this shows that the difference in the two sounds could not be heard any longer.
Ai to Ee
If anyone has watched any Japanese media or has lived in Japan, they will have probably noticed that many Japanese people (especially teenage boys) tend to inflect their adjectives differently, replacing the “ai” sound with “ee.” For example, janai (じゃない) becomes janee (じゃねー), ikitai (行きたい) becomes ikitee (行きてー) and even the slightly irregular example of sugoi (すごい) becomes sugee (すげー).
Although mainly limited to the “ai” sound in modern standard Japanese, this pronunciation shift typical of Edo Japanese is also present in other patterns like “ae”, for example namae (なまえ) becomes namee (なめー) and the aforementioned “oi”, for example where sugoi (すごい) becomes sugee (すげー). This is not exclusive to the ends of words either, for example “kaeru” (かえる) becoming keeru (けーる).
Whereas nowadays this is mainly used amongst men, young people, or those you’re familiar with, in the Edo period it was used by anyone regardless of age or gender. However, when it came to social class, it had been found to be used mainly by townspeople in Edo’s Shitamachi area. Conversely, the warrior class and the educated class, mostly based in the Yamanote area, didn’t use this inflection. However, as these Shitamachi townspeople made up the majority of the Edo population, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that it is indicative of them.
Kamigata vs. Kanto
This speech style also brings across another difference that had become pronounced by the time large cities like Edo had come into being – the difference between western and eastern Japanese.
Returning to Ukiyoburo, we can see that those from the Kamigata region (a colloquial term for what is now the Kansai region) had different ways of pronouncing words than those in Edo. Indeed, the discomfort shown in the next passage represents the disgust some held toward this change. Those from Kamigata felt that “proper” Japanese came from Kyoto, the center of political power during the Heian and Muromachi periods.
Heheh, can you believe those in Kanto with their “beibei” speech? They pronounce “sairoku” as “zeeroku” – what a strange pronunciation! Not only that, for them, “oryogwai” becomes “oryogee” and “Kwan’on-sama” becomes “Kannon-sama.” How strange indeed. They like to use words with “kara” in, like “soudakara” and “koudakara”, but why is that?
As well as the pointing out of the “ai” to “ee” difference, we see many interesting aspects of speech peculiar to Edo. To an ear of someone from Kamigata, certain speech inflections would immediately out someone as from Edo. This would give a “country bumpkin”-esque impression to a snobby Kyotoite.
One example is the tendency for people from Edo to add “bei” to the end of sentences. Sayings such as “iku bei” (行くべい) were teased by those from Kamigata. Another lexical difference is the use of “kara”. Kara is used to indicate a logical progression, however at the time in Kamigata “sakai” was used, and this difference in words probably confused those visiting from Kamigata! Sakai is still used dialectally in Kansai today.
One final example of changing sounds in Japanese. Whereas in modern Japanese we have the sound “ka”, in older Japanese, and contemporary Kamigata dialect, we also find the sound “kwa”. As an example, although 家事 and 火事 are both pronounced “kaji” (かじ) now, in older Japanese 家事 was pronounced “kaji” (かじ) and 火事 was pronounced “kwaji” (くゎじ)/ This difference disappeared in Edo during the Edo period.
Alongside this is the emergence of a type of sandhi (連声) – that is to say, when the end of one morpheme blends with the beginning of the next. For example, whereas the word 反応 is made up of two morphemes – “han” (はん) and “ou” (おう) – the current “correct” way to render the word in kana is not “han’ou” (はんおう) but actually “hannou” (はんのう). This emerged simply because it was easier to liaise the two morphemes together rather than pronounce both morphemes individually.
Pronouns
As many people are aware, Japanese has many pronouns, and carries particular rules in how they are used. Starting with second person singular pronouns, many of the pronouns used today emerged in the Edo period, although their usage has altered since then.
The first way people learn to say “you” in modern Japanese is “anata”. Although this is usually used with those of a similar position to you, in the Edo period it was a word full of respect. It can be seen used by female teahouse owners to their clients. Indeed, many ways of saying “you” that are rude now had their beginnings as terms of respect. In early Edo, before “anata” came into being, “omae” was another very respectful term. If you wanted to make both of these more polite, you could add “san” or “sama.”
Following the above pronunciation rule, some of you may have realized “omae” would have been pronounced “omee” by Edo townspeople. Indeed, this is true, and although not as polite as the “proper” “omae”, it would never be used for someone below your social standing. Finally, “kisama”, like “omae” known by many through Japanese media, was a word used mainly in letters and again contained a strong element of respect.
Moving onto first person pronouns, the most commonly used pronoun “watashi” also finds it origins in Edo Japan. Although this is when “watashi” came into usage, what preceded it was “watakushi” – an extremely polite form of “I” used in modern Japanese – and this has its origins in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods. By Edo, this had shortened to “watashi”, as well as “washi”, the amount of respect one wishing to show decreasing as the letters drop out.
As aforementioned, an important point to note is the different usage of words that may be familiar to modern Japanese speakers. During the Edo period, young women not only used “washi” but also “ore”. Washi and ore are now most commonly used by old and young men respectively. “Ore” was far more widely used than it is now and it included both women and men. Although “ore” finds its origins in the Kamakura to Muromachi periods, the late Edo period produced another pronoun familiar to modern Japanese speakers – “boku”.
Desu and Masu
Finally, it is worth covering a few more aspects of Edo period Japanese that have been preserved to the modern day. The first of which is one of the most familiar things to new Japanese learners – desu and masu. Verbs ending with masu had begun appearing at the start of the Edo period as a form of honorific speech. It is believed to have originated from the honorific word “mairasu” which is a polite way of saying “I say” or “I give.” Soon this honorific suffix shorted to massu then the familiar masu we now use today.
Desu, which appeared at the end of the Edo period, is a bit more nebulous. Although no one knows exactly where it originated from, one theory purports it came from dearimasu which got shorted to deansu, and then desu. Some believe it is a shortening of desourou. At any rate, it was used slightly differently during the Edo period, containing a condescending air.
Moving on from desu, during the Edo period other familiar sentence enders “da” and “dearu” also appeared. Whereas dearu was used in educational settings, da, created in Kanto during the Muromachi period, was more used amongst a daimyo’s servants.
Conclusion
The Edo period brings us closer to modern Japanese in many ways and with the blossoming Edo culture. It highlights the differing views on Japanese between those from the west in Kamigata and those in the east in Edo.
Time moves swiftly onward, and next is the Meiji period, when the very outdated writing system was brought into the modern age.
Sources
Yamaguchi, Nakami, Nihongo no rekishi, 29th edn., (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 2019)
日本語と日本文化 (n.d.) Retrieved from https://japanese.hix05.com/Language_1/lang117.desu.html
Japaaan (n.d.) Retrieved from https://mag.japaaan.com/archives/15080
