Japan’s current Heisei (achieving peace) era will end with Emperor Akihito’s abdication on April 30. His son, crown prince Naruhito, is to ascend the throne the following day. Having expressed his intention of abdication in a rare TV speech in 2016, the 85-year-old Akihito is to be the first emperor to step down in about 200 years in Japan.
On April 1, the new era name — Reiwa (beautiful harmony) — was revealed in advance of the abdication. This is to allow more of a buffer to prepare for the change, as the era name is widely used in documentation in Japan.
A panel of experts (including those with expertise in classical Chinese and Japanese literature) was appointed by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in mid-March. The panel nominated an era name meeting strict criteria: it was to be two kanji (Chinese characters) long, easy to read and write but not be in common use. The meaning and origin of the names must be provided, too. Neither should the new era name start with the first character of any of the last four eras — Heisei, Showa, Taisho and Meiji — in the interest of avoiding confusion.
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透
Era name as Zeitgeist
For many Japanese, the era name is more than just a way of counting years, it also encapsulates the national Zeitgeist. Over time it will become closely associated with significant national events.
The Meiji (enlightened rule) era of 1868 to 1912 is remembered for the Western-inspired modernization that happened during this period. The collective memory of the Showa (enlightened harmony) era of 1926 to 1989 includes WWII and Japan’s rapid economic development. Ambivalent feelings are evoked by the following Heisei era, a period that saw the end of bubble economy, deteriorating relations with China, the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack, and the tsunami and Fukushima meltdown triggered by the 2011 earthquake.
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
The era name, then, captures the national mood of the period, similar to a dynasty name, or the way “the ‘60s” evokes particular feelings or images, or how historians refer to Britain’s Victorian or Edwardian eras, tying the politics and culture of a period to a monarch.
Japan-China linguistic tensions
An era name is the regnal title used when numbering years in an emperor’s reign. The first era name was Jianyuan (140-135 BC) of Emperor Wu of Han in ancient China. Influenced by China, the kingdom of Silla on the Korean Peninsula adopted the era name system in the sixth century, Japan in the mid seventh century and Vietnam in the 10th century. Japan is the only country nowadays that retains the era calendar scheme.
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透
Japan’s first era name was Taika, marking the great political change Taika reform of 645 AD. Up to the current period Heisei, the 247 era names all came from Chinese classics. Conservatives who support the Abe administration were keen to have a new era name that derives from the Japanese classics.
Reiwa has therefore become the first era name originating from the Japanese classics, and derives from Manyooshuu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), the oldest collection of Japanese poetry, written between the 4th and 8th centuries. Back then Japan had not developed the syllabic hiragana and katakana scripts, so kanji were used to phonetically represent the Japanese sounds, in a system known as manyoogana. Visually Chinese, grammatically Japanese, manyoogana was the first writing system created by Japanese for their national expression.
Some scholars believe that Chinese characters are like the Latin of East Asia — it is the common language of ancient classics of the region. The visual dimension of the writing system made it a powerful vehicle of communication thousands of years ago, transcending not only the dialects but also language families.
(Lin Lee-kai, Taipei Times)
日本現任天皇明仁將於四月三十日退位,皇太子德仁將於五月一日登基為新天皇。八十五歲的明仁在二○一六年一段電視講話中表達了退位的想法,成為日本兩百多年來第一位在生前退位的天皇。新天皇即位,日本的年號也會在同日更改,目前的「平成」時代,也將隨著四月三十日明仁天皇退位而告終。
新的年號「令和」也在四月一日史無前例地提前公布,這是為了要讓國民有足夠的緩衝時間——每次更換年號,所有的官方、企業文件都要更新,牽連甚廣。
日本首相安倍晉三上月中旬請數名專家學者(包括中國古典文學及日本文學專家)提出候選年號名稱,並說明所建議年號之意義、出處典故。年號必須符合嚴格標準:兩個漢字、易讀、易寫、非通俗語等。另外,其開頭的羅馬拼音不能與前四個年號相同——平成、昭和、大正和明治,以避免混淆。
年號與時代精神
年號不僅是日本人計算年度的方式,更是國家時代精神的代名詞——經過時間淘洗,年號成為對時代的集體記憶。例如明治時期(一八六八~一九一二)代表了西化、現代化;昭和時期(一九二六~一九八九)的集體記憶是第二次世界大戰、日本經濟崛起。之後的平成時代所喚起的感覺也同樣矛盾——泡沫經濟、與中國競爭、一九九五年東京地鐵毒氣恐攻,以及二○一一年福島地震海嘯核災等。
因此年號就像是捕捉一個時期民族情緒的詞語,類似中國的朝代名稱,或是西方的「六○年代」喚起特定的情感或圖像;又如歷史學家所說的英國「維多利亞時代」、「愛德華時代」,將一個時期的政治及文化與當時的君主聯繫在一起。
與中國的語言角力
年號是表示君主在位期間的紀年方式,史上最早的年號是中國漢武帝的「建元」。受中國影響,朝鮮半島的新羅於六世紀、日本於七世紀中葉、越南於十世紀開始使用年號。日本是現今全世界唯一採用年號制度的國家。
日本最早的年號是西元六四五年大化革新後所使用的「大化」,現今的「平成」是第兩百四十七個年號,至今年號都出自中國經典。但支持安倍政權的保守派人士,非常期待這次的年號可以從日本古籍選出。
「令和」是第一個出自日本典籍的年號,出自日本現存最早的日語詩歌總集《萬葉集》,該書收錄西元四世紀至八世紀的作品。由於當時的日本尚未發展出平假名及片假名,因此使用的是「萬葉假名」——以漢字表達日語音——雖然視覺上是漢字,但文法語序是日語。因此,萬葉假名雖使用漢字,但卻是第一個由日本人為自己民族表情達意所創造的文字系統。
有學者認為漢字之於東亞,如同拉丁語之於歐洲各國,是古代經典的共同語言。漢字「望文生義」的圖像特性,使其在數千年前便成為強大的傳播工具,克服了方言,甚至語系的壁壘。
(台北時報林俐凱)
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