Glyphs and Glyph Shapes as Fundamental Concepts in Handwriting Education and Their Historical Transition

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K14021
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 09040:Education on school subjects and primary/secondary education-related
• Research Institution: Kamakura Women's Junior College
• Principal Investigator: Sugiyama Hayato 鎌倉女子大学短期大学部, 初等教育学科, 准教授 (80594605)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 字体・字形 / 書字 / 文字教育 / 国語科書写 / 芸術科書道 / 書写書道教育 / 漢字学習 / 漢字テスト

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research investigates the historical background of how the concepts of "Glyphs" and "Glyph shapes" were formed and examined the elements of the "skeleton structure of a character" that composes "Glyphs." As a result, it clarified that the "skeleton structure of a character" does not only refer to the strokes forming the structure, but also includes some other structural elements like the stroke direction, stroke order, and strokes styles (Hane and Harai).
In addition, the study investigated the answer grading criteria in kanji tests in achievement tests during the Showa era. The results showed that the criteria transitioned from "Can it be read as a character" to "Is it correctly and neatly written with the appropriate number of strokes." Based on these research findings, proposals were made regarding what the ideal handwriting skills should be as a basic academic skill and specific examples of answer grading criteria for kanji tests.

Free Research Field

書写書道教育学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

「字体」が抽象的な概念とされているため、「文字の骨組み」もまた抽象的となり、漢字字体の正誤基準は明確さを欠く現状がある。本研究が示した、運筆の方向と筆圧の変化、それによって表れる点画の形状が、これまでも「文字の骨組み」の要素に含まれてきたという字体観は、字体研究・書字教育研究における新たな方向性となると考えられる。
また、本研究は、書字教育が育成すべきである「字体を正しく整えて書く力（書写力）」のあり方も示している。合わせて「常用漢字表の字体・字形に関する指針」にも例示されていない漢字字体の正誤基準（具体的な字形例）も提示しており、漢字教育・書写教育の基礎研究として大きな意義を持つと言える。