A Study of Japanese Shorthand History to Enhance the Readability of Historical Shorthand Records

2024 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K20698
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 2:Literature, linguistics, and related fields
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: OKAJIMA Akihiro 大阪大学, 大学院人文学研究科(人文学専攻、芸術学専攻、日本学専攻), 教授 (50194345)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2025-03-31
• Keywords: 速記 / 速記符号 / 語形

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study served as a preparatory investigation for deciphering materials written in shorthand symbols that were never transcribed back into standard Japanese by the original stenographers. The aim was to bridge, even slightly, the gap created by this difficulty. To that end, the study sought to reconstruct the history of Japanese shorthand and its systems from the perspective of decoding remaining shorthand texts. It also aimed to clarify which shorthand methods were employed by various stenographers and what specific innovations they used in their note-taking.

As part of the project, three volumes of reports containing numerous essays and materials by research collaborators were published. A substantial amount of related materials and data were also made available online.

Free Research Field

日本語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本来、速記は人の語ったものを速記符号で書き取った後、通常の日本語表記に改めたところまでで完成するものだが、何らかの事情で速記符号のまま残された資料がある。通常、速記符号を通常の日本語表記に改める作業は、速記者当人によってなされるのが普通であるが、過去において速記がなされた資料は、速記した当人ではなく、後世の人によって解読することが必要である。
そうした解読には困難が伴うが、解読を行うことによって、埋もれていた情報が陽の目を見ることになるし、また、通常の日本語表記では表に現れない語形情報などが読み取れるなど、速記原本を解読する行為の意義は大きい。速記者たちの情報を整理しておく意義もある。