Investigating Wakun “Ugoku” #

Ikeda Shoju

December 22–26, 2024

Summary #

This page is an English-language summary of 和訓「ウゴク」の調査, a Japanese case study investigating attestations of the wakun “ugoku” (ウゴク) in the Kanchi-in manuscript of the Ruiju Myōgishō (KRM). The full account, including the character-by-character evidence, is available only in Japanese; this page presents only the abstract.

This note compiles attestations of the wakun “ugoku” (ウゴク) and its related forms “ugokasu” (ウゴカス), “ogoku” (オゴク), and “ogokasu” (オゴカス) in KRM, as reference material for annotation work. KRM has 34 characters bearing the single-character wakun “ugoku,” of which 11 carry a confirmed tone mark. Cross-checking these against the hyōki (表記, “orthographic forms”) column of the Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, 2nd edition (Nikkoku) found 27 already listed there and 7 not listed. Of the 7 unlisted characters, six — 頷, 振, 掉, 忧, 躁, and 戁 — have textual grounds (a gloss of “動也,” “means to move”) in Chinese-side dictionaries such as the Shuowen Jiezi, the Tenrei Banshō Meigi, the Yupian, and the Guangyun; 振 in particular also carries the same reading in the Iroha Jiruishō, suggesting Nikkoku’s omission is a simple oversight. 債 and 搯 can likewise be explained as confusions with the graphically similar characters 僨 and 掐, so all seven could reasonably be added to Nikkoku’s column. 化, however, has no “動也” gloss traceable in Chinese sources, and its “ugoku” reading is suspected to be a conflation with the graphically similar character 吪.

The note then compares KRM against the three-volume Iroha Jiruishō and surveys actual attestations in the Kunten Goi Shūsei and the Gunsho Chiyō Keibu Goi Sakuin, finding “ugoku” directly confirmed for only 9 and 4 characters respectively — far fewer than KRM’s 34. For the related forms, KRM records 29 characters with “ugokasu,” 32 with “ogoku,” and 3 with “ogokasu,” though corroboration from the Iroha Jiruishō or kunten materials is limited. Finally, cross-referencing the characters glossed “動也” in the Erya’s Shigu and Shixun chapters and the Guangya’s Shigu I found that 6 of the Erya’s 9 such characters and 10 of the Guangya’s 28 match KRM’s “ugoku"-type wakun.

The investigation concludes that, for annotating KRM’s wakun — not only “ugoku” — checking the Chinese dictionaries and rime books (Shuowen Jiezi, Erya, Guangya, Yupian, Guangyun) for textual grounds, and, where needed, tracing the philological lineage through Morohashi’s Dai Kan-Wa Jiten and the Guxun Huizuan, is an effective method.