CHAPTER 14

Semiotics in Japan
Tomonori Toyama

I. The Historical Development J apanese his tory (compiled in 712), and

of Semiotics in Japan Nihonshoki 3 (compiled in 720), for example, we
cannot find the word kigo, but only shirushi and
A. Japanese Traditional Concepts of shirusu. Shirushi in these writings is a polysemous
a Sign l word, and various matters are called shirushi.
For example, there is one "shirushi," resulting
The word sign is usually translated into J apanese from a prayer to God, which stands for the fact
as kigo. The word kigo, however, originated in that a bird was killed by casting aspeIl. The fact
Chinese and was introduced intoJapanese a long functions as a prediction that the vow would
time ago. We call such Sino-Japanese words come true. 4 What is called shirushi in Kojiki and
kango, whereas native J apanese words are called Nihonshoki depends on various situations. How-
wago. In wago, kigo is shirushi. Shirushi is usually ever, it seems we can recognize a general idea
trans la ted as mark in English. covered by the term "shirushi." This leads to the
The word shirushi has various meanings: an statement that shirushi is a kind of vehicle which
impression, a tally stick, a visible object of known has the function of letting someone know some-
position, a ftag design, a notice, a symptom, an thing, according to Ichiro Yamamoto's expla-
omen, a clue, or an effect. The verbal form of nation. 5 Yamamoto explains the function of
shirushi is shirusu, which means to memorize, to shirushi in his book by quoting a poem from
record, to note, to sign, to name, to register, or Man'yoshii 6 compiled in 759, the oldest existing
to chronicle. These differences that fall within collection of poems in Japan. In the poem the
the meaning of shirushi or shirusu can be rep- function of shirushi is represented.
resented by the use of different kanji (ideogram The exact age when the word kigo was brought
introduced from Chinese). in from Chinese cannot be determined as yet.
In Kojiki,2 the oldest existing book on early
"Nihonshoki, notcd by Iukichi Takeda, 6 vols., Nihon Koten
'Tomonori Toyama, "The Traditional Idea of Sign in Jap- Zensho (Tokyo: Asahi-Shinbunsha, 1948-1957).
anese Usage" (inJapanese), Sludia Semiolica, I OASS, 1981), 'Kojiki, pp. 197-199. .
pp. 35-48. . 'Ichirö Yamamoto, Koloba no Telsugaku (Tokyo: Iwanaml-
'''Kojiki,'' noted by Kenji Kurano, in Kojiki Norilo, Nlhon Shoten, 1965), p. 365.
Koten Bungaku Taikei, I (Tokyo: Iwanami-Shoten, 1958). 6Man'yöshii, not~d by Ichinosuke Takagi, Tomohide Gomi
and Susumu üno, 4 vols., Nihon Koten Bungaku Talkei,
Tomonori Toyama • Department of Education, Shizuoka 4-7, No. 18.4096, IV, (Tokyo: Iwanami-Shoten, 1957-1962),
University, Shizuoka, Japan 422. 281.

323

T. A. Sebeok et al. (eds.), The Semiotic Sphere

© Plenum Press, New York 1986
324 TOMONORITOYAMA
The oldest literature, however, so far as I know,
in which the word kigö appears, is a religious
writing, Shöbögenzö.7 It was written some time
between 1231 and 1253 by the Buddhist priest
Dögen (1200-53) who founded Zen in Japan.
He uses the word kigö in the form of averb,
kigösuru, in the sense of keeping in mind and
remembering something. 8 It is clear that he is
using the kango "kigösuru" in place of the wago
"shirusu." As an example of its usage he refers
to keeping in mi nd and remembering the place
where a Buddhist priest hung his gown by means
of a mark consisting of a letter enclosed in a
circle. 9 It can be easily supposed that the mark
itself came to be called kigö. In fact it appears
in the writing by Morisada Kitagawa (181O-?),
"Morisada Mankö."10 Morisada was a folklorist
and described the custom of his age. From the
description of marks and symbols in "Morisada
Mankö," we can see that he explains the word
kigö as a synonym for shirushi, which was in cur-
rent usage at the time. 11 Also he notes the dif-
ference between a kigö and a letter or a crest,
and the method of designing a kigö from letters
or crests. 12
At the end of the nineteenth century the words
for mathematical "sign" and chemical "symbol"
were translated as "kigö" with the introduction
of European science. 13 It seems that the word
kigö became popular in education texts, bringing
a limited signification to such symbols as +, -,
=, and so forth. The word symbol, by the way,
as a term of literary criticism and aesthetics, was
translated from French with a newly coinedJap-
anese word shöchö, also at the end of the nine-
teenth century.14
Thus, things which were called shirushi in the
past had particular and concrete meanings, and
'Dögen, "Shöbögenzö," in Taishö Shinshii Dai:dikyii, Vol. 82,
No. 2582 (Tokyo: Daizö-Shuppan, 1965).
8Ibid., p. 184.
9Ibid., p. 3l.
IOMorisada Kitagawa, "Morisada Mankö," in Kinsei Füzoku
Jiten, trans. and ed. Tsutomu Ema, Toranosuke Nishioka
and Giichirö Hamada (Tokyo: Jinbutsuöraisha, 1967).
"Ibid., pp. 174, 41l.
12Ibid., pp. 25, 48, 174, 41l.
l'Nihon Kagakushi Gakkai, ed., Nihon Kagaku Gijutsushi Taikei,
Vo1s. 1 and 8 (Tokyo: Daiichihöki-Shuppan, 1964 and 1969),
538 and 549; 78, 86, 140, 182, 193-97, 316, 507-09 and
529-30, respectively.
14Izuru Shinmura, Gogen wo Saguru, ed. Takeshi Shinmura
(Tokyo: Kyöiku-Shuppan, 1976), pp. 74-76.
the reason why they were called shirushi lay in
their various symbolic functions. This is not far
from the definition of a sign in modern semiotics.
Later the word kigö ca me to be used as a syn-
onym of shirushi. But it became more abstract,
more figurative, and narrower in definition with
the introduction of the European sciences, as we
see in the alodern usage of this term.
B. Semiotics in }apanese Tradition
Semiotics as such did not develop in Japan.
There are, however, some works in the classics
which are interesting and significant for semiot-
ics, in the fields of religion, poetics, aesthetics,
and philosophy. They have yet to be reviewed
from the view point of semiotics, so that I shall
refer only to some of these works, and provide
only a rough sketch of the historical context
below.
1. Religion
Buddhism was introduced toJapan from Korea
and China beginning in the sixth century, and
developed into aJ apanese form. Mikkyö or Shin-
gon Buddhism, founded by Kükai (773-835) in
the early eighth century, is a religious sect influ-
enced by Tantric Buddhism, and Mikkyö is a
complex of sign systems. Its doctrine and its
manners consist of many types of signs which
are based on its distinctive epistemology. It is
very remarkable, for example, that the method
of entering into meditation is explained by Taikö
Yamasaki as a process composed of three stages l5
which correspond exactly to Charles S. Pierce's
three categories.
Although most of these semiotic characteris-
tics of Mikkyö are due to the Tantra, we should
not disregard the contributions of Kükai's own
disposition: to a remarkable degree his thought
is both systematic and semiotic. For example he
explains the function of sentences in the intro-
duction of Bunkyö-hiforon, which is a systematic
guide to composition, as follows. Senten ces must
have an obvious signified object and logic, so
that their signification and context are plain;
people understand the words through the written
characters and get the signification through this
15Taikö Yamasaki, Mikkyii Meisiihö (Kyoto: Nagata-Bun-
shödö, 1974), pp. 221-32.