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This paper clarifies the criteria for differentiating between the verbs shiraseru and oshieru by analyzing the nouns marked by the object particle o that co-occur with these verbs in the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ) and subsequently comparing their respective usage patterns. The findings are summarized as follows: Shiraseru: This verb is employed when an agent prompts the recipient to recognize the occurrence or existence of a certain event through verbal/non-verbal actions, sounds, lights, or vibrations. Oshieru: This verb is utilized when a provider imparts their own skills, methods, knowledge, or information to a recipient, enabling them to acquire or accumulate that information.

This study analyzes the use of feature words, speech styles, and hedging expressions in reviews of Korean-brand cushion foundations posted on the Japanese beauty information website @cosme, through a comparison between positive and negative evaluations. The results show that vocabulary related to product finish, functionality, and usability was frequently used, and that both nouns and adjectives exhibited characteristic usage patterns depending on the evaluation target and evaluative content. In positive reviews, writers tended to express favorable impressions in a direct and emphatic manner, whereas in negative reviews, ellipsis and hedging expressions were frequently employed in order to avoid making categorical assertions. In particular, expressions such as “-kamo” and “-kana”, as well as unfinished utterances, were commonly used to soften negative evaluations. Furthermore, generational differences were also observed: younger reviewers tended to use more direct expressions, including plain forms and nominal endings, while middle-aged reviewers more frequently employed polite forms reflecting interpersonal consideration. These findings suggest that speech styles in cosmetic reviews reflect not only evaluative content but also interpersonal awareness, including consideration for readers and avoidance of imposing one’s opinions on others.

This study analyzes the politeness strategies used by Japanese speakers when making refusals, utilizing natural discourse from Japanese TV variety shows. An analysis of the data revealed 97 refusal situations and 109 refusal utterances. Each of these 109 utterances was examined based on the four politeness strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson (1978) to mitigate Face-Threatening Acts (FTAs). The results revealed a prominent use of speaker-centered refusal strategies through “Bald on-record” (FTAs without redressive action). This was followed by “Positive Politeness” and “Negative Politeness” strategies. Notably, the “Bald on-record” approach was frequently accompanied by expressions such as “reasons” or “apologies,” appearing either before or after the core refusal. In other words, the findings indicate that speakers expressed their refusal directly without mitigation, while simultaneously manifesting the desire for understanding (positive face) and the desire for autonomy and freedom from imposition (negative face) as their chosen politeness strategies.

In this paper, we clarified the Semantic, Syntactic, and Morphological features of Japanese Spontaneous Sentences. First of all, in Spontaneous Sentences, the Subject includes both the roles of the Agent and the Patient, and describes the spontaneous change of state inherent in the Subject, so the involvement of the External Agent is completely excluded. As a result, it allows co-occurrence with adverbs that modify spontaneous state changes, undergoes Causative manipulation, and passes the Implication test. Secondly, The subject of a Spontaneous Sentence does not appear as a result of the deletion of the external agent in the Transitive verb structure, but is the subject that exists in that position from the beginning. Although Spontaneous and Intransitive sentences have the same structure(case structure) on the surface, in the deep structure, the arrangement of cases and the syntactic operations based on these work independently, so Spontaneous Sentences have an Autonomous Syntactic system that is different from Intransitive Sentences. Finally, Although Spontaneous and Intransitive verbs have superficially the same form, they have different Grammatical Autonomy, so homophonous different gramammatical forms can be applied to both.

This study examines linguistic changes in Japanese-language abstracts from KCI-indexed journals before and after the adoption of generative AI. A corpus of 582 abstracts by Korean researchers was divided into pre-AI (1990–2022, n=291) and post-AI (2025–January 2026, n=291) groups, with 2023–2024 excluded as a transitional period. Lexical analysis used log-odds ratios, and syntactic analysis employed Mann-Whitney U tests with rank-biserial correlation. At the lexical level, evaluative vocabulary foregrounding research contributions increased, while epistemic stance markers, the writer-reference term hissha, and critical engagement vocabulary declined substantially. At the syntactic level, genre-specific foundations remained stable, but structurally complex elements decreased selectively: clauses per sentence showed the largest effect size (r=−0.51), with concurrent reductions in sentence length, logical connectives, and ni yotte + reru/rareru constructions. The noun ratio rose significantly, yet genitive particle density declined, suggesting information compression through direct nominal compounding. These changes align consistently with known features of LLM-generated text across both lexical and syntactic levels, constituting evidence for the widespread involvement of generative AI in post-2025 L2 academic writing.

This study examines the use of metalinguistic expressions in first-time conversational encounters between Japanese native speakers and Korean learners of Japanese, based on natural conversation data. The analysis focuses on overall frequency, functional distribution, and particularly the subcategories of contextual development functions. The results reveal that Japanese native speakers tend to prioritize accuracy and politeness through frequent use of expression-searching strategies, with relatively limited gender differences. In contrast, Korean learners of Japanese show a higher reliance on contextual development functions. Female learners actively initiate and manage conversations through topic initiation and intervention, while male learners tend to adopt strategies aimed at maintaining stability and minimizing interactional risk. These gender-based differences are more salient in cross-cultural contact situations than in native-language contexts. The findings suggest that metalinguistic expressions function not merely as indicators of linguistic competence but as strategic resources reflecting the intersection of gender and culture in interpersonal communication. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of pragmatic variation in first-encounter conversations and offers pedagogical implications for Japanese language education and intercultural communication.

本研究は、日韓の初対面接触場面における自然会話データを用い、メタ言語表現の使用傾向を性別および文化の観点から分析したものである。分析では、メタ言語表現の全体的な出現数と機能別分布、特に文脈展開機能の下位分類に注目した。その結果、日本語母語話者は｢表現の検索｣を中心に、発話の正確さや配慮を重視する傾向が確認され、性別差は比較的限定的であった。一方、韓国人日本語学習者は文脈展開機能の比重が高く、特に女性話者は話題開始や介入を通じて会話を積極的に主導する傾向が見られた。男性話者は発話の安定性やリスク回避を重視する戦略を選択する傾向が示された。これらの結果から、メタ言語表現は言語能力のみならず、性別と文化が交差する対人戦略を反映する言語行動であることが明らかになった。本研究は、日本語教育および異文化コミュニケーション研究に示唆を与えるものである。

This article investigates the speech-act structure of kotodama offering in Japanese waka through the theoretical framework of Austin and Searle. Taking Saigyō’s Shinto waka as its main corpus and comparing them with the hyangga Tō Senju Kannon-ka, it argues that devotional waka developed a distinctive mode of sacred utterance in which words are not primarily used to command or alter divine reality but to be ritually offered before the deity. The analysis shows that the illocutionary force of Saigyō’s Shinto waka is an expressive-assertive composite that combines emotional self-disclosure with ritual dedication. In this structure, poetic language acquires efficacy through offering, reverence, and formal presentation rather than through direct intervention in the sacred realm. In contrast, Tō Senju Kannon-ka is organized around a more active logic of gamtong, in which utterance seeks to elicit divine compassion and effect religious response. Both traditions may be traced back to the common East Asian premise, articulated in the Mao shi da xu, that poetry can “move heaven and earth and stir spirits and gods.” Yet they diverge in opposite directions: Japanese waka develops a dedicatory discourse of kotodama, while Korean hyangga retains a more operative discourse of responsive sacred speech. On this basis, the article proposes a comparative poetics of East Asian ritual song centered on the contrast between kotodama offering and gamtong efficacy.

This paper examines the representations of Tateyama beliefs in medieval Japanese literary texts in which Mount Tateyama appears as an object of religious faith. Focusing on historical narratives, diaries, war tales, travel accounts, and temple-origin legends, it explores how medieval people perceived and described Tateyama as a sacred site. First, the paper considers how Tateyama Zenjō (ascetic pilgrimages to Mount Tateyama) were represented in literary texts as religious experiences and how such depictions reflect the significance of pilgrimage practices within medieval belief. Second, it examines how the support of secular authorities, including capital-based warriors and court aristocrats, contributed to the maintenance of the institutional foundations of Tateyama belief, and how these connections are reflected in literary representations of Tateyama as a sacred center. Third, it analyzes literary portrayals of Tateyama as a realm associated with hell and the afterlife, paying particular attention to representations of the Six Realms and to the recognition of religious centers such as Ashikura-ji and Iwakura-ji within both the capital and provincial regions. Through these analyses, the paper demonstrates that medieval literary texts portrayed Tateyama not merely as a local mountain cult but as a sacred site closely connected with central religious culture and diverse forms of religious practice. It further shows that Tateyama was represented as a multifaceted religious space endowed with a variety of meanings, including ascetic training, pilgrimage, and salvation.

This paper examines, through three works by Motoya Yukiko—The Real Trip(本当の旅), Fatso’s Happy Birthday(でぶのハッピーバースデー), and Oshiko’s Default(推子のデフォルト)—the pressures that digital network society exerts on the human subject across three levels: image, body, and subject. In The Real Trip, images on SNS replace the sense of reality, and amid conformity pressure the characters edit even imminent danger into a good atmosphere, ultimately arriving at catastrophe. Fatso’s Happy Birthday depicts the extremes of digital capitalism, in which the body and suffering themselves are circulated as content, sharply exposing how the vulnerable are laid bare within this structure. Oshiko’s Default, at the terminus of this trajectory, presents a landscape in which human beings desire to become non-human, shifting from “living entities” to “object-like entities.” The double-bind structure in which both rejection and acceptance lead to the dissolution of the subject is the most chilling future vision that digital technology society can reach. Through this analysis, the paper demonstrates that the three works depict the gradual disintegration of human existence at three levels—image, body, and subject—and positions Motoya’s works as cautionary texts warning that the connection and authentic self promised by digital technology society may in fact culminate in isolation and the dissolution of the subject. Finally, it argues that the grotesque reversal at each novel’s ending, and the black humor it generates, are precisely what powerfully sustain this thematic consciousness, constituting the strength and the appeal of Motoya’s literature.

本論文は、本谷有希子の｢本当の旅｣ ｢でぶのハッピーバースデー｣ ｢推子のデフォルト｣を通して、デジタル･ネットワーク社会が人間の主体に加える圧力をイメージ･身体･主体という三つの層において考察したものである。 ｢本当の旅｣では、SNSのイメージが現実感覚を代替し、同調圧力のなかで人物たちが目の前の危険さえ良い雰囲気へと編集し、ついには破局に至る。｢でぶのハッピーバースデー｣は、身体と苦痛までもがコンテンツとして流通するデジタル資本主義の極端を描き、弱者がその構造のなかでいかに脆弱であるかを痛烈に示す。｢推子のデフォルト｣はその流れの終着点において、人間が自ら非人間になることを欲望し、｢生きている存在｣から｢物体的存在｣へと移行していく風景を提示する。等質化教育によって感覚や個性を奪われた子どもたち、人生全体をコンテンツとして消費する大人たち、そして拒否しても受容しても結局は主体の消滅に帰結する二重拘束の構造は、デジタル技術社会が到達しうる最も冷ややかな未来像である。 本論文はこうした分析を通して、三作品がイメージ･身体･主体という三つの層において、人間存在が解体されていく様相を描き出していることを明らかにした。さらに、デジタル技術社会が約束したつながりと真正な自我の発現が、実は孤立と主体の消滅へと帰結しうることを警告するテキストとして、本谷の作品を位置づけた。最後に、小説の結末におけるグロテスクな反転とそれが生み出すブラックユーモアこそが、そのような主題意識を力強く支える本谷文学の強みであり、魅力であることを述べた。

This study reexamines the relationship between literature and film by focusing on Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s Shunkinshō and Shimazu Yasujirō’s film Shunkinshō: Okoto and Sasuke, from the perspectives of a critique of ocularcentrism and the realization of a multisensory aesthetic world. Tanizaki’s novel, grounded in a critique of a visually centered logocentric order, seeks to articulate a multisensory aesthetic world encompassing hearing, touch, taste, and smell through language. At the same time, however, this attempt reveals the inherent limitations of the linguistic medium—namely, the difficulty of directly representing sensory domains beyond the visual world constructed through language and writing. In contrast, Shimazu’s film omits parts of the original narrative structure while actively exploiting the characteristics of the new medium of sound film. Through actors’ voices, music, sound, and physical embodiment, it directly recreates a multisensory aesthetic world. In particular, the expansion of auditory elements plays a crucial role in restoring a sensory balance against visual centrism. In this respect, Shunkinshō: Okoto and Sasuke, as an audiovisual artwork, can itself be understood as a counter-position to ocularcentrism, insofar as it mobilizes the medium of film. It may thus be evaluated as an attempt to recover a world of beauty constituted through the balance, harmony, and integration of multiple senses. Therefore, the film adaptation of this work should not be assessed in terms of its fidelity to the original text, but rather understood in terms of how the sensory and aesthetic potentials of different media are realized. From this perspective, Shunkinshō: Okoto and Sasuke is not a subordinate reproduction of literature, but an independent achievement that reconstructs a multisensory aesthetic world through the distinctive expressive modes of film as an audiovisual medium.

本研究は、谷崎潤一郎の｢春琴抄｣と、島津保次郎による映画＜春琴抄―お琴と佐助＞を対象に、近代的視覚中心主義に対する批判と多感覚的な美の世界の実現という観点から文学と映画の関係を再検討したものである。 谷崎の小説は、視覚中心のロゴス的秩序への問題提起を基盤として、聴覚･触覚･味覚･嗅覚を包摂する多感覚的な美の世界を、言語を通して表現しようとした。しかし同時に、このような試みは、言語媒体が有する表現上の限界、すなわち言語や文字によって構築される視覚の世界を超えて、他の感覚の領域を直接的に表現することの困難さを露呈している。 これに対して島津の映画は、原作の叙事構造の一部を省略する一方で、トーキー映画という新たなメディアの特性を積極的に活用し、俳優の音声、音楽、音響および身体性を通じて、多感覚的な美の世界を直接的に再現した。とりわけ聴覚的要素の拡張は、視覚中心主義に対する感覚的均衡の回復という側面において重要であり、映画＜春琴抄―お琴と佐助＞は、視聴覚芸術としての映画という新しいメディアを用いること自体が、視覚中心主義に対する一つの対抗的設定として機能している。すなわち、多感覚の均衡と調和、そしてその統合によって成立する美の世界を回復しようとする試みとして評価することができる。 したがって、本作の映画化は、原作への忠実性の有無によって評価されるべき問題ではなく、異なるメディアが有する感覚的･美学的可能性がいかに実現されているかという問題として理解されるべきである。この点において、＜春琴抄―お琴と佐助＞は、文学の従属的再現ではなく、視聴覚メディアとしての映画が有する固有の表現様式によって、多感覚的な美の世界を再構成した独自の達成として評価しうる。

This study examines the transformation of villains in classical Japanese literature, with a particular focus on Edo-period Kabuki. While villains in ancient myths and war tales were typically portrayed as figures threatening political order or moral norms, those depicted in early modern literature increasingly embodied personal desires and everyday forms of transgression. This shift reflects broader social changes brought about by the growth of urban commoner culture. The study first analyzes the development and specialization of villain roles in Kabuki, known collectively as katakiyaku. It then focuses on Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan by Tsuruya Nanboku, a representative work of late Edo popular drama. Through an in-depth analysis of Tamiya Iemon, the paper demonstrates how the villain evolves from a grand-scale rebel into a figure driven by ambition, sexual desire, and self-interest—characteristics typical of the iroaku (seductive villain). Furthermore, by examining the numerous minor villains appearing throughout the play, the study reveals how “evil” permeates the entire narrative world rather than being confined to a single antagonist. The paper concludes that this transformation of villains mirrors a shift in popular consciousness from heroic and political narratives to stories centered on everyday life and human weakness. By positioning villains as complex representations of social anxiety and desire, this study highlights their function as key narrative devices that reflect the cultural and social realities of Edo-period Japan. The findings contribute to a broader understanding of classical Japanese literature from a socio-cultural perspective.

本研究は、日本古典文学、特に江戸時代の歌舞伎作品を対象として、悪人の性格とその変容を考察するものである。古代神話や軍記物において悪は、政治秩序や道徳規範に対抗する存在として描かれてきたが、近世に入ると、都市庶民社会の成熟とともに、悪人はより人間的で日常的な欲望と結びついた存在へと変化していく。 本稿ではまず、歌舞伎における敵役(敵役･敵役柄)の類型化と細分化の過程を概観し、その代表的作品として鶴屋南北作󰡔東海道四谷怪談󰡕を取り上げる。とりわけ民谷伊右衛門を中心に、国家秩序を転覆する反逆者ではなく、出世欲や色欲といった私的欲望によって悪行を重ねる色悪としての性格を明らかにした。さらに、作中に登場する多数の小悪人の分析を通じて、悪が特定の人物に集中するのではなく、作品世界全体に拡散している点を指摘した。 以上の分析から、本研究は、江戸後期における悪人像の変化が、大衆の関心が英雄的･政治的物語から日常生活と人間の内面へと移行したことを反映していると結論づける。悪人は単なる懲罰の対象ではなく、当時の社会意識や人間観を映し出す重要な物語装置であり、本研究はその点から日本古典文学を再評価する試みである。