戰後日本漢字存廢之因──以內閣頒布漢字表的沿革為中心

Abstract

本論文分析二戰後日本語言政策的相關史料，以戰後日本內閣頒布漢字表的沿革為中心，從「政治」、「文化意義」及「大眾的關注」三個主要面向來探討漢字的存廢之因，呈現漢字政策原本欲廢除漢字，因故轉為保留漢字，最後開放使用的過程。 戰後至今，日本內閣頒布的重要漢字表有三：1946年的〈當用漢字表〉、1981年的〈常用漢字表〉及2010年的〈新常用漢字表〉。本論文以此三表作為分期，首先探討漢字改革的緣起。第二章討論的是〈當用漢字表〉出現的過程。明治時期，西方文化衝擊日本，使其反思大量使用漢字的弊端，而著手改革，但於二戰時被軍國主義政府擱置。二戰戰後，戰敗的結果再度引起漢字檢討了聲浪，漢字被冠上「封建」、「軍國主義之遺毒」之名，激進份子要求廢除漢字，以利推行民主化，建設新日本。同時，美國教育使節團強烈建議日本直接廢除漢字，採用羅馬字作為書寫文字，但國語審議會為維護民族尊嚴，選擇「漸進廢除」的方式，制定了〈當用漢字表〉。此表於1946年由內閣頒布，收錄1850個漢字，規定漢字使用限於表內字，預定逐年刪除表內漢字量，最後達到廢除漢字的目的。第三章討論〈當用漢字表〉的困境：此政策最大的問題是限制了命名自由，故在人民的抗爭下，頒布了〈人名用漢字別表〉，而報社也感到漢字使用的不足，而有〈當用漢字補正案〉的出現，此兩表實際上皆增加了社會漢字的使用量，這與當初制定〈當用漢字表〉的目標是背道而馳的。此章也收錄了文學家批評〈當用漢字表〉表外漢字詞語改寫的問題，此困境也是影響之後〈當用漢字表〉改革的原因。 第四章討論〈當用漢字表〉改革的過程：人民訴求用字的民主自由化，及國語審議會於1962年的改組，影響了漢字政策的走向。為改革〈當用漢字表〉的弊端，漢字政策於1981年被內閣修改並頒布，以〈常用漢字表〉取代〈當用漢字表〉，該表不但再增加了95個漢字，漢字表的定位也從「限制使用」改為「使用目標 (目安) 」，以開放的態度提供社會使用漢字字種，但不強硬限制，漢字就此確立於日本書寫文字系統，其存廢的爭議到此告一段落。 第五章討論的是資訊化時代如何影響漢字的擴展。1980年代始，電腦與〈JIS 漢字碼〉結合，使得漢字打印更為容易，漢字因其資訊負荷量大，被更廣泛的使用在生活上。出版界也以電腦取代活字印刷輸出漢字。國語審議會於2000年頒布〈表外字體漢字表〉規範表外漢字字體，實質上促進了表外漢字的使用。為因應資訊化時代，〈常用漢字表〉再度被修改，內閣於2010年頒布〈新常用漢字表〉，再度增加191字，以敷社會使用。The thesis analyzes the historical materials of the language policy in postwar Japan. Focusing on historical changes of kanji, this thesis examines the reasons of how the scripts of kanji are retained or eliminated. Examining the process from three perspectives: politics, cultural meanings, and the public concerns, this thesis shows the process of how kanji were originally to be eliminated but turned to be retained due to some certain reasons, which ends up with open use. During Meiji period, Japan experienced cultural shock from the west, reconsidered the disadvantages of using kanji and started script reform. But the reform was suspended during Second World War because of Japanese militarism. Because the government was defeated after the war, kanji was coined with the names of “feudalism” and “residual poison of militarism.” Some activists demanded to stop using kanji in order to push reforms of democracy. Meanwhile, the US Education mission strongly recommended Japan to abolish kanji and to use rōmaji [Romanized symbols] as scripts instead. But to preserve national pride, Kokugo Shingikai [the committee of national language] adapted a gradual way of abolishment and published Tōyō Kanji in 1946 with 1850 kanji characters accepted. The usage of kanji was limited to Tōyō Kanji only and it was planned to reduce the number of kanji year by year, so that kanji could be abolished completely. Chapter three discusses the confinement of Tōyō Kanji. The major problem is that it limited the freedom of naming. Resisted by the people, the government published an extensional list of Jinmeiyō Kanji. On the other hand, the newspapers were also troubled by the insufficient numbers of kanji, and therefore a supplementary list of Tōyō Kanji came out. The two lists increased the usage of kanji and indeed countered the purpose of using the original list of Tōyō Kanji. Chapter four discusses the reform of Tōyō Kanji. The language policy changed because of people’s concern to use language freely and the 1962 reformation of Kokugo Shingikai. Therefore, Jōyō Kanji was published in 1981 in an replacement of Tōyō Kanji. 95 more kanji were included and the use of kanji has changed from “limited use” to “open use.” People in the society were encouraged to use kanji without being restricted. Kanji has been confirmed as the system of Japanese scripts, and the debate of abolishment ended from then on. Chapter five discusses how technology expands the use of kanji. Since 1980s, computers and the character code of Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (JIS) have made kanji more easily to be typed. Kanji is also widely used in daily life because the characters themselves can carry more messages for communication. In 2000, Kokugo Shingikai published Hyōgai Kanji Jitai-hyō [List for Non-listed Kanji], which improved the usage of kanji. In 2010, the revision of Jōyō Kanji was published with more 191 characters included to meet the massive use of the society.