Page:Modern Japanese Stories.pdf/11

 Factual Notes

1. All names are given in the normal Japanese order, with the family name preceding the personal name. It is to be noted that well-known writers in Japan are frequently designated by their personal names, especially after their death. Thus most people refer to ‘Ōgai’ and ‘Sōseki’, although their respective surnames were ‘Mori’ and ‘Natsumé’.

2. Japanese vowels are pronounced as in Spanish or Italian, with each vowel being given approximately its full value. Consonants are as in English, except that g is invariably hard. Macrons, which are normally used to indicate the long o and the long u, have been omitted from such common place-names as Tokyo and Kobe and from words like Shinto and Shogunate. Acute accents have occasionally been provided for names like Abé that might otherwise be mispronounced by readers who are unacquainted with the Japanese language.

3. The period-names Meiji, Taishō and Shōwa are frequently used in the Introduction and in the notes on the authors. These names refer to the reigns of the three modern Emperors and have the same type of significance in a literary discussion as ‘Victorian’, ‘Edwardian’, etc. in English. The periods are as follows:
 * Meiji 1868–1912

Taishō 1912–1926

Shōwa 1926–present.

4. A rough indication of money equivalents may be helpful to the reader, since prices, wages, etc. are mentioned in many of the stories. By referring to the date of the story, the reader can determine the approximate money equivalent from the following table The calculations are based on the prices of rice, the main staple commodity. 7