Page:Nihongi by Aston.djvu/28

Rh. To facilitate reference to it the book and page of this edition have been noted throughout in the margin of the present translation.

The large black type of the Shūkai is the text. The "Original Commentary" and the quotations from other books are printed in a smaller type. Both of these are usually assumed to be part of the Nihongi, and are quoted as such. They have been included in the present translation, but they are distinguished from the Nihongi proper by being indented, or in the case of some very short passages, enclosed in square brackets. Still smaller characters are used by the editor for his notes. In addition to these, small Katakana characters may be seen at the side of many of the characters of the original text and commentary. They are frequently referred to in the notes of the present version under the description of the "interlinear Kana" or the "traditional Kana rendering," and consist of translations into Japanese of the Chinese characters alongside of which they stand, or add particles which are necessary to complete the sense in a Japanese translation. These glosses are of considerable but unknown antiquity. They are sometimes useful, especially in giving obsolete words and the pronunciation of proper names, but they cannot be implicitly relied on. They are often wrong, and still more frequently inadequate.

Spelling.—In transliterating Japanese words, the method adopted by the Japan Society has been followed pretty closely. It is nearly identical with that which is recommended by the Royal Geographical Society, and which may be briefly described as—"the vowels as in Italian, the consonants as in English." There are no silent letters.

Some inconsistencies will doubtless be observed in the spelling of proper names, in regard to which the Japanese themselves are often very vague. There is a good deal of confusion between the hard and soft consonants t and d, ch or sh and j, h and b, and k and g, which it is difficult for a European scholar always to avoid.

The spelling in the case of words of Japanese derivation follows the Japanese written language in representing an older pronunciation than that now current.

Corean proper names are spelt after the system described by