Paper short abstract:

The paper will deal with the Yōshi kangoshō (Notes on Chinese Words by Master Yako, 720 ca.). It will be argued that its lexical domains are all related to technical and practical knowledge and that it was of particular interest for some low-rank officials working as clerks in specialized offices.

Paper long abstract:

The Yōshi kangoshō 楊氏漢語抄 (Notes on Chinese Words by Master Yako) is a Sinitic-Japanese lost dictionary dating back to the early 8th century and probably compiled by Yako no Muzane (early 8th cen.); it survived only in indirect tradition thanks to its quotations in the later Sinitic-Japanese dictionary Wamyōruijushō 和名類聚抄 (Categorized Notes on Japanese Words, 934 ca.). Fragments from this dictionary help us to reconstruct not only some aspects of the Old Japanese that are not otherwise known, but also some domains of technical and practical knowledge.

After introducing the typology of its lexicographic structure, the paper will focus on the terms in Vernacular contained in the Yōshi kangoshō, which are not otherwise found in refined prose and poetry. It will be shown that the lexical domains covered by the Yōshi kangoshō fragments are all related to technical and practical knowledge (in fields such as medicine, hippology, agriculture, textile craft, cuisine, etc.).

Taking some examples from the fields of hippology and textile sectors, extracted by means of materials digitized in online databases (Mokkanko, Komonjo Database, etc.), the paper will elicit how this technical vocabulary was actually used in practical documents (on paper or on mokkan). It will be argued that the Yōshi kangoshō was of particular interest for some low-rank officials working as clerks in specialized offices.