"The flag of the ‘Rising Sun’"

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"The flag of the ‘Rising Sun’"

The excerpt is taken from a section of the textbook designed to teach the basics of the Japanese language and script. The Japanese characters used in the text below were introduced individually beforehand. It is followed by short, respectfully formulated sentences about the red morning sun and the Japanese flag. Latin letters and an explanation in Portuguese guide the reader through the pronunciation of the Japanese text. A verbatim translation of the Japanese text into Portuguese is included on the lower third of each page. Two illustrations also clarify the meaning of the text. The Japanese sentences are written in Katakana, a phonetic syllabary of Japanese. In this script the characters correspond with the pronunciation, simplifying reading. This is a form of Japanese that originated in the period before the Second World War. Japanese immigrants to Brazil maintained this method of expression.

Morita

This highly pedagogic Brasilian textbook is divided into several sections which are strikingly different in level. The first section, from which the excerpt below is taken, teaches the basics of the Japanese language and script, and is very complex. The second section addresses citizenship and moral education. This is followed by mathematics (for year one primary pupils), singing and drawing. There are considerable differences between the complexity of the Japanese lessons and the mathematics exercises in particular.

The majority of the book is bilingual, i.e. in Portuguese and Japanese. Explanations of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary are in Portuguese. The spine of the book is, as customary for Japanese books, on the right and the book opens on the left. Accordingly the page numbering begins on the right-hand pages of the book and pages are turned from right to left. Japanese text is read from right to left or from top to bottom, Portuguese text from left to right. The text is dominated by the predominantly phonetic Katakana symbols, now and again there are Kanji, Chinese characters used in Japanese. Text and illustrations communicate information about Japan.

The book is aimed at primary school pupils whose native language is Japanese. According to the cover, this book is the first of a series of 24 such textbooks.

Editora Guaíra

[p. 6]

[left column]

カアマヒオ ^a

[Japanese]

The sun is red, the morning sun is red.

[Illustration: a woman, two children and a dog greet the rising sun]

[right column]

O HI MA A KA

(CA) ^b

a i u e o

The translation below is literal but conveys the sense of the original:

- ‘When rising the sun is red, as too, the rising sun is reddish’

[underneath, across the whole page]

The

Red sun

The rising sun

is red

[p. 7]

[left column]

NO RU HA BA

N ZA

(M) (SA) ^c

na ni nu ne no

ba bi bu be bo

ban bin bun ben bon

bam bim bum bem

bom

It is important to note the differences between ‘ha’ and ‘ba’ and between ‘sa’ and ‘za’.

[right column]

ザンバハルノ ^d

[Japanese]

The flag of the rising sun, hurrah, hurrah.

[Adjacent to and below the text: image of a house with a large Japanese flag blowing in the wind]

[underneath, across the whole page]

The flag of the ‘Rising Sun’

Celebrate it!

[a] Translator’s note: List of the characters used in the following text.↩

[b] Translator’s note: Phonetic rendition of the Japanese characters in Latin script.↩

[c] Translator’s note: Phonetic rendition of the Japanese characters in Latin script.↩

[d] Translator’s note: List of the characters used in the following text.↩

Translation:
Balogh-Klaus, Teruko
Friedl, Sophie
Watson, Nicola

Recommended citation:

WorldViews. The World in Textbooks

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