141-491: Suikoden ( Japanese : 幻想水滸伝 , Hepburn : Gensō Suikoden , lit. "Fantasy Water Margin") is a series of role-playing video games created by Yoshitaka Murayama . The games are loosely based on the classical Chinese novel Water Margin , whose title is rendered as Suikoden ( 水滸伝 ) in Japanese. Each individual game centers on themes of politics, corruption, revolution, mystical crystals known as True Runes , and
282-596: A nanxi ( southern opera ) playwright who lived between the late Yuan dynasty and early Ming dynasty . Xu Fuzuo (徐復祚) of the Ming dynasty mentioned in Sanjia Cunlao Weitan (三家村老委談) that Junmei (君美; Shi Hui's courtesy name )'s intention in writing Water Margin was to entertain people, and not to convey any message. During the Qing dynasty , Shi Hui and Shi Nai'an were linked, suggesting that they are actually
423-559: A pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has
564-459: A Century ( Genso Suikoden Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki ). It came out in Japan for PSP on 12 February 2012 to generally lackluster reviews. According to an article published by The Nikkei in 2015, development on the series has been halted. In 2020, one of Suikoden' s development crew left Konami and named a new studio called Rabbit & Bear, founded by some of the key creative minds behind
705-678: A Japanese translation of the Water Margin illustrated by Hokusai . The book, called the New Illustrated Edition of the Suikoden ( Shinpen Suikogaden ), was a success during the Edo period and spurred a Japanese "Suikoden" craze. In 1827, publisher Kagaya Kichibei commissioned Utagawa Kuniyoshi to produce a series of woodblock prints illustrating the 108 heroes in Water Margin . The 1827–1830 series, called 108 Heroes of
846-462: A Pan An, I still can get by. Second, I've had a big cock since childhood." Susan L. Mann writes that the "desire for male camaraderie" is "far from a mere plotline," for it is a basic theme of this and other classic novels. She places the novel's male characters in a tradition of men's culture of mutual trust and reciprocal obligation, such as figures known as the Chinese knight-errant . Sima Qian,
987-428: A Suikoden follow-up game called Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes , slated to release worldwide in 2024. Essentially, each game follows the plot formula of a coup d'état by corrupt power holder(s) and the protagonist is an exile from his/her home. The plot also follows the disastrous misuse of the "True Runes" while the hero struggles, despite overwhelming odds, to bring peace to the land alongside his/her friends, and
1128-637: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down
1269-594: A campaign against Fang La to redeem themselves?" A direct precursor of Water Margin is Old Incidents in the Xuanhe Period of the Great Song Dynasty (大宋宣和遺事), which appeared around the mid-13th century. The text is a written version of storytellers' tales based on supposed historical events. It is divided into ten chapters, roughly covering the history of the Song dynasty from the early 11th century to
1410-538: A complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )
1551-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )
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#17327802015401692-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as
1833-726: A host, as the Beast Rune did during the Highland-Jowston conflict, self-activating and then feeding of its own will. Origin of True Runes and the Creation of the Suikoden Universe The story of the creation of the Suikoden universe can be found in books discovered in most games. The story from "Old Book Vol.1" from Suikoden I reads: In the beginning...there was "Darkness". "Darkness" lived for eons in
1974-484: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it
2115-415: A rift in time. Suffering in solitude for so long, "Darkness" finally dropped a "Tear". Two brothers were born of "Tear". "Sword" and "Shield". "Sword" said he could cut anything to pieces. "Shield" swore he could protect anything. And so, the two went to battle. The battle lasted seven days and seven nights. "Sword" cut apart "Shield", and "Shield" broke "Sword" into pieces. Fragments of "Sword" fell and became
2256-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),
2397-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate
2538-688: A threat throughout Suikoden V . Northeast of Falena also appears portion of a landmass of considerable size. West of the Northern and Southern Continents and the Island Nations is a landmass referred to as the Western Continent, of which few details are known. Scattered across the world are mysterious ruins attributed to the lost Sindar race, which is a recurring theme throughout the Suikoden series. The Suikoden games have generally been considered to have soundtracks very well liked by
2679-561: A work of Shi Hui, bore some resemblance to Water Margin , hence the theory that Water Margin was authored by Shi Hui. Early scholars attributed the authorship to Guo Xun (郭勛), a politician who lived in the Ming dynasty. Shen Defu (沈德符), a late Ming dynasty scholar, mentioned in Wanli Yehuo Bian (萬曆野獲編) that Guo wrote Water Margin . Shen Guoyuan (沈國元) added in Huangming Congxin Lu (皇明從信錄) that Guo mimicked
2820-624: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of
2961-400: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,
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#17327802015403102-527: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing
3243-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number
3384-701: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider
3525-498: Is attributed to Luo Guanzhong . Known simplified editions of Water Margin include: The complex editions are more descriptive and circulated more widely than their simplified counterparts. The three main versions of the complex editions are a 100-chapter, a 120-chapter and a 70-chapter edition. The most commonly modified parts of the complex editions are the stories on what happened after the outlaws are granted amnesty. Water Margin has been translated into many languages. The book
3666-528: Is based on the exploits of the outlaw Song Jiang and his 108 companions (The 36 "Heavenly Spirits" (三十六天罡) and the 72 "Earthly Demons" (七十二地煞)). The group was active in the Huainan region and surrendered to the Song government in 1121. They were recorded in the historical text History of Song in the annals of Emperor Huizong of Song , which states: (When) the outlaw Song Jiang of Huainan and others attacked
3807-466: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto
3948-467: Is contemptible." Critics offer various explanations for Water Margin' s prejudice against women. Most common among modern Chinese critics is the patriarchal society of the Imperial China . Professor Sun Shuyu of The Chinese University of Hong Kong argues that the author(s) of Water Margin intentionally vilified women in order to discipline their would-be-outlaw audiences. In addition,
4089-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to
4230-489: Is eventually poisoned to death by the "Four Treacherous Ministers" – Gao Qiu , Yang Jian , Tong Guan and Cai Jing . The 108 Heroes (一百单八将) are at the core of the plot of Water Margin . Based on the Taoist concept that each person's destiny is tied to a "Star of Destiny" (宿星), the 108 Stars of Destiny are stars representing 108 demonic overlords who were banished by the deity Shangdi. Having repented since their expulsion,
4371-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through
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4512-755: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey
4653-497: Is no way of knowing whether a simplified edition came before or was derived from another by adding or cutting text. The simplified editions include stories on the outlaws being granted amnesty, followed by their campaigns against the Liao dynasty , Tian Hu , Wang Qing and Fang La , all the way until Song Jiang 's death. At one point, the later chapters were compiled into a separate novel, titled Sequel to Water Margin (續水滸傳), which
4794-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of
4935-507: Is one of the selectable characters in this game. Tir appear as supportive character. Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] ) is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within
5076-498: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and
5217-545: Is renowned for the "mastery and control" of its mood and tone. The novel is also known for its use of vivid, humorous and especially racy language. However, it has been denounced as "obscene" by various critics since the Ming dynasty. 王婆道：「大官人，你聽我說：但凡捱光的，兩個字最難，要五件事俱全，方才 行得。第一件，潘安的貌；第二件，驢兒大的行貨；第三件，要似鄧通有錢；第四件 ，小就要棉裏針忍耐；第五件，要閒工夫：——這五件，喚作『潘、驢、鄧、小、閑 』。五件俱全，此事便獲著。」西門慶道：「實不瞞你說，這五件事我都有些：第一 ，我的面兒雖比不得潘安，也充得過；第二，我小時也曾養得好大龜；第三，我家裏 也頗有貫百錢財，雖不及鄧通，也得過；第四，我最耐得，他便打我四百頓，休想我 回他一下；第五，我最有閒工夫，不然，如何來的恁頻？乾娘，你只作成我！完備了 時，我自重重的謝你。」 "These seduction cases are
5358-512: Is set in a world with many countries. The political geography has changed over the series chronology; while the most recent game in the setting is Suikoden V , chronologically, Suikoden IV is the earliest game while Suikoden III occurs latest within the time span of the series. Suikoden , Suikoden II and Suikoden III are set on the Northern Continent, a land mass composed of several regions. Suikoden takes place in
5499-872: Is set in the Dunan region, north-west of the Toran Republic, and initially comprises the Highland Kingdom in the east and the Jowston City-States, a confederation of politically autonomous states, in the west. Significant locations in Jowston include the cities-states of South Window, Greenhill, Muse, and Two River, and the Knightdom of Matilda. Following the Dunan Unification War, the Highland Kingdom falls and it, along with
5640-593: Is still disagreement. The earliest components of the Water Margin (in manuscript copies) were from the late 14th century. A printed copy dating from the Jiaqing reign (1507–1567) titled Jingben Zhongyi Zhuan (京本忠義傳), is preserved in the Shanghai Library . The earliest extant complete printed edition of Water Margin is a 100-chapter version published in 1589. An edition, with 120 chapters and an introduction by Yang Dingjian (楊定見), has been preserved from
5781-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and
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5922-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have
6063-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns
6204-527: The 108 Stars of Destiny ; wherein the fighter characters recruited from the bunch can be used as members for the battle party; every game in the series has their respective Stars of Destiny . The series practically makes use of running around towns on different islands and into dungeons filled with monsters or enemies. A base or headquarters will also be obtained by the player which is usually abandoned, monster-infested castles which turns into bustling communities when captured. The most typical form of battle in
6345-577: The Suikogaiden games and Suikoden Tactics ), there are 108 notable characters, all of which are recruitable except for in Suikoden III, where several of the stars of destiny were the antagonist characters. While recruiting all of the Stars of Destiny is not a requirement to finishing the game, recruiting all of them gives certain bonuses that affect the story of the game. The Suikoden series
6486-513: The Han dynasty historian, devoted a section to biographies: "Their words were always sincere and trustworthy, and their actions always quick and decisive. They were always true to what they promised, and without regard to their own persons, they would rush into dangers threatening others." She finds such figures in this and other novels, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to
6627-642: The Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as the Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from
6768-462: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in
6909-514: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than
7050-529: The Suikoden World Guide and Suikoden Encyclopedia , exist for the Suikoden series, though the majority are only in Japanese. Suikoden and Suikoden II have light novel adaptations written by Shinjiro Hori released only in Japan. Suikoden III was adapted into a manga by Aki Shimizu , which was released in English markets by Tokyopop . The protagonist of Suikoden I is one of the characters in this game. The protagonist of Suikoden I
7191-521: The Taihang Mountains . Stories about the outlaws became a popular subject for Yuan dynasty drama. During this time, the material on which Water Margin was based evolved into its current form. The number of outlaws increased to 108. Even though they come from different backgrounds, and include scholars, fishermen, imperial drill instructors, officers, and others, all of them eventually come to occupy Mount Liang (or Liangshan Marsh). While
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#17327802015407332-738: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of
7473-806: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to
7614-448: The standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics ,
7755-415: The " 108 Stars of Destiny "—the 108 protagonists who are loosely interpreted from the source material. Although the events of the games are not chronological, the entire series (except for Tierkreis and Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki ) takes place within the same world, among continuing and overlapping histories. In some cases, several characters appear in multiple installments. A spiritual successor to
7896-527: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),
8037-499: The 108 Stars are accidentally released from their place of confinement, and are reborn in the world as 108 heroes who band together for the cause of justice. They are divided into the 36 Heavenly Spirits and 72 Earthly Fiends. This outline of chapters is based on a 100 chapters edition. Yang Dingjian's 120 chapters edition includes other campaigns of the outlaws on behalf of Song dynasty, while Jin Shengtan 's 70 chapters edition omits
8178-444: The 108 outlaws. Song Jiang strongly advocates making peace with the government and seeking redress for the outlaws. After defeating the imperial army in a great battle at Liangshan Marsh, the outlaws eventually receive amnesty from Emperor Huizong . The emperor recruits them to form a military contingent and sends them on campaigns against invaders from the Liao dynasty and rebel forces led by Tian Hu , Wang Qing and Fang La within
8319-465: The 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered the language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of
8460-800: The First Fire Bringer War. Notably, the Scarlet Moon Empire originally formed after obtaining political autonomy from Harmonia and taking Harmonia's old capital as its own, renaming it Gregminister, resulting in Harmonia establishing a new capital at the Crystal Valley. Harmonia is also home to the Tower, a location reserved for training and housing members of the Howling Voice Guild. Other major areas on
8601-661: The Island Nations is the Southern Continent, a landmass composed primarily of three countries: the Queendom of Falena, and its neighbours, the theocracy of Nagarea in the southwest and the New Armes Kingdom in the southeast. As the setting for Suikoden V , Falena has a large network of rivers and lakes throughout the country and the Ashtwal Mountains in its northern region. Key locations include
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#17327802015408742-486: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,
8883-591: The Jowston City-States unite to form the Dunan Republic. The Tinto region lying in the west, separated from Dunan by mountains, chooses to remain politically independent and becomes the Tinto Republic. Sharing Dunan's western border and north of Tinto are the Grasslands, which stretch from the centre of the Northern Continent to a small portion of the continent's west coast. The area is composed of
9024-660: The Liangshan outlaws first appeared in Old incidents in the Xuanhe period of the great Song dynasty (大宋宣和遺事) and had been circulating since the Southern Song dynasty, while folk tales and opera related to Water Margin have already existed long before the novel itself came into existence. This theory suggests that Shi Nai'an gathered and compiled these pieces of information to write Water Margin . Some believe that Water Margin
9165-605: The Marsh or All Men Are Brothers , is a Chinese novel from the Ming dynasty that is one of the preeminent Classic Chinese Novels . Attributed to Shi Nai'an , Water Margin was one of the earliest Chinese novels written in vernacular Mandarin Chinese . The story, which is set in the Northern Song dynasty (around 1120), tells of how a group of 108 outlaws gathers at Mount Liang (or Liangshan Marsh) to rebel against
9306-403: The Northern Continent include the Kooluk region and Kanakan. The Kooluk region was originally the Kooluk Empire during the course of Suikoden IV and eventually dissolved in Suikoden Tactics to be left as a group of independent settlements. It takes up most of the southern edge of the Northern continent and directly borders the Toran Republic in the east and the Dunan Republic in the north. Off
9447-578: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently
9588-441: The RPG Frontier Gate, Konami developers revealed that the Suikoden development team has been disbanded with members scattered about teams within Konami and elsewhere. This led to speculation that the franchise had indeed been abandoned following disappointing sales of the latest entries in the series. Despite these rumours, Konami presented a trailer for a new Suikoden game on Tokyo Game Show 2011: Genso Suikoden: The Woven Web of
9729-437: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand
9870-415: The Scarlet Moon Empire, which is located on southeastern coast of the Northern Continent, and is composed primarily of the Toran region, with Lake Toran at its centre. Notable locations in this area include Gregminister, the empire's capital situated in Arlus, the Warrior's Village in the Lorimar region, and the Great Forest. At the end of Suikoden , the empire is replaced by the Toran Republic. Suikoden II
10011-459: The Song dynasty's domain. Although the former outlaws eventually emerge victorious against the rebels and Liao invaders, the campaigns also lead to the tragic dissolution of the 108 heroes. At least two-thirds of them die in battle while the surviving ones either return to the imperial capital to receive honours from the emperor and continue serving the Song government, or leave and spend the rest of their lives as commoners elsewhere. Song Jiang himself
10152-559: The Water Margin or Tsuzoku Suikoden goketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori , catapulted Kuniyoshi to fame. It also brought about a craze for multicoloured pictorial tattoos that covered the entire body from the neck to the mid-thigh. Following the great commercial success of the Kuniyoshi series, other ukiyo-e artists were commissioned to produce prints of the Water Margin heroes, which began to be shown as Japanese heroes rather than
10293-464: The West , all of which dramatized the "empathic emotional attraction between men who appreciate and play off against one another's complementary qualities." Licentious and treacherous women are another recurring theme. Modern critics have debated whether Water Margin is misogynistic . Most beautiful women in the novel are depicted as immoral and cruel, and they are often involved in schemes against
10434-634: The Yuan dynasty argued that Water Margin became popular during the Yuan as the common people (predominantly Han Chinese ) resented the Mongol rulers. The ambivalence persisted into later times, and the Chongzhen Emperor of the Ming dynasty , acting on the advice of his ministers, banned the book. The opening episode in the novel is the release of the 108 Spirits , imprisoned under an ancient stele-bearing tortoise . The next chapter describes
10575-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which
10716-471: The army at Huaiyang , (the Emperor) sent generals to attack and arrest them. (The outlaws) infringed on the east of the capital ( Kaifeng ), Henan , and entered the boundaries of Chu (referring to present-day Hubei and Hunan ) and Haizhou (covering parts of present-day Jiangsu ). The general Zhang Shuye was ordered to pacify them. Zhang Shuye's biography further describes the activities of Song Jiang and
10857-656: The aspect of nature the Rune governs, as well as immortality so long as they bear the Rune. Bearing a True Rune can also have negative consequences, as in the case of the bearer of the Moon Rune being transformed into a vampire. A True Rune can also take the shape of a physical object, as is the case with the Star Dragon Sword being a manifestation of the Night Rune. They can also incarnate themselves unattached from
10998-597: The author had witnessed that inspired him to write the book. The novel is considered one of the masterpieces of early vernacular fiction and Chinese literature . It has introduced readers to some of the best-known characters in Chinese literature, such as Wu Song , Lin Chong , Pan Jinlian , Song Jiang and Lu Zhishen . Water Margin also exerted a significant influence on the development of fiction elsewhere in East Asia, such as on Japanese literature. Water Margin
11139-427: The author of the novel The textual history of the novel is extraordinarily complex for there are early editions of varying lengths, different parts, and variations. The scholar Scott Gregory comments that the text could be freely altered by later editors and publishers who also could add prefaces or commentaries. Not until the early 20th-century were there studies which began to set these questions in order, and there
11280-450: The book's authorship is attributed to Shi Nai'an (1296–1372), there is an extensive academic debate on what historical events the author had witnessed that inspired him to write the book, which forms a wider debate on when the book was written. The first external reference of this book, which dated to 1524 during a discussion among Ming dynasty officials, is a reliable evidence because it presents strong falsifiability . Other scholars put
11421-471: The chapters on the outlaws' acceptance of amnesty and subsequent campaigns. The extended version includes the Liangshan heroes' expeditions against the rebel leaders Tian Hu and Wang Qing prior to the campaign against Fang La. Other stories are told such as the heroes fighting the Jurchen -ruled Jin dynasty or moving to Siam . Water Margin , praised as an early "masterpiece" of vernacular fiction ,
11562-707: The characters who later became associated with Song Jiang also appeared around this time. They include Sun Li , Yang Zhi , Lin Chong , Lu Zhishen and Wu Song . A palace memorial by Hou Meng, included in the History of Song , states: "Song Jiang and 36 others cross Qi and Wei (the central belt of the North China Plain) at will. Government troops number tens of thousands but no one dares oppose him. His abilities must be extraordinary. Since we also face plunders by Fang La and his outlaws from Qingxi, why not grant Song Jiang and his men amnesty and request them to lead
11703-581: The cities of Stormfist and Doraat in the west; Rainwall, Estrise, and Sable, located on the Armes border, in the east; Lelcar, Lordlake, and Sauronix in the south; and the Falenan capital, Sol-Falena, and the holy land of Lunas, governed by the Oracle, in the north. Falena has been protected from the militant theocracy Nagarea since the mountain pass between the nations was destroyed, though Armes continues to remain
11844-400: The classic PlayStation-era roleplaying series, including Yoshitaka Murayama, director and writer on the first two Suikoden games, and the creative team also includes Junko Kawano, the lead artist on Suikoden 1 and 4 ; Junichi Murakami, art director on Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow ; Suikoden Tactics director Osamu Komuta; and composers Motoi Sakuraba and Michiko Naruke. Murayama directed to
11985-499: The climactic showdown with the corrupted True Rune incarnation. The 27 True Runes are powerful sources of all magic and primal forces in the world of Suikoden. Wholly sentient and possessing their own will, the True Runes hold immeasurable power, and are the equivalents of gods in the Suikoden world. Many wars have been fought over them in the past, some instigated by the will of the runes themselves. True Runes are often sought by
12126-561: The continent, due north of the Grasslands and Zexen, is the Knightdom of Camaro and the surrounding Nameless Lands. The largest country in the north is the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia, located in the northeastern portion of the continent. Since its establishment, it has assimilated various neighbouring countries, such as Sanadia, as well as a portion of the Grasslands – the Kanaa clan of the Grasslands became Le Buque under Harmonian rule after
12267-535: The date to the mid-14th century, sometime between the fall of the Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty and the early Ming dynasty. Both the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty (1521–1568) and the closing years of the Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty (1360s) were marked by a chain of rebellions, which confused scholars a lot as to which of the two inspired the author, and hence when was the book written. The proponents of
12408-619: The eastern coast of Toran is the island of Kanakan. Lying directly south of the Northern Continent is the ocean and several islands, including Obel, Middleport, and Razril. At the end of Suikoden IV , most of these islands are unified to become the Island Nations Federation. The largest island in the area, the Dukedom of Gaien, remains independent. West of Gaien is the island nation of the Kingdom of Zelant. Due south of
12549-578: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there
12690-413: The end of Suikoden III' s development. Noritada Matsukawa took over as Senior Director of Suikoden III following Murayama's departure. Suikoden IV was directed by Matsukawa as well but was produced by Junko Kawano , who was the chief designer in Suikoden I . Suikoden V was directed by Takahiro Sakiyama, a relative newcomer to RPGs. In an interview conducted by Japanese website 4gamers.net regarding
12831-505: The establishment of the Southern Song regime in 1127. The fourth chapter covers the adventures of Song Jiang and his 36 companions, and their eventual defeat by Zhang Shuye. Versions of some of the stories and characters in Water Margin are clearly visible, including "Yang Zhi Sells His Precious Sabre", "Robbing the Convoy of Birthday Gifts", "Song Jiang Kills Yan Poxi", and "Fighting Fang La ". Song Jiang and his outlaws are said to operate in
12972-469: The final 30 chapters is often questioned, with some speculating that it was instead written by Luo Guanzhong, who may have been a student of Shi. Another theory, which first appeared in Gao Ru 's Baichuan Shuzhi (百川書志) during the Ming dynasty, suggests that the whole novel was written and compiled by Shi, and then edited by Luo. Shi drew from oral and written texts that had accumulated over time. Stories of
13113-538: The following chapters. Connections between characters are vague, but the individual stories are eventually pieced together by chapter 60 when Song Jiang succeeds Chao Gai as the leader of the band after the latter is killed in a battle against the Zeng Family Fortress. The plot further develops by illustrating the conflicts between the outlaws and the Song government after the Grand Assembly of
13254-485: The gaming community, though they have only been released in Japan as of 2007. A series of arranged soundtracks were released from late 2001–2004. Despite the first being released slightly before Suikoden III and the last at around the same time as Suikoden IV , the music was always taken from music in Suikoden , Suikoden II , Suikoden III , and (rarely) the Suikogaiden side-stories. Many publications, such as
13395-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had
13536-499: The government. Later they are granted amnesty and enlisted by the government to resist the nomadic conquest of the Liao dynasty and other rebels. While the book's authorship is traditionally attributed to Shi Nai'an (1296–1372), the first external reference to the novel only appeared in 1524 during the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty , sparking a long-lasting academic debate on when it was actually written and which historical events
13677-441: The hardest of all. There are five conditions that have to be met before you can succeed. First, you have to be as handsome as Pan An . Second, you need a tool as big as a donkey's. Third, you must be as rich as Deng Tong. Fourth, you must be as forbearing as a needle plying through cotton wool. Fifth, you've got to spend time. It can be done only if you meet these five requirements." "Frankly, I think I do. First, while I'm far from
13818-458: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system
13959-500: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of
14100-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,
14241-400: The late Southern Song dynasty and early Yuan era. Huang Lin'gen (黃霖根) pointed out that the name of one of the compilers of Anecdotes of Jingkang (靖康稗史) was Nai'an, and suggested that this "Nai'an", who lived during the Southern Song dynasty, was Shi Nai'an. He also felt that Shi wrote a simplified version of Water Margin , which is not the current edition. Another candidate is Shi Hui (施惠),
14382-482: The novel is mentioned in a "causal tone", with human flesh being eaten not just "in acts of revenge", but also "as a way of living". Noting that the outlaws celebrated in the novel were nevertheless widely regarded as "heroes and heroines" over centuries, educator William Sin states that one cannot divide "the meanings of [their] actions" from "the cultural background under which they [were] performed" and that it would be "hasty" to project concepts and values of today "onto
14523-447: The novel is notable for its gruesome and often gory and over-the-top depictions of violence. Some of the protagonists of the novel engage in "wanton killing, excessive retribution, and various forms of cannibalism ". When celebrating a victory, it is suggested they sometimes "share their enemies' flesh piece by piece, an action combining cannibalism with lingchi ", the slow slicing of somebody to death. This type of violent imagery in
14664-443: The novel. They flee to Liangshan Marsh after defeating a group of soldiers sent by the authorities to arrest them, and settle there as outlaws with Chao Gai as their chief. As the story progresses, more people come to join the outlaw band, including military personnel and civil officials who grew tired of serving the corrupt government, as well as men with special skills and talents. Stories of the outlaws are told in separate sections in
14805-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by
14946-594: The original Chinese personages. Among these later series was Yoshitoshi 's 1866–1867 series of 50 designs in Chuban size, which are darker than Kuniyoshi's and feature strange ghosts and monsters. A recent Japanese translation is 水滸伝 (Suikokuden) . Translated by Yoshikawa Kojiro; Shimizu Shigeru. Iwanami Shoten. 16 October 1998. The book was first translated into Thai in 1867, originally in Samud Thai (Thai paper book) format, consisting of 82 volumes in total. It
15087-551: The other outlaws, and tells they were eventually defeated by Zhang. Folk stories about Song Jiang circulated during the Southern Song . The first known source to name Song Jiang's 36 companions was Miscellaneous Observations from the Year of Guixin (癸辛雜識) by Zhou Mi, written in the 13th century. Among the 36 are Lu Junyi , Guan Sheng , Ruan Xiao'er , Ruan Xiaowu , Ruan Xiaoqi , Liu Tang , Hua Rong and Wu Yong . Some of
15228-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with
15369-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,
15510-399: The player takes control of a battle party having a maximum of six people (consisting of the protagonist and 5 other characters), Suikoden IV , however, reduces the party to four fighters and one support. The goal of the game is for the protagonist to defeat the opponents who are trying to oppose his/her team. This becomes possible as every game in the series revolves around the recruitment of
15651-460: The powerful and influential due to their shared property of granting immortality to those who will bear them. All bearers of True Runes stop aging and become immune to disease and all other natural causes of death, though they can still die from physical trauma such as accidents or murder. The True Runes often attach themselves to living beings. Doing so gives the True Rune holder great power over
15792-481: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as
15933-460: The protagonists. Among them is Pan Jinlian , the sister-in-law of Wu Song , who has later become an archetypal femme fatale and one of the most notorious villainesses of Chinese culture. On the other hand, the few "good" women in the story, like Sun Erniang and Gu Dasao , are not particularly noted for their beauty, or are even described as being plain or ugly. The leader of the outlaws, Song Jiang admonishes: "Any outlaw that meddles with women
16074-488: The reign of the Wanli Emperor (1573–1620) in the Ming dynasty. Yet other editions were published in the early Qing dynasty . The most widely read version is a truncated recension published by Jin Shengtan in 1643, reprinted many times, which became the standard text for later editions and most translations. Jin provided three introductions that praised the novel as a work of genius and inserted commentaries into
16215-419: The rise of Gao Qiu , one of the primary antagonists of the story. Gao abuses his status as a Grand Marshal by oppressing Wang Jin; Wang's father taught Gao a painful lesson when the latter was still a street-roaming ruffian. Wang Jin flees from the capital with his mother and by chance he meets Shi Jin , who becomes his apprentice. The next few chapters tell the story of Shi Jin's friend Lu Zhishen , followed by
16356-479: The same person. Hu Shih felt that the draft of Water Margin was done by Luo Guanzhong, and could have contained the chapters on the outlaws' campaigns against Tian Hu , Wang Qing and Fang La , but not invaders from the Liao dynasty . Another theory states that Luo Guanzhong was from the Southern Song period vice the Ming dynasty. Cheng Muheng (程穆衡) suggested in Notes on Water Margin (水滸傳注略) that Luo lived in
16497-626: The same person. An unnamed writer wrote in Chuanqi Huikao Biaomu (傳奇會考標目) that Shi Nai'an's given name was actually "Hui", courtesy name "Juncheng" (君承), and he was a native of Hangzhou . Sun Kaidi (孫楷第) also wrote in Bibliography of Chinese Popular Fiction that "Nai'an" was Shi Hui's pseudonym. Later studies revealed that Water Margin contained lines in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang variety of Chinese , and that You Gui Ji (幽闺记),
16638-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning
16779-433: The series is the turn-based battle wherein the 6-man team faces the opponents. However, it is not the sole form of battle featured in the games. There are 3 different types of battle present which recurs and have been accustomed to every game. They are: 'Basic Battle', 'One-on-one Duel' and 'Strategic War Battle'. The Suikoden series was created, written, produced, and overseen by Yoshitaka Murayama, who left Konami near
16920-417: The series titled Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was released on 23 April 2024. A high-definition remaster of the first two games under the title Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars is set for release on 6 March 2025. Japan North America PAL region Japan North America PAL region Japan North America PAL region In the Suikoden series,
17061-407: The situation of a distant culture" where they may not have applied. Since fiction was not at first a prestigious genre in the Chinese literary world, authorship of early novels was often not carefully attributed and may be unknowable. The authorship of Water Margin is still in some sense uncertain, and the text in any case derived from many sources and involved many editorial hands. While the novel
17202-733: The six clans: the Lizard, Duck, Karaya, Chisha, Safir, and the Alma Kinan. Directly west of the Grasslands and bordered in the east by Tinto is the Zexen Confederacy, located on the west coast of the Northern Continent and historically an offshoot of the Grasslands. Important locations include the Zexen capital Vinay del Zexay and Budehuc Castle, which lies close to the Grasslands border in northwest Zexen. The primary conflict of Suikoden III occurs in these areas. The northwestern portion of
17343-470: The sky. Fragments of "Shield" fell and became the earth. Sparks from the battle became the stars. The 27 jewels that adorned "Sword" and "Shield" became the "27 True Runes," and the World went into motion. Known True Runes A concept borrowed from the Chinese novel Shui Hu Zhuan , each Suikoden game has featured 108 characters who band together to ward off a threat. In each main Suikoden game (excluding
17484-817: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this
17625-517: The story of Lu's sworn brother Lin Chong . Lin Chong is framed by Gao Qiu for attempting to assassinate him, and almost dies in a fire at a supply depot set by Gao's henchmen. He slays his foes and abandons the depot, eventually making his way to Liangshan Marsh, where he becomes an outlaw. Meanwhile, the "Original Seven", led by Chao Gai , rob a convoy of birthday gifts for the Imperial Tutor Cai Jing , another primary antagonist in
17766-481: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This
17907-411: The text that explained how to read the novel. He cut matter that he thought irrelevant, reduced the number of chapters to 70 by turning chapter 1 into a prologue, and added an ending in which all 108 heroes are executed. The various editions can be classified into simplified and complex. The simplified editions, edited for less sophisticated audiences, can contain all the events but in less detail. There
18048-634: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Water Margin Water Margin , also called Outlaws of
18189-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,
18330-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of
18471-480: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It
18612-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending
18753-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or
18894-530: The writing styles of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin to write Guochao Yinglie Ji (國朝英烈記). Qian Xiyan (錢希言) also stated in Xi Gu (戲嘏) that Guo edited Water Margin before. Hu Shih countered in his Research on Water Margin (水滸傳新考) that Guo Xun's name was used as a disguise for the real author of Water Margin . Dai Bufan (戴不凡) had a differing view, as he suspected that Guo wrote Water Margin , and then used "Shi Nai'an" to conceal his identity as
19035-539: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular
19176-680: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,
19317-474: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )
19458-526: Was the author of Water Margin . During the early Republican era , Lu Xun and Yu Pingbo suggested that the simplified edition of Water Margin was written by Luo, while the traditional version was by Shi Nai'an. However, Huikang Yesou (惠康野叟) in Shi Yu (識餘) disagree with Wang Daokun's view on the grounds that there were significant differences between Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms , therefore these two novels could not have been written by
19599-415: Was traditionally attributed to Shi Nai'an , of whose life nothing is reliably known, recent scholars think that the novel, or portions of it, may have been written or revised by Luo Guanzhong (the author of Romance of the Three Kingdoms ). Other contenders include Shi Hui (施惠) and Guo Xun (郭勛). Many scholars believe that the first 70 chapters were indeed written by Shi Nai'an; however the authorship of
19740-537: Was translated into Manchu as Möllendorff : Sui hū bithe. Japanese translations date back to at least 1757, when the first volume of an early Suikoden ( Water Margin rendered in Japanese) was printed. Other early adaptations include Takebe Ayakari 's 1773 Japanese Water Margin ( Honcho suikoden ), the 1783 Women's Water Margin ( Onna suikoden ), and Santō Kyōden 's 1801 Chushingura Water Margin ( Chushingura suikoden ). In 1805, Kyokutei Bakin released
19881-584: Was written entirely by Luo Guanzhong. Wang Daokun (汪道昆), who lived during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor in the Ming dynasty , first mentioned in Classification of Water Margin (水滸傳敘) that: "someone with the family name Luo, who was a native of Wuyue (Yue (a reference to the southern China region covering Zhejiang ), wrote the 100-chapter novel." Several scholars from the Ming and Qing dynasties, after Wang Daokun's time, also said that Luo
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