Rajōmon ( 羅城門 ) , also called Rashōmon ( 羅生門 ) , was the gate built at the southern end of the monumental Suzaku Avenue in the ancient Japanese cities of Heijō-kyō ( Nara ) and Heian-kyō ( Kyoto ), in accordance with the Chinese grid-patterned city layout. At the other far north-end of Suzaku Avenue, one would reach the Suzakumon Gate , the main entrance to the palace zone. As of 2007, the southern end of Suzaku Avenue and the possible remainder of the equivalent gate in Fujiwara-kyō ( Kashihara ) are yet to be discovered.
15-477: The gate's name in modern Japanese is Rajōmon . Rajō (羅城) refers to city walls and mon (門) means "gate," so Rajōmon signifies the main city gate. Originally, this gate was known as Raseimon or Raiseimon , using alternate readings for the kanji in the name. The name Rashōmon , using the kanji 羅生門 (which can also be read Raseimon ), was popularized by a noh play Rashōmon (c.1420) written by Kanze Nobumitsu (1435–1516). The modern name, Rajōmon , uses
30-504: A higher register than words of Old English origin, and they are considered by some to be more posh, elaborate, sophisticated, or pretentious. However, there are exceptions: weep , groom and stone (from Old English) occupy a slightly higher register than cry , brush and rock (from French). Words taken directly from Latin and Ancient Greek are generally perceived as colder, more technical, and more medical or scientific – compare life (Old English) with biology ( classical compound –
45-461: A non- kan-on reading in a word where the kan-on reading is well known is a common cause of reading mistakes or difficulty, such as in ge-doku ( 解毒 , detoxification, anti-poison) ( go-on ), where 解 is usually instead read as kai . The go-on readings are especially common in Buddhist terminology such as gokuraku ( 極楽 , paradise) , as well as in some of the earliest loans, such as
60-408: A reputation as a hideout for thieves and other disreputable characters. People would abandon corpses and unwanted babies at the gate. The ruined gate is the central setting — and provides the title — for Ryūnosuke Akutagawa 's short story " Rashōmon " and hence for Akira Kurosawa 's 1950 film . Akutagawa's use of the gate was deliberately symbolic, with the gate's ruined state representing
75-535: Is reflected in the carryover to Japanese as well. Additionally, many Chinese syllables, especially those with an entering tone , did not fit the largely consonant-vowel (CV) phonotactics of classical Japanese. Thus most on'yomi are composed of two morae (beats), the second of which is either a lengthening of the vowel in the first mora (to ei , ō , or ū ), the vowel i , or one of the syllables ku , ki , tsu , chi , fu (historically, later merged into ō and ū ), or moraic n , chosen for their approximation to
90-645: The English borrowings from Latin, Greek, and Norman French , since Chinese-borrowed terms are often more specialized, or considered to sound more erudite or formal, than their native counterparts (occupying a higher linguistic register ). The major exception to this rule is family names , in which the native kun'yomi are usually used (though on'yomi are found in many personal names, especially men's names). Kanji invented in Japan ( kokuji ) would not normally be expected to have on'yomi , but there are exceptions, such as
105-613: The Sino-Japanese reading, is the reading of a kanji based on the historical Chinese pronunciation of the character. A single kanji might have multiple on'yomi pronunciations, reflecting the Chinese pronunciations of different periods or regions. On'yomi pronunciations are generally classified into go-on , kan-on , tō-on and kan'yō-on , roughly based on when they were borrowed from China. Generally, on'yomi pronunciations are used for technical, compound words, while
120-518: The Heian-period temple Tō-ji . This stretch of Kujō is designated Route 171 , and is just west of Route 1 . A wooden sign written in Japanese and English explains the history and significance of the gate. The site is behind a nondescript shop on Kujō street, and sits directly next to a small playground. Though a nearby bus stop is named Rajōmon, those unfamiliar with the area are likely to miss
135-866: The Rashōmon site. The Rajōmon in Nara stood about 4 km south of the Suzakumon of Heijō Palace . Their foundation stones were found in the excavations conducted between 1969 and 1972. From the remaining foundations, the width of the gate is estimated to have been 41.5 m. Some of the foundation stones were reused in the 16th century by Toyotomi Hidenaga , who was expanding his castle in Kōriyama . 34°58′45.70″N 135°44′33.40″E / 34.9793611°N 135.7426111°E / 34.9793611; 135.7426111 On%27yomi On'yomi ( 音読み , [oɰ̃jomi] , lit. "sound(-based) reading") , or
150-739: The Sino-Japanese numbers. The tō-on readings occur in some later words, such as isu ( 椅子 , chair) , futon ( 布団 , mattress) , and andon ( 行灯 , a kind of paper lantern) . The go-on , kan-on , and tō-on readings are generally cognate (with rare exceptions of homographs; see below), having a common origin in Old Chinese , and hence form linguistic doublets or triplets, but they can differ significantly from each other and from modern Chinese pronunciation. List of English words with dual French and Anglo-Saxon variations Generally, words coming from French often retain
165-592: The character 働 "to work", which has the kun'yomi " hatara(ku) " and the on'yomi " dō ", and 腺 "gland", which has only the on'yomi " sen "—in both cases these come from the on'yomi of the phonetic component, respectively 動 " dō " and 泉 " sen ". In Chinese, most characters are associated with a single Chinese sound, though there are distinct literary and colloquial readings . However, some homographs ( 多音字 ) such as 行 (Mandarin: háng or xíng , Japanese: an, gō, gyō ) have more than one reading in Chinese representing different meanings, which
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#1732779498946180-426: The final consonants of Middle Chinese. It may be that palatalized consonants before vowels other than i developed in Japanese as a result of Chinese borrowings, as they are virtually unknown in words of native Japanese origin, but are common in Chinese. Generally, on'yomi are classified into four types according to their region and time of origin: The most common form of readings is the kan-on one, and use of
195-406: The moral and physical decay of Japanese civilization and culture. According to one legend, it was inhabited by the demon Ibaraki Dōji . Today, not a foundation stone of the gate remains. A stone pillar marks the place where it once stood, just northeast of the intersection of Kujō street and Senbon Street or Senbon Avenue ( 千本通 , Senbon Dōri ) (formerly Suzaku street), a short walk west from
210-407: The native kun'yomi pronunciation is used for singular, simpler words. On'yomi primarily occur in multi-kanji compound words ( 熟語 , jukugo ) , many of which are the result of the adoption, along with the kanji themselves, of Chinese words for concepts that either did not exist in Japanese or could not be articulated as elegantly using native words. This borrowing process is often compared to
225-566: The original kanji (羅城門 rather than 羅生門) and employs the more common reading for the second character ( jō instead of sei ). The Rashōmon in Kyoto was the grander of the two city gates built during the Heian period (794–1185). Built in 789, it was 106 feet (32 m) wide by 26 feet (7.9 m) high, with a 75-foot (23 m) stone wall and topped by a ridge-pole. By the 12th century it had fallen into disrepair and had become an unsavory place, with
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