Katachi versus Form — from the Viewpoint of Language

Yanabu, Akira

doi:10.1007/978-4-431-68407-7_9

Akira Yanabu⁶

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Abstract

KATACHI in Japanese is usually thought to be equivalent to ‘form’ in English, and they are used for translating each other. Their meanings are however contrastive each other looking at from some viewpoint. While form has meant the human outer shape, KATACHI has originally meant the human outer shape and the inner sense too. This offers the key to understanding the conflicting characteristics of Western culture with Japanese culture. For instance, script written in Japanese have been usually regarded as the expression of the inner spirit of the writers. Even in the traditional sciences, Japanese have given weight to the expression of the human inner spirit.

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Authors and Affiliations

St. Andrew’s University, 1-1 Manabino Izumi-City, Osaka 590-02, Japan
Akira Yanabu

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Akira Yanabu
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Editors and Affiliations

Institute of Applied Physics, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Ten-nodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan
Tohru Ogawa (Professor) (Professor)
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Structural Morphology Research, University of Tokyo and Professor Emeritus, 3-9-7 Tsurukawa, Machida, Tokyo 195, Japan
Koryo Miura (Professor Emeritus) (Professor Emeritus)
Institute of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Ten-nodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan
Takashi Masunari (Professor) (Professor)
Institute of Applied Physics, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Ten-nodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan
Dénes Nagy (Professor, Director) (Professor, Director)
Symmetrion-The Institute for Advanced Symmetry Studies, P.O. Box 4, Budapest, H-1361, Hungary
Dénes Nagy (Professor, Director) (Professor, Director)

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Yanabu, A. (1996). Katachi versus Form — from the Viewpoint of Language. In: Ogawa, T., Miura, K., Masunari, T., Nagy, D. (eds) Katachi ∪ Symmetry. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-68407-7_9

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-68407-7_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo
Print ISBN: 978-4-431-68409-1
Online ISBN: 978-4-431-68407-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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