第 課
Of the various kinds of words that exist in Japanese, demonstratives, colloquially referred to as こそあど, are no exception to how words fall out of use and become reinvented over time. In Modern Japanese, the overwhelming majority of these phrases can be neatly referred to as a proximal (
Though these terms may be rather technical, as an advanced Japanese learner, you should have a fairly strong understanding of when to distinguish the various sets of demonstratives and how they relate to place, people, and time depending on the situation. Think of, for instance, how こちら can refer to oneself, someone in one’s in-group, or quite literally “this direction (which is closest to the speaker), and all of this is made possible by the phrase’s inherent directionality.
Even into the present day, however, other demonstratives which never quite expanded into the same array of expressions persist, although they are always parallel to a corresponding directionality.
To get things started, let’s look at how the basic demonstratives of Japanese would have been listed just a century ago.
Curriculum Note: This lesson will later be moved into a more advanced division of IMABI planned for launch in 2023.
| | | | | |
| Thing | これ・この | それ・その | あれ・あのかれ・かの | いづれ どれ |
| Place | ここ | そこ | あそこ／あすこ・かしこ かなた | いづこ・いづく どこ |
| Direction | こなた こち | そなた そち | あなた・かなた あち | いづかた＞どなた いづち＞どち |
Adjectival Forms: Forms ending in の are understood to be adjectival renditions of the base demonstrative in question.
Most of these words will be familiar, but stark differences accumulate in the columns to the right. Our first goal will be to investigate the differences that can be taken from this chart, then we’ll direct our attention to lesser prevalent demonstratives.
The /ka/ Group of Demonstratives
Intrinsically, the /ka/ group of demonstratives have been quite synonymous with each other throughout Japanese history. It is only within the last century that
かれ・かの
In ancient times, かれ was the antonym of これ and is most likely an offshoot of it. In the Heian Period, あ（れ） began to appear, and for centuries, the two coexisted. かれ・かの could refer to things, people, direction, time, etc.
1.
Possible Readings: かはたそどき・かはたれどき・あれはたそどき・あれはたれどき・たそがれどき
Time when (it’s so dark that you can’t tell) who is who = dusk/twilight
Etymology Note: This word is where the modern word たそがれ comes from. Upon entering early Modern Japanese, /so/-demonstratives overtook the /a/ and /ka/ group from referring to people that are medially distant from the speaker.
2.
Because I asked the person, “who are you?” but had no way of getting an answer, I sent your messenger home.
From the
Entering into early modern times, かれ・かの would be used when the speaker wished to secretly refer to an entity both known by the speaker and listener but didn’t want to outright state it.
3. かのとは
Who is you-know-who?
At this point, かの could be seen fossilized in this sense and didn’t need to be followed with a noun like
4. そりゃあそうと、かのに
That’s right, of course it’d be that person!
Nowadays, かの is still occasionally used to refer to something/someone in a rather distant fashion, but it is far more literary in tone than あの. On the other hand,
5. かの
A certain person puts it this way.
6. あの
That person went off to that nameless, far off place.
Incidentally, か can be still be seen in set phrases as a demonstrative. In fact, they beautifully demonstrate how it could refer to things in the broadest sense possible.
| Something or other | |
| | Anyone and everyone |
| | Anything and everything |
| どこもかも | Anywhere and everywhere |
7.
Everyone knows that it costs money doing this and that, making it far from “free.”
8.
Anything and everything sounds like a lie.
かなた
The demonstrative かなた is synonymous with あちら, but the difference is that かなた makes the direction/place being referenced seem distant in a temporal sense as well, or at the very least, something that is so far away that it could never be seen from one’s viewpoint. In modern speech, it has a very poetic, literary tone.
9.
Let’s head for the land far beyond the mountain(s).
10.
Beyond oblivion
こなた & そなた & あなた
In their basic understanding, these three words related to direction, but when they were ever used to refer to people, things got a little convoluted.
| | Meanings | |
| こなた | ①This direction/this way/here※Replaced by こちら ②㋐Since (a time in the recent past before now) ②㋑Prior to (a time in the near future from now) ※Replaced by このかた.③Third person “this person here”④First person “I” ※Replaced by こちら.⑤Second person “You” (archaic casual) ※Replaced by あなた. | |
| そなた | 其方 | ①That direction/place (away from the speaker)②You (toward an inferior※) |
| あなた | | ①Over there (far away) ※Replaced by あちら・あの ②Distant past ※Replaced by あれ ※あのかた④Second person “You”※ |
| どなた いづかた | | ①Which direction?(formal) ※Replaced by どちら・どの ②Which one? (formal) ③Who? (formal) |
※そなた was the second person pronoun of choice by lords to their retainers or by any superior to their inferior. It could be made plural as そなたら or そなたたち, the latter, which can occasionally be heard it purposely old-fashioned speech.
※In Modern Japanese, あなた has two distinct usages. It may be the second person pronoun used towards equals or those below you, often in a familial or polite tone. Or, it is used by someone to refer to their husband. To reflect the sex of the person being referred to, the Kanji spellings
※This meaning was inherited from its older form いづかた, which possessed all three meanings.
The minority of meanings that have not been lost to history in modern speech are seldom used, so the examples below heavily incorporate Classical Japanese to demonstrate how they were once used. Any other archaism found in these texts can be postponed for future study.
11.
12.
In this time while I’m still alive…
From the
13. やあ、こなたは
Why, who might you be?
14.「さなむ。」と、あなたにも
When Genji had told her “that being so,” she was quite happy and felt that what she had hoped for had come about…
From the
15. この
Since I sense someone over there past this screen to the north, I wonder if this is where the woman I was speaking of earlier is hiding?
From the
16.
The girl’s face reddened oh-so slightly as she gazed there.
17. いつかそなたの
Eventually, there might be something that resides in your heart that will get through to us.
18. いづかたへもしのばせ
Go hide anyway.
From the
19. あの
Who is that person.
こち・そち・あち
These word forms are the predecessors to こっち, そっち, and あっち respectively. Even today, these old forms are highly recognized. You will hear them when people attempt to sound old-fashioned, history dramas, and other similar situations.
| | Meanings | |
| こち | | ①This way/direction.②First person plural “we” |
| そち | 其方 | ①That way/direction.②You (toward an inferior) |
| あち | | ①That way/direction (far away) |
20. こちやと
When (she) said “get over here,” she sat down.
From the
21. こちも
I don’t know either.
22.
Prepare the meal there.
23. そちが
Since you have returned, Sir Komaro has been so pleased.
From
24. あちへ
I’ve circled over there and over here.
あすこ・かしこ
In many dialects of Japanese, あそこ is still alternatively pronounced あすこ or even as あしこ. What might be more of a surprise is the existence of かしこ. Written in Kanji as
25. どこもかしこも
Anywhere and everywhere is full.
26. あすこにも
You can see Mt. Fuji from over there as well.
いずれ
いずれ lives on despite being どれ’s predecessor with the following meanings.
| ① | Which (formal) ※Usually used with the particle も to mean “whichever.” |
| ② | Eventually (pretty soon/in the near future) |
27. いずれにせよ、
Eventually, our Sun will also face its stage of decline and death.
28. いずれも
Either is the correct answer.
いづこ・いづく
These word forms are the variants of the predecessor to どこ.
29. いづこにとまるべきにか。
Where should I stay?
From the
30. いづくか
Where would the king’s land not be?
斯（か）く
かく is the predecessor to こう. When a medial /k/ was dropped out of a word in older stages of Japanese, the resulting diphthong /au/ would necessarily contract to /o:/, as it still does in dialectal speech.
31. かくも
I am so very grateful that so many of you have gathered.
32. かくなる
Now that it has come to this, it cannot be helped.
33. かく
Even for myself, if I don’t say so, is a favorite.
Nuance Note: Although it would seem that かく
In even older speech, it even had the form かくて. In modern speech, this would be replaced by こうして.
34. かくて
Looking at how the sky is so bright like this, it doesn’t appear any different than how it did yesterday, though.
From the
History Note: In ancient Japanese, かく was the antonym of か from earlier as the word こ was used to make nominal phrases rather than adverbial phrases like かく.
The word form
35. しばし
After deliberating for a while then writing it, the content came out as such.
36. かように
My, this is the first time I’ve known that there we so many samurai innocent like this who are jacks of all trades!
From 『
37. かような
How could I possibly utter a word in gest about such a serious matter as this?
From 『
然
The adverb そう comes from
38. さも
(He) happily downed that cocktail.
39. ただ、さほど
However, since it isn’t that much of a concern, it may also be fine to view it as (a way of) emphasizing it.
40. さもないと
If not, the world might come to an end.
さもないと
さもないと, despite containing an archaism, is fairly common in heated exchanges. Word for word, it contains さ, the predecessor of the Kosoado そう meaning “like that,” the particle も which emphasizes the adverb, and ない, which is used instead of しない to give a more literal interpretation of “if things don’t go down like this,” the next situation that follows will be bad.
さもないと is used to give a stern warning. In fact, a sentence in the imperative (
さもないと in a literal sense means “if you do not do so”, or more simply put, “or (else)/otherwise”. It may also be seen as さもなければ and さもなくば, with the latter being its traditional rendition that is often used to mimic samurai talk. The difference between using the particle と or the particle ば is negligible as it is the difference between “if you do this mistake, Y consequence will happen” and “when you make this mistake, Y consequence will happen.”
41. そこをどけ！さもないと
Get out of the way! If you don’t, you’ll suffer for it!
42.
Get out. If you don’t, I’ll call the police!
43. そうせよ！さもなくば
Do it! If not you will surely lose your life.
44.
Save up water. Or else, if a drought were to occur, you could dehydrate and end up near to your death.
45a. ７
45b. 7
45c. 7
Leave (the house) by 7:30. Or else, you’ll be late to your train.
Speech Register Note: As the command ending ～なさい is not as coarse as the plain imperative, using さもなければ isn’t entirely wrong to use in the ます
In even older language, さもなくば can be seen used more like それとも to be a more literal translation of “or, if not X, then Y.”
46. お
Will you have tea? If not, how about coffee?
It should come as no surprise that
47. はい、さようでございます。
Yes, that is so.
48. さよう、あれは
Indeed, I will admit that that was a mistake.
然
49. ご
My husband/master is my everything, and what’s more, I owe my life to him.
50. あれだけ
I studied all that much and yet couldn’t pass.
51. しかも
Moreover, the man is a one-eyed, lame disabled person.
From 『
と
Another demonstrative from Old Japanese that has survived in Modern Japanese in set phrases is と, which functioned like そ. It is found mostly in とにかく and its variants. The variants, though, come about via the particle も. In either case, it is noteworthy how the farthest to closest ordering has been maintained in Japanese since its earlier stages.
とにかく translates as “anyway,” setting aside matter(s) to switch topics to what is really at hand. Its emphasized/intensified form is とにかくにも. No change of meaning occurs, but the tone will be more serious with the addition of も.
ともかく（も）, with the inclusion of the second も not as common but more emphatic nonetheless, this phrase is most synonymous to とにかく with the only nuance difference being that what is put aside will likely remain unresolved, which is not necessarily meant with とにかく. It is often seen in Xはともかく（として）, in which it translates as “apart from…,” in which case it is not interchangeable with とにかく.
52. とにもかくにも、
At any rate, dying is awful. I want to live forever.
53.
Putting aside smell or flavor, it is nutritious, so it’s best to eat it.
54.
Putting aside whether I’ll be working in Japan in the future, I want to try living in Japan first even if it’s for a small period of time.
ともあれ, meaning “anyhow/in any case,” is also a great example of this old demonstrative. The あれ is not another demonstrative but actually the
55. ともあれかくて
Anyhow, the Echigo Forces on expedition went into Kasugayama Castle for the time being as such.
From 『
56.
No matter what happened, I’m glad that you’re safe.
Variant Note: ともあれかくもあれ, also seen as とまれかくまれ or even とまれこうまれ, are its emphatic forms, although they are exceptionally rare to find in modern speech.