992 regan murphy
that the study of non-Buddhist texts could in fact be a Buddhist
practice.
The study of Siddham was critical to Keichū’s innovative approach
to the research of ancient Japanese. Prior to Keichū, Japanese textual
study was conducted within elite circles in which secret knowledge
was transmitted from master to disciple. These earlier scholars relied
on a system of phonetic transcription (Teika kanazukai
) handed down by the Kamakura-period (1185–1333) poet Fuji-
wara no Teika (1162–1241), which sought to make sense of
Heian-period phonetic transcription.^29
Based on his evidential approach to the study of ancient Japanese
texts, Keichū noted a discrepancy between the historical use of the pho-
netic script and the Teika system. He introduced a fifty-sounds chart
based on Siddham versions but intended for the study of Japanese, and
showed that it provided a superior method for differentiating between
similar sounds than the traditional arrangement of the syllabary in the
iroha poem. Problem sounds in the Teika system, such as the differ-
ence between “e” and “we” and “i” and “wi,” whose pronunciation had
merged early on, became immediately clear when arranged in the fifty-
sounds chart. Further, Keichū employed categories used in the study
of Sanskrit phonetics in his study of Japanese, including the division
of sounds into three types: guttural, lingual, and labial.^30
The shift away from the iroha poem to the fifty-sounds chart sparked
new questions about a rational order behind the ancient Japanese lan-
guage. No longer did the secret teachings of elite lineages hold sway.
Scholars from an emerging middle class employed the fifty-sounds
(^29) The poetry of the tenth and early eleventh century, which tended to be recorded
in the phonetic script, became a model for later poetry. Because some sounds had
merged, from the end of the Insei period onward the people of Kyōto could no longer
spell in the Heian court style according to their contemporary pronunciation. The
origins of the study of the ancient use of the script or kanazukai are found in the
efforts to overcome this obstacle. The first record of this kind of study is Fujiwara
no Teika’s Gekanshū ; and especially after its systemization in the Kamakura
period by poet and linguist Gyōa (n.d.), Teika’s system of kana usage became the
chief authority for poetic compositions and interpretation of ancient texts in medieval
poetic studies. The medieval study of ancient literature, which was passed from master
to disciple, relied on the Teika system. 30
This explanation was called sannaisetsu. Keichū also benefited from the emerging
study of the Inkyō, a compilation of charts imported from China, which became part
of a popular interest in divining auspicious names. The Inkyō introduced a division of
sounds into five (rather than three) types. For more information, see Kuginuki 2007.