![[No-sword]](http://no-sword.jp/images/site/no-sword_banner.jpg)
Shi vs yottsu
So we all know that Japanese has two separate number systems, one native and one borrowed from China. Here's a 1907 letter from Natsume Sōseki 夏目漱石 to Shibukawa Genji 渋川玄耳, editor of the Asahi Shinbun, the newspaper serializing Sōseki's novel Gubijinsō 虞美人草 ("The Poppy"), about a sort of "minimal pair" across these two systems. I found this letter quoted in Natsume Sōseki to kindai Nihongo 夏目漱石と近代日本語 ["Natsume Sōseki and Modern Japanese"] by Tajima Masaru 田島優.
Sir,
Regarding the corrections to The Poppy: I am most grateful for the fact that a large number of my errors were amended thanks to the attentions of your proofreaders, but some of their changes to the manuscript have laid me quite open to complaints from my readers. The change of Yogawa to Yokogawa [横川] is one example. Now, when you balance that sort of thing against my own errors that were fixed, it would really be me who came out on top, so I do not usually mind. However, what I found in today's installment is rather problematic and so I take the liberty of bringing it to your attention.
In chapter 10, part 3, there is a line that reads "Mō akete yottsu ni narimasu" [もう明けて四ツヽになります, "He's [twenty-]four this year"]. This is problematic. As an abbreviation for thirty-four, twenty-four, four-four and so on, in Tokyo we do say "He turned shi [four]", but we never say "He turned yotsu [four]". Using yotsu makes it sound like Fujio is a baby. I am sure that I quite clearly indicated that this 四 was to be read shi, but it was changed to yotsu in both places. It is most vexing. [...]
In other words, in Sōseki's dialect (or, as he puts it, "in Tokyo"), it is acceptable to abbreviate an age like "twenty-four" to just the units position, saying the equivalent of "four" instead because the "twenty" is already understood — but to say that "four," you have to use the Sino-Japanese word. If you use the native Japanese word yottsu instead, it cannot be interpreted as an abbreviation: it means "four," and the hero of your novel turns into a toddler.
(I'm not sure whether there actually were dialects that worked differently, or whether Sōseki is just putting it that way to politely point out that the proofreader hadn't been reading carefully enough.)
Interestingly, it's my impression that in contemporary Japanese "-four" in ages is generally yon rather than shi (except in special cases like nijūshi, -go, "twenty-four or -five"). But the distinction vs yottsu remains the same.
Carl:
OK, if there's anyone out there with a time machine, please go back to the Meiji/Taisho whatever and have them fix the damn days of the month. In return, go ahead and keep the cool old month names. The old month names were fun! Who doesn't love a month without gods? And remembering irregular month names isn't so bad, because there's only twelve of them. But seriously, remembering all the irregular day of the month names is a pain in the ass. Why do I need to hold my breath and think before saying if something happens on the fourth or the eighth!? Fix it!