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Starting to read classic literary texts, mainly in Aozora Bunko, I am encountering symbols like ／″＼, ／＼, ――, ○○ (above a word) or ```````` (above a word), which I don't know what they mean.

For example, in this work by Kasai Zenzō (葛西善藏)

https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000984/files/1097_22274.html

it can immediately be seen the repeated use of ／″＼,／＼and ――.

ありがたくしみ／″＼と眺めやつた

此の朝つく／″＼と身に沁みて考へられた

僕にはもと／＼掠奪りやくだつの心はないんだ

一応――三四日しておせいはまた下宿に逃げて来たのだ――で彼女の言ひ分も確めたいと思ひ

In the same work, we can find this sentence

下宿の女中さんなどは無論寝てゐたんだが、電話に出て、読売からだと取次いでくれた。

in which, the word 読売 has a ○ above each kanji, that is, a ○ above 読 and another ○ above 売 .

On the other hand, for example, in the work Botchan (坊っちゃん) by Natsume Sōseki (夏目漱石)

https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000148/files/752_14964.html

in this sentence

おくれんかな、もしは生温るい言葉だ。

each of the kana in おくれんかな、もし has a ` above.

My question is: what do all these symbols mean? Are they something common in the Japanese language used in most classic literary texts (and therefore, if I read these texts through a physical format, printed in a book, I will also find them) or do they only appear in Aozora Bunko texts for any particular reason?

If these symbols (and other ones that may be and I don't know them) are known in Japanese under a certain name, I would also like to know it, so that I can read more about the matter.

Thanks a lot in advance for your help!

Rick
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    Related or dup Transcribing iteration marks: kunojiten , くの字点 – sundowner Oct 15 '23 at 00:53
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    Also What does「ゝ」mean? and Use of kana iteration marks (ゝ, ゞ, ヽ, ヾ) and Is it possible to use 々 and co (ヽ、ゝ、...) even if the shortened part is from another word? – sundowner Oct 15 '23 at 00:54
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    For the circle, https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9C%8F%E7%82%B9 – sundowner Oct 15 '23 at 01:15
  • Thank you very much for the links. They were very helpful to read more about the matter. – Rick Oct 15 '23 at 11:00
  • About the circles (marks of emphasis), I could understand in the Wikipedia page you linked that they, in effect, add emphasis to a kana or kanji, and that there are several types: 黒ゴマ and 白ゴマ for vertical writing, ビュレット／白ビュレット or 黒丸／白丸 for horizontal writing, and 三角 (white)／黒三角 (black), 二重丸 and 蛇の目 I suppose for both vertical and horizontal (I'm not sure). – Rick Oct 15 '23 at 11:00
  • However, I can't reach to understand well the difference between using a black or a white symbol and between the usage of ゴマ (vertical)／ビュレット・丸 (horizontal), 三角 (both vertical and horizontal), 二重丸 (both vertical and horizontal) and 蛇の目 (both vertical and horizontal). – Rick Oct 15 '23 at 11:00
  • Let's say as an example I'm writing in horizontal. Then, I cannot use 黒ゴマ and 白ゴマ because they are for vertical, but which would be the difference between ビュレット／白ビュレット, 黒丸／白丸, 三角 (white)／黒三角 (black), 二重丸 and 蛇の目? And what about ` (above a kana) used also in horizontal (as in the example sentence from Botchan), which is different from 黒ゴマ and 白ゴマ used in vertical? – Rick Oct 15 '23 at 11:00
  • The wikipedia says 黒丸の圏点と白丸の圏点の用途を区別する場合は、黒丸は誤った文字、白丸は正しい文字につけて区別する用例が正誤表で見つけることが可能である。, but I don't think there is real difference. Just depends on typesetter's preference. – sundowner Oct 16 '23 at 05:31

1 Answers1

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These long bars indicate that the previous "word" gets repeated. ("word" isn't really the right word). so しみ／″＼ is　しみじみ and つく／″＼ is つくづく.

／＼ is just like ／″＼ except without voicing. So もと／＼ is just もともと.

This is similar to the use of 々 in 生々. But 々 is used with kanji and ／＼ is used with kana.

"` above" acts like emphasis

It looks like ○ is also providing emphasis of sort.

These are not unusual to encounter in older texts. In a more recent text, I feel they give the text an old fashioned feel. But notice also that the spelling (the use of kana) does not follow modern standard. やうな for more contemporary ような. The use of ゐ in ゐる. And いふ, 云つた, and 云はれた--for いう, いった, and 言われた respectively--which I don't see much in more contemporary works. So altogether, this looks fairly reasonable for something published in the periods from Meiji period through early Showa.

A.Ellett
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  • Thank you very much for your answer! It helped me a lot to understand completely the usage of ／＼ and ／″＼. :) – Rick Oct 15 '23 at 10:59
  • About ――, would it be also related with ／＼ and ／″＼ or it has a different use? It seems different from the just one ― used to extend the sound of a vowel. And regarding ` (above a kana) and ○ (above a kana), what kind of emphasis would they give? Would it be the Japanese equivalent of writing whole words in English in capital letters or highlighted in bold, and you can use it more or less freely in informal contexts? Or would its use be different one from another and restricted to a certain case? – Rick Oct 15 '23 at 10:59
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    The double ―― just looks like an em-dash to me, connecting phrases. – A.Ellett Oct 15 '23 at 14:27
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    Emphasis is emphasis. Even in English there is no rule about how and when to emphasize words or phrases in a particular way. It's just the author drawing attention to a particular word. Trying to draw a correspondence between how emphasis is shown in Japan and English is the wrong approach. Moreover, Japanese can use katakana instead of hiragana to emphasize a word, choose a different kanji or reading to emphasizes words, etc. I would not recommend copying this style; I would just recommend observing what you see. – A.Ellett Oct 15 '23 at 14:33