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Cover of 文字禍 (Mojika)

Advanced · JLPT N1

文字禍Mojika — What the Letters Whisper

by Nakajima Atsushi (中島敦, 1909–1942)

  • JLPT N1
  • 6,433 characters
  • 4 parts
  • about 54 minutes

Set in Nineveh, capital of ancient Assyria, this short story begins with a rumour: strange voices are heard whispering in the royal library at night. King Ashur-bani-apal orders an elderly scholar to investigate whether spirits dwell in written characters, and the inquiry slowly turns into an unsettling meditation on what writing does to the people who use it. Nakajima Atsushi tells it with dry, ironic detachment, mixing scholarly pastiche, mock statistics and dark comedy with real questions about language, history and knowledge. The scholar may be on to something, and he may also be its next casualty. For learners the story is demanding, measured at N1. The narration uses formal literary Japanese with classical touches. The scholar's notes are written in stiff kanbun-style katakana, and many long Mesopotamian names appear in katakana. The reward is a story you can actually argue with: its ideas about letters becoming shadows of things, and about analysis draining meaning from the world, are compact enough to reread closely, and most of its difficulty comes from register rather than plot.

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Contents

  1. Whispers in the Clay LibraryRumours spread through the court at Nineveh that strange voices whisper in the royal library every night. After other explanations fail, King Ashur-bani-apal orders the old scholar Nabu-ahe-eriba to investigate whether there are spirits of writing. Staring at a single character for days, the scholar finds that it falls apart into meaningless lines, and he concludes that only a spirit can give letters their sound and meaning.
  2. The Ills That Letters BringNabu-ahe-eriba questions newly literate people in Nineveh and compiles statistics: since learning letters, they report weaker eyes, coughs, baldness, dulled skills, cowardice and poor memory. He wonders whether a written character is merely the shadow of the real thing, so that people now grasp shadows instead of realities. His prime example is a book-mad old man who knows every detail of antiquity but nothing of the present, who is badly short-sighted and hunchbacked from reading, yet always oddly happy.
  3. The Old Scholar on What History IsWhen the king falls ill, his physician dresses in the royal robes to fool the goddess of death. Some young men mock the old custom as irrational, and the old scholar blames their shallow rationalism on the spirits of writing. When the young historian Ishdi-Nabu asks what history really is, the old scholar declares that only what is written on clay tablets truly exists and that humans are servants of the letter-spirits, though he adds that the spirits also do harm, which he is now studying, and that Ishdi-Nabu's own doubts come from being poisoned by them.
  4. The Old Scholar Buried by His BooksAfter the young historian leaves, Nabu-ahe-eriba realises he has been praising the spirits of writing himself, and that an illness of 'analysis' has stripped houses, bodies and customs of their meaning. Afraid, he hurries out a report warning the king against blind worship of writing, which angers Ashur-bani-apal and gets him placed under house arrest. A few days later an earthquake strikes, and hundreds of clay tablets fall on him and crush him to death.

Before you read

  • Make a short list of the main names before you start: アシュル・バニ・アパル (the king), ナブ・アヘ・エリバ (the old scholar) and イシュデイ・ナブ (the young historian). Most of the other katakana names (gods, demons, earlier kings) appear only once, and you can skim them without losing the thread.
  • Read the scholar's notes as kanbun-style Japanese. They use katakana okurigana and classical forms such as 〜ガ如シ ("is like…"), the same pattern as 〜のごとき in the narration. Rewrite a sentence or two in modern hiragana Japanese to see the structure.
  • The old scholar speaks in elderly role-language: わし for 'I', じゃ for だ, and the sentence-final わい. Learn to recognise these as a voice, not as new grammar.
  • Watch for the narrator's formal patterns of reasoning: 〜に違いない (must be), 〜訳がない (cannot be), 〜より外はない (there is nothing for it but), the rhetorical どうして〜ようか (how could…?), and 〜こととて (since, being that). The irony often sits in how confidently these conclusions are drawn.
  • Expect classical and archaic forms: 〜ねばならなかった (had to), honorific たもう for the king's actions, and old kanji spellings such as 埃及 (Egypt). Treat them as fixed expressions rather than analysing each one.

Words to know

The most useful words from the notes across the story.

WordMeaningJLPT
精霊せいれいspirit, sprite (of nature or things)—
通っているとおるto pass as, be accepted asdictionary form: 通る〜として通る: 'to pass for ~'.N4
噂うわさrumourN3
罹られたかかるto fall ill (with a disease)dictionary form: 罹るUsually written かかる or 掛かる today; 罹 is the kanji specific to illness. Here in the honorific passive form for the king.N3
中ったあたるto be poisoned or affected by (something harmful)dictionary form: 中るAs in 食中毒 or 毒に中る; usually written 当たる today.N3
統計とうけいstatisticsAn ironic modern word in an ancient setting.N2
臆病おくびょうcowardly, timid臆病になる = to become cowardly.N1
不審ふしんstrange, puzzling, hard to account for不審者 = a suspicious person.N1
欺きあざむくto deceive, trickdictionary form: 欺くWritten-style; everyday speech uses だます (cf. 子供瞞し).N1
齎してもたらすto bring about, causedictionary form: 齎すUsually written in kana today.N1
化けてばけるto turn into, transform (into something else)dictionary form: 化けるSame verb used of foxes taking human form.N1
霊れいspirit, soulKey word of the story. 文字の霊 means 'the spirit of letters'.—
跳梁ちょうりょうrunning rampant, running riotLiterary; usually describes evil beings or villains acting freely.—
謀叛むほんrebellion, revoltAlso written 謀反.—
俘囚ふしゅうcaptive, prisoner of warOld-fashioned; the modern word is 捕虜 (ほりょ).—

Plot summary

Show the full summary (contains spoilers)

Whispering is heard in the royal library at Nineveh, and King Ashur-bani-apal orders the old scholar Nabu-ahe-eriba to find out whether writing has spirits. He stares at one character until it dissolves into meaningless lines, and he concludes that only a spirit gives letters sound and meaning. His survey of newly literate citizens records weaker eyes, baldness, cowardice and poor memory. He suspects that letters are mere shadows of things. He tells the young historian Ishdi-Nabu that only what is written on tablets truly exists. Afterwards he realises he has been praising the very spirits he fears, and that 'analysis' has stripped the world of meaning. He warns the king against worshipping writing and is placed under house arrest for it. Days later an earthquake brings hundreds of clay tablets down on him and crushes him to death.

About the author

Nakajima Atsushi was born in Tokyo into a family of scholars of the Chinese classics, a background that shows clearly in his style. After studying Japanese literature at Tokyo Imperial University, he taught at a girls' school in Yokohama. He later went to Palau, then under Japanese administration, to prepare Japanese-language textbooks for the South Seas Bureau. His small body of work includes several stories drawn from Chinese history and legend, among them Meijinden and Riryō.

More stories by Nakajima Atsushi →