SHORTHAND (SOKKI)

Although various stenographic systems for transcribing written speech had been developed in Japan, an effective version of shorthand that could be used to record in real time was not invented until the 1880s. Takusari Koki saw shorthand used by his employer, a foreign mining engineer, and spent several years adapting Graham shorthand to fit Japanese. Once the technique had proven its utility, a number of stenographic schools and styles appeared, all based on Takusari’s original model. By 1910, there was a great demand for stenographers, so the government supported training programs and, as the century progressed, other widely divergent styles appeared. By the end of the 20th century, stenography was largely superseded by electronic recording technology.

Literarily shorthand played a key role in resolving the conflicts of the genbun itchi debates. One of the first targets for shorthand were oral performances delivered by San’yutei Encho, a professional oral storyteller. Many colloquial oral stories found their way into printed, serialized form through the placement of stenographers backstage in the urban yose theaters to record the storyteller’s performance. The narrative style of these transcriptions provided written models of spoken language that spurred avant-garde writers, such as Futabatei Shimei, to try new modes of written narrative.