近代日本における修辞学の流れ : 島村抱月『新美辞学』（1902年）から大正末期まで

Western rhetoric was introduced to Japan as a coherent system a few years after the Meiji Restoration. First presented as the art of speech, rhetoric soon gained popularity as a field of study also concerned with composition and literary criticism. However, in the second half of the Meiji period, the rise of Realism and Naturalism and the persistent call far a plain and concise literary style began to seriously undermine the position of rhetoric, causing it to face a probable demise at the end of the 1890s. This study discusses the history of rhetoric in Japan between the beginning of the twentieth century and the end of the Taisho? era. It clarifies the crucial role played by rhetoricians Shimamura Ho?getsu and lgarashi Chikara in conceiving a rhetorical theory capable of granting rhetoric a place of continued relevance in the literary debates of the time. Concurrently, the investigation demonstrates the existence of important links between Taisho? rhetoric and studies of National Language and Literature, providing evidence that rhetoric continued to be a valid interlocutor for those concerned in the Taisho? years with such issues as writing, literature and language policy