Fukuda Mitate's Society : An Observation on Kitanohemon

In the collection of Japanese poems, whose title is Manyo-shu, the letter「己」is used with the pronunciation of "ko", but it is also used as a personal pronoun with three different pronunciations: "ono", "wa" and "na". The pronunciation of "ono" does not involve any problems, but "wa" and "na" are controversial. As for "wa" and "na", the pronunciation has been thought to be decided according to the meaning of the letter used in the Nara Period (around the 7th century). In other words, the meaning has been thought to be more important than the pronunciation itself. Here is a controversial problem. Can we really observe the existence of the pronunciation of "wa" or "na"? We have not proved any pronunciations except "ono" and "onore". Therefore, the letter「己」used as a personal pronoun in Manyo-shu should be pronouced as "ono". Eventually we should comprehend the letter according to the pronunciation. It is one thing that we can make ourselves understood in our daily life; it is another that we read and comprehend classical literary works written in a specific old or older age. We must note that the connection between "how to pronouce" and "how to read" is very important