In choosing books written in the Japanese script the beginner should avoid those in which the kana are small or badly printed. Before he undertakes to read poorly printed books or newspapers it is necessary thoroughly to master the kana by the use of the children's first two or three readers or other colloquial books in which the characters are printed large, if they can be found. The exercises and conversations in MacCauley's " Introductory Course in Japanese" satisfy this requirement, but unfortunately the hiragana are written from left to right, an unusual arrangement not easy even for Japanese to read.
Of the numerous conversation books Muramatsu's Meiji Kwaiwahen is especially commended. Many of the expressions in Satow's Kwaiwahen have become antiquated, particularly those having references to travel in the interior.
Highly to be recommended, though the printing of the kana leaves much to be desired, are the Mukashi-banashi (ancient tales) and Otogi-banashi (entertaining tales) of Mr. Iwaya. In order to accustom the student to the style of these tales, one of them in romanized form has been included among the selections at the end of this book. Mr. Iwaya, whose nom de plume is Sazanami, also edits an interesting periodical called Shónen Sekai (Young Folks' World).
Novels will also be very helpful. Older stories such as those of Enchó are not so well adapted to the needs of the student as these dealing with present conditions. For students who are interested in the conflict between old and new ideas in modern Japan the novels of Mr. Tokutomi (Hototogisu, Omoiide no Ki, Kuroshio) are recommended.
In almost any newspaper colloquial material may be found in the form of interviews, reports of addresses, etc., and the volume of literature written in the style of lectures is constantly increasing. But the student will need to remember that to make a genuine colloquial sentence more is required than to end it with de aru, de arimasu or de gozaimasu (beware of "соlloquialized" books !) ; also that a man may be a fine literary writer and yet have a wretched style in speaking. The style of the interesting old sermons of which we have had samples in Shingaku Michi no Hanashi, or Kyúó Dówa, is of course antiquated.
