The Gloss as Poetics, Transcending the Didactic

Abstract

This article examines recent creative uses of the interlinear gloss, or furigana, in Japanese writing. Traditionally used simply to supply pronunciations for Chinese characters, the examples collected and analyzed here make use of several different nonstandard script combinations, and provide poetic tropes or subtle alterations of the glossed text. The unique simultaneity of the relationship between gloss and glossed word, the manipulation of symbolic associations of the various notational systems employed in Japanese and creation of distinctive visual patterns lend support to arguments for the autononmy of the written word.