Why is this 理由 【りゆう】 given the furigana わけ?


It might be hard to read because of the image resolution, but on the cover of
[this
book,](http://www.amazon.co.jp./gp/product/images/4469221686/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=465392&s=books)
on the bottom left side, it says:

> へんな日本語にも理由がある。

Which means something like:

> "Even strange Japanese has a reason."

The thing is, 理由 has [furigana](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furigana) above
it that says it should be read わけ.

わけ is not a reading for 理由. 理由 is only read りゆう, and it means "reason".

Now, I already know that sometimes furigana is used to differentiate between
what is said and what is meant. For example, recently in a manga I saw the
kanji 妻 with the furigana ワイフ above it. I believe this is done when the author
is telling us that the character said "wife", but the kanji 妻 is provided so
if the reader doesn't know what the katakana-ized English word means, they
have the kanji to help.

So, in a way, when the furigana and the kanji differ, it's so that the kanji
provides meaning to the furigana, as opposed to furigana's usual job of
providing readability to the kanji.

Okay, fine... but, why わけ for 理由? Doesn't わけ also mean "meaning", "cause", and
even "conclusion based on reasoning"?

The difference seems so subtle to me that I can't see the point of it. Yet,
given that the book is all about Japanese usage, I imagine the author is quite
particular about words, so surely there's a purpose.

What is that purpose?

_(Side note: I intend to buy the book, so maybe an explanation is within its
covers. But I hope this still merits some discussion.)_




Your statement

> わけ is not a reading for 理由. 理由 is only read りゆう

is too strong. `りゆう` is the most natural reading, but it can also be read as
`わけ`. Although, it is true that, as with your example `妻` with `ワイフ`, furigana
sometimes departs from its established reading under expectation of some
rhetorical effects.

> why わけ for 理由?

Because `りゆう` and `わけ` both mean 'reason', and the reason for having furigana
is because it is not the most salient one.

Here are some links, to give you just a few, following your request:

  * [http://www.amazon.co.jp./理由-わけ-あって冬に出る-創元推理文庫-似鳥/dp/4488473016](http://www.amazon.co.jp./%E7%90%86%E7%94%B1-%E3%82%8F%E3%81%91-%E3%81%82%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6%E5%86%AC%E3%81%AB%E5%87%BA%E3%82%8B-%E5%89%B5%E5%85%83%E6%8E%A8%E7%90%86%E6%96%87%E5%BA%AB-%E4%BC%BC%E9%B3%A5/dp/4488473016)
  * [http://www.amazon.co.jp./理由-わけ-保阪-尚希/dp/4838718268](http://www.amazon.co.jp./%E7%90%86%E7%94%B1-%E3%82%8F%E3%81%91-%E4%BF%9D%E9%98%AA-%E5%B0%9A%E5%B8%8C/dp/4838718268)
  * <http://ameblo.jp/higashi-blog/entry-10594999317.html>
  * <http://news.2chblog.jp/archives/51610022.html>
  * <http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/reasons_hm>
  * <http://d.hatena.ne.jp/kamiyakenkyujo/20110115/1295017300>
  * <http://kirei.mainichi.jp/beautiful/index.html>
  * <http://kuma-kire.com/>
  * <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLLrRFMeSOM>

> why bother at all to make the effort to use one over the other

That is a good point. Even with the same meaning, there is almost always a
different connotation. In this case, reading `理由` as `わけ` would sound fancier
perhaps because of the shorter pronunciation and because it is a yamatokotoba
or wago 'native Japanese word, i.e., not Chinese origin'. In general, onyomi
'Chinese originated reading' gives a rigid, academic impression, whereas
native Japanese words give an elegant literary impression from the Heian era
or earlier. These kinds of readings are not traditional ones, and are usually
proposed in some lyrics or literature, and get accepted to the general after a
while.

> what does the kanji bring to the party that makes it better than just having
> the hiragana?

It has some kind of literary effect. It looks cool to read the kanji in that
way as compared to just reading the hiragana. Think of James Joyce. Why did he
write his novel using unusual spelling and his original words and some strange
markings?---For some kind of literary effect.

> All my dictionaries only say りゆう

You should not have dictionaries as the only source. Especially, Japanese
dictionaries written in Japanese are highly
[prescriptive](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_prescription) (you may
not like this term, but look at the link for the meaning); they try to
describe what they think should be correct, and do not necessarily reflect the
reality of the language. In short, they are not much reliable. From my
experience, 広辞苑 is the worst in this respect.




Your statement

> わけ is not a reading for 理由. 理由 is only read りゆう

is too strong. `りゆう` is the most natural reading, but it can also be read as
`わけ`. Although, it is true that, as with your example `妻` with `ワイフ`, furigana
sometimes departs from its established reading under expectation of some
rhetorical effects.

> why わけ for 理由?

Because `りゆう` and `わけ` both mean 'reason', and the reason for having furigana
is because it is not the most salient one.

Here are some links, to give you just a few, following your request:

  * [http://www.amazon.co.jp./理由-わけ-あって冬に出る-創元推理文庫-似鳥/dp/4488473016](http://www.amazon.co.jp./%E7%90%86%E7%94%B1-%E3%82%8F%E3%81%91-%E3%81%82%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6%E5%86%AC%E3%81%AB%E5%87%BA%E3%82%8B-%E5%89%B5%E5%85%83%E6%8E%A8%E7%90%86%E6%96%87%E5%BA%AB-%E4%BC%BC%E9%B3%A5/dp/4488473016)
  * [http://www.amazon.co.jp./理由-わけ-保阪-尚希/dp/4838718268](http://www.amazon.co.jp./%E7%90%86%E7%94%B1-%E3%82%8F%E3%81%91-%E4%BF%9D%E9%98%AA-%E5%B0%9A%E5%B8%8C/dp/4838718268)
  * <http://ameblo.jp/higashi-blog/entry-10594999317.html>
  * <http://news.2chblog.jp/archives/51610022.html>
  * <http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/reasons_hm>
  * <http://d.hatena.ne.jp/kamiyakenkyujo/20110115/1295017300>
  * <http://kirei.mainichi.jp/beautiful/index.html>
  * <http://kuma-kire.com/>
  * <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLLrRFMeSOM>

> why bother at all to make the effort to use one over the other

That is a good point. Even with the same meaning, there is almost always a
different connotation. In this case, reading `理由` as `わけ` would sound fancier
perhaps because of the shorter pronunciation and because it is a yamatokotoba
or wago 'native Japanese word, i.e., not Chinese origin'. In general, onyomi
'Chinese originated reading' gives a rigid, academic impression, whereas
native Japanese words give an elegant literary impression from the Heian era
or earlier. These kinds of readings are not traditional ones, and are usually
proposed in some lyrics or literature, and get accepted to the general after a
while.

> what does the kanji bring to the party that makes it better than just having
> the hiragana?

It has some kind of literary effect. It looks cool to read the kanji in that
way as compared to just reading the hiragana. Think of James Joyce. Why did he
write his novel using unusual spelling and his original words and some strange
markings?---For some kind of literary effect.

> All my dictionaries only say りゆう

You should not have dictionaries as the only source. Especially, Japanese
dictionaries written in Japanese are highly
[prescriptive](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_prescription) (you may
not like this term, but look at the link for the meaning); they try to
describe what they think should be correct, and do not necessarily reflect the
reality of the language. In short, they are not much reliable. From my
experience, 広辞苑 is the worst in this respect.

