Why do Japanese people read Classical Japanese with a set of weird sound shifts?


I'm learning a bit of Classical Japanese recently, and of course the spelling
of words is pretty different, due to sound changes over the centuries. For
example, きょう was spelled けふ. That I can understand, since no language has
static sounds.

I then went to YouTube and listened to a Japanese guy explain Classical
Japanese. In the first lesson what he did was explain "historical kana
orthography" and gave a whole bunch of ridiculous pronunciation rules. Yes, I
understand that was how Japanese pronunciation changed over the centuries, but
why should we emulate the sound shifts into Modern Japanese when we are
reading Classical Japanese? What bad is there in reading いろはにほへと、ちりぬるを as "i
ro fa ni fo fe to, ti ri nu ru wo" as it used to be pronounced?




As you pointed out, there is no single correct pronunciation of Classical
Japanese. It would be more accurate to teach different pronunciations used in
different periods, but it would be probably too complicated to teach at
schools. The pronunciation of Classical Japanese taught at high schools is the
newest one used in Meiji period and later. (I do not know if the same is true
for the YouTube courses which you watched.)

I do not know why this choice was made at schools. My guess would be that it
is more likely to encounter recent text in Classical Japanese than very old
text in Classical Japanese.

It is not only the pronunciation that varies over time. The grammar of
Classical Japanese is not static. I believe that the grammar taught at schools
also follows the newest part of Classical Japanese, but I would like someone
who knows better to give a more complete picture of the situation.




As you pointed out, there is no single correct pronunciation of Classical
Japanese. It would be more accurate to teach different pronunciations used in
different periods, but it would be probably too complicated to teach at
schools. The pronunciation of Classical Japanese taught at high schools is the
newest one used in Meiji period and later. (I do not know if the same is true
for the YouTube courses which you watched.)

I do not know why this choice was made at schools. My guess would be that it
is more likely to encounter recent text in Classical Japanese than very old
text in Classical Japanese.

It is not only the pronunciation that varies over time. The grammar of
Classical Japanese is not static. I believe that the grammar taught at schools
also follows the newest part of Classical Japanese, but I would like someone
who knows better to give a more complete picture of the situation.

