Transcribing iteration marks: kunojiten , くの字点


The iteration marks 々, ヽ, ヾ, ゝ, ゞ are slightly smaller than standard kana, and
are often seen in print when a contemporary scholar is transcribing text, a
printmaker's seal, etc. My question relates to the _kunojiten_ (くの字点, くのじてん),
either the 〱 (unvoiced) or 〲 (voiced) repeat marks that resemble the hiragana
characters _ku_ (く) and _gu_ (ぐ). Given they are only used in vertical text,
stretching to fill the space usually occupied by two kanji characters, what is
the best solution if you are TRANSCRIBING them from pre-20th century documents
and cartouches, typing them up?

Perhaps this is a little bit of a style question... might one write:

摂州大物の浦よしつねしう〲難風... and risk a reader thinking 〲 is _gu_ ぐ

摂州大物の浦よしつねしう〲[じう]難風... i.e., interpolate in square brackets

摂州大物の浦よしつねしう[じう]難風... interpolate in square brackets with no reference to 〲

or simply transcribe as

摂州大物の浦よしつねしうじう難風... with no reference to there having been a _kunojiten_
present?

My reference from a cartouche: 摂州大物の浦よしつねしう[ _kunojiten_
]難風に出合て平家のぼうれい御船を覆さんとする圖

or with accompanying _furigana_ in the cartouche: 摂州[せっしゅう]大物の浦よしつねしう[
_kunojiten_ ]難[なん]風に出合て平家のぼうれい御船を覆[くつがえ]さんとする圖, _Sesshū Daimotsu-no-ura
Yoshitsune shiujiu_ [ _shūjū_ ] _nanpū ni deaite Heike no bōrei mifune wo
kutsugae san to suru zu_.

Essentially, is there a consistent and/or best practice for transcribing or
transliterating _kunojiten_ in printed text?

* * *

_Shiujiu_ (しう〲, thus しうじう), appears to be a more archaic way to write _shūjū_
(しゅうじゅう) or _shujū_ (しゅじゅう), a "master and servant" or "lord and retainer."
_Shūjū/shujū_ is sometimes seen in kanji form (主従) but it's usually seen
_Shiujiu_ (しう followed by the _kunojiten_ ) in 19th century prints. The
dictionaries I have access to (at present) don't bring up the spelling
_Shiujiu_... not quite sure when it changed, and the historical
relationship/shift of 'iu' to 'ū'.




Aozora Bunko renders the くの字点 as a forward slash plus backward slash (／＼ or
／″＼).

One option would be to use multiple _single_ iteration marks (Ex. ところゞゝゝ,
馬鹿々々しい). In your case, it could be しうゞゝ. I think this would cause the least
confusion.

Edit: Also, 主従{しゅうじゅう} being spelled しうじう reflects kana orthography that
predates World War II. See the Wikipedia article [Historical kana
orthography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_kana_orthography?oldformat=true
"Historical kana orthography") for more details.




Aozora Bunko renders the くの字点 as a forward slash plus backward slash (／＼ or
／″＼).

One option would be to use multiple _single_ iteration marks (Ex. ところゞゝゝ,
馬鹿々々しい). In your case, it could be しうゞゝ. I think this would cause the least
confusion.

Edit: Also, 主従{しゅうじゅう} being spelled しうじう reflects kana orthography that
predates World War II. See the Wikipedia article [Historical kana
orthography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_kana_orthography?oldformat=true
"Historical kana orthography") for more details.

