A Study on the Japanese Onomatopoeia of Kenji Miyazawa : With a Focus on Ginga Tetsudo no Yoru

Genji’s works employ numerous onomatopoeic expressions that evoke synesthetic effects, sharing both emotions and imagery while adding vividness to the text. This study explores the semantic expansion and unique features of Genji’s innovative onomatopoeia. By replacing long vowels with contracted sounds and using distinctive orthography, Genji enhances rhythm and expressiveness, allowing readers to perceive both auditory and visual impressions. He further utilizes phonetic devices such as geminate consonants and nasal sounds, expands meanings of pa–row onomatopoeia, and employs the suffix –meku to diversify usage and nuance. These strategies reveal rich phonetic variation and broaden expressive possibilities.