A Tentative Study of Symmetry in the Elder Futhark: A Proposal for a Twelve-Pair Structure

English translation of the Japanese original published at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20256246 This paper proposes the possibility of reading the twenty-four runes of the Elder Futhark, the early Germanic runic alphabet, as a twelve-pair structure. Each pair is characterized primarily by semantic contrast and, in many cases, by morphological correspondence. Semantic contrast is defined as a relation in which two runes occupy opposite poles within a shared conceptual domain; this relation is argued to hold across all twelve pairs. Morphological correspondence is classified into several types, including inversion, structural difference, contrast in symmetry, contrast in line type, and contrast in directionality. Some form of morphological correspondence is found in eleven of the twelve pairs. The fact that both semantic and morphological dimensions reveal oppositional structures suggests that the proposed twelve-pair structure may not be merely an arbitrary interpretation, but may reflect some form of systematic background. This paper does not present the twelve-pair structure as a confirmed historical fact, but rather as a hypothesis that can be coherently formulated on the basis of existing letterforms and transmitted meanings.