ABSTRACT
In the two previous chapters I outlined the forms in which numbers are known to the Japanese. These forms are essentially linguistic, although in many cases the numerical content is not explicit. These latter cases, by and large, are those dealt with in chapter 3, which is essentially a lexicon for the systems examined, their actual application being the subject matter of later chapters. The present chapter deals with the opposite case, defined by a very large number of instances in which the numerical content is perfectly explicit but its meaning remains allusive. Paradoxically, this one explicit element-that is the actual value of the number used-may be of no importance, so that another number could be substituted without any change in meaning. In such a case, the common reason is that the number actually occurring does no more than represent some general class of which it is a member. An example will make this point clear. In the Dutch version of the English proverb, ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’, ‘two’ is replaced by ‘ten’,1 but the meaning, plainly is unchanged. All that is needed, in either case, is that the second number be greater than the first (or at least within reasonable bounds, for a very large discrepancy would certainly change the meaning).2 This example is significant for the existence of another saying, ‘half a loaf is better than no bread’, with much the same meaning.
