The Causative IV: ～しめる
In addition to the auxiliary verbs ～させる and ～せる, there is a third auxiliary verb in Japanese that demonstrates causation: ～しめる. This ending is primarily found in old-fashioned speech, but it still lives on today.
Traditionally, ～しめる was in a verb class known as the 下二段活用動詞. These verbs exhibited fluctuation between two vowels in their bases, much like stem-vowel changing verbs do in European languages. Although little of this grammar remains in Modern Japanese, when using ～しめる, some speakers may fluctuate between its traditional and modern conjugations.
The Bases of ～しめる
When conjugating with ～しめる, it connects to the traditional 未然形 of all verbal and adjectival predicates. Because of how it is often associated with neo-classical language, its classical bases are occasionally encountered, which is why they are listed in tandem with its modern bases.
| The Bases | Classical | Modern |
| 未然形 | しめ- | しめ- |
| 連用形 | しめ- | しめ- |
| 終止形 | しむ- | しめる- |
| 連体形 | しむる- | しめる- |
| 已然形 | しむれ- | しめれ- |
| 命令形 | しめよ | しめろ |
The Traditional 未然形 of Verbs & Adjectives
～しめる attaches both to verbs and adjectives alike, but in the same way time has changed its bases, there has been just enough change to the 未然形 of conjugating parts of speech that warrant looking at all of their traditional 未然形 to properly use ～しめる.
| Part of Speech | Traditional 未然形 | ＋ ～しめる |
| 一段動詞 | ∅- | 見しめる |
| 五段動詞 | ∅-a- | 書かしめる |
| サ変 | せ- | せしめる1 |
| カ変 | こ- | 来しめる2 |
| ク形容詞 | から- | 寒からしめる |
| シク形容詞 | しから- じから- | 美しからしめる 凄まじからしめる |
| ナリ形容動詞 | なら- | 可能ならしめる |
| タリ形容動詞 | たら- | 窈窕たらしめる |
Using ～しめる
From a semantic standpoint, there is no difference between ～しめる and the other causative endings ～せる and ～させる. Its predecessor ～しむ, is attested in Old Japanese (8th century), whereas the predecessors of ～せる and ～させる first appear a few centuries later. Ever since, ～しむ > ～しめる has slowly faded out of use, and in modern speech, it is largely relegated to the written language.
Particle usage with ～しむ > ～しめる is identical to the other causative endings, but one will also more often find the indirect agent (the actual doer of the action) marked by をして, which is synonymous with the particle に.
Though ～しむ > ～しめる is not limited to specific phrases, certain words like 知る, する, and 寒い are particularly heavily used, likely due to cadence. However, this does not prevent a speaker/writer from utilizing the ending with the predicate of their choice.
Next, we will look at examples of ～しむ > ～しめる, organized by which base of it is being used. Note also that the examples will heavily lean toward neo-classical or classical wording.
- In the 未然形
1. 民をして飢えて死なしめん3。I/we would make the people starve and die.
2. もし彼をして政権を握らしめば4、ずいぶん面白き事もなせしなるべし。
If (they) had let him grab hold of power, he would have also done quite interesting works.
3. 彼の悪事を全世界に知らしめないといけない。
We must let the whole world know of his evil deeds.
4. 秀吉は大明国を征服するつもりで朝鮮をして道案内せしめようとした。
Hideyoshi intended to conquer Ming China, and he attempted having Korea show the way.
5. 日本語の素晴らしさを世界に知らしめよう。
Let’s have the whole world know about the awesomeness of Japanese.
6. わが国は、遠くない過去の一時期、国策を誤り、戦争への道を歩んで国民を存亡の危機に陥れ、植民地支配と侵略によって、多くの国々、とりわけアジア諸国の人々に対して多大の損害と苦痛を与えました。私は、未来に誤ち無からしめんとするが故に、疑うべくもないこの歴史の事実を謙虚に受け止とめ、ここにあらためて痛切な反省の意を表し、心からのお詫びの気持ちを表明いたします。また、この歴史がもたらした内外すべての犠牲者に深い哀悼の念を捧げます。
Our country caused great pain and damage to many countries, particularly to all peoples of Asia, by colonial rule and invasion, driving citizens to a state of life and death crisis by mistaking national policy and walking down a road of war in the not so distant past. To rid such mistakes in the future, I humbly accept these irrefutable facts of history, express here again sincere remorse and my heartfelt apology. Again, please accept my sincere and deep condolences to all victims this history brought both home and abroad.
- In the 連用形
7. 大衆を地獄に堕としめ給うサタンよ、人類の苦悩を不憫に思うて5おくれ。
Oh Satan, who leads the masses into Hell, have pity on the suffering of mankind.
8. 河野敏鎌は、江藤新平をして「汝は、我が恩を忘れしか」と叫ばしめたる人なり。
Togama Kono is the one who caused Shinpei Eto to yell, “have you forgotten my favor?”
9. それが発展を可能ならしめた。
That is what made development possible.
10. 見せしめ6のために全校生徒の前で罰を受けることになった。
It was decided that I was to receive punishment in front of all students of the school as an example.
- In the 終止形
11. 芸者の姿は我らを喜ばしむ。
The appearance of the geisha makes us delighted.
12. 汝の求むる所を満足せしむべし。
This should satisfy what you seek.
13. 革命を成功せしめる。
To allow for revolution to succeed.
- In the 連体形
14. 國民をして法を知らしむるは法治国家の眞髄なり。
Having the citizens know the law is the essence of a constitutional state.
15. 西郷隆盛は、維新によってともかくも国民を成立せしめる基礎だけはできた。
Takamori Saigo, through the restoration, in any case, was able to achieve just the basics of establishing citizenry.
16. 彼は環境を変化せしめる要因は温室効果ではないと主張している。
He claims that the main factor causing the change in climate is not the greenhouse effect.
17. 彼の暗殺は、その事実を広く世に知らしめる結果となった。
His assassination led to letting the world know wide and far of that fact.
18. 社会崩壊は、人類そのものの然らしめるところだ。
Societal collapse is caused by mankind itself.
19. これはまさに、読者の心胆を寒からしめる作品だ。
This is surely a work that will strike terror into the heart of the reader.
20.「智能検査の成績は極めて優良を示している。一般知識、計算能力、論理選択、正文、充填、構文、定義について行いたる成績は、全然標準点と同一である。記憶力は自己の経歴につき誤りなく、記名力の試験は表に示す如く、対語試験に於て全て正当数を得、殊に無関係対語試験に於てさえ完全に再生することを得るは、蓋し優良なるものと言わなければならない。故に記憶、記名の障礙は認められず、従って記憶を減退せしむる精神的原因を有しないことを証明するのである。…」
“He has shown great excellence in the I.Q test. In his assessments carried out in general knowledge, numeric ability, logical choice, official text, loading artillery, syntax, and defining, he completely meets the standard marks on all accounts.
There is no mistake in his memory about his own record, and just as the exam testing his ability to learn new things displays, he got a perfect score on the antonym test and even completely resuscitated (the information) on the unrelated antonym test, which is to say that he is indeed superb.
Thereupon, no handicaps can be found in his memory or ability to learn new things, and so [we] testify that he does not possess a mental element that would degrade his memory….”
From 『散りぬるを』 by 川端康成.
- In the 已然形
21. 故に今、婦人の地位を低しというも、男子の地位を引き下げて併行するに至らしむれば、男女の権力平等なりというべし。男女の権力平等なりというべし。あるいは婦人は今のままにして、男子の地位をして一層の下に就かしむれば7、女権特に高しというべし。これ即ち我輩が独り男子を目的にして論鋒を差し向けたる所以なり。
Consequently now, by saying that the status of women is low, when you bring down the status of men to be on par with them, then the power of men and women ought to be equal. Or, you could have women be where they’re at and have men’s status be one rank below, which then women’s rights would be especially high. This is precisely the reasoning as to why I have directed by point of the argument with my target being the individual man.
From 『男子論』 by 福沢諭吉.
22. どの程度まで患者の血液凝固機能を低下せしめれば8よいか。
To what degree should you decrease the patient’s blood clotting function?
23. 私をして言わしむれば、異性愛も同性愛も明らかに自然である。
If you ask me, heterosexuality and homosexuality are clearly natural.
24. 私に言わせれば、その計画は良い考えじゃないと思います。
If you ask me, I think that plan isn’t a good idea.
- In the 命令形
25. 願わくは欧米を戦慄せしめよ。
My wish is for you to make the West tremble.
26. 一匹残らず殲滅せしめろ。
Have them exterminate every last one.
27. みんな脅して大金をせしめろ。
Frighten them all and cheat them of great sums of money.
～ならしめる & ～たらしめる
There were two primary copula verbs in Classical Japanese: なり and たり.
- なり: The ancestor of だ, it follows nominal and adjectival noun predicates.
- たり: A defunct copular verb, it specifically denotes a circumstance or qualification.
As a brief example of how they differ in practice, consider:
i. 男なり
To be a man.
ii. 男たり
To be a man (and have what it takes to be so)
Both copula verbs can be paired with ～しめる in Modern Japanese. At times, you may even see them used in set phrases, especially proverbs.
28. 地下水の利用を安全ならしめるためには、あらゆる方法を考えなければならない。
To make the use of groundwater safe, one must think of various methods.
29. 愚民政策というのは即ち民を愚ならしめる政策だ。
“Ignorant Masses Measures” are policies for keeping the people ignorant.
30. 再度の利用を不可能ならしめた。
It made using it again impossible.
31. 大久保は旧幕時代、薩摩藩を動かして倒幕勢力たらしめるために、藩主の実父の久光に接近し、囲碁をもって久光の機嫌をとることからはじめてついに久光の権力を利用して藩を動かした。
Okubo, during the shogunate period, to utilize the Satsuma Han as a force to overthrow the shogunate, approach Hisamitsu, the father of the domain, by using the game of go to curry his favor, and from there he was finally able to use Hisamitsu’s power to mobilize the Han.
From 『翔ぶが如く』 by 司馬遼太郎.
32. それこそが人を人たらしめる事柄である。
That is exactly the thing which makes humans human.
33. それから加害者はどのようにして権力を行使し相手を被害者たらしめるのだろうか。
After which how will the perpetrator exercise power to make his opponent a victim?
34. 過去をして過去たらしめよ。
Let bygones be bygones.
Honorific Speech (尊敬語): ～しめ給う ＝ お〇〇なさる
～しむ may also be used as an honorific marker. While this usage is not productive in Modern Japanese with ～しめる, it lives on in Classical Japanese text as well as in the writings of people over the last few centuries. This usage arose in the Heian Period. This was a time in which nobles had others do their tasks for them, and by extension, even when they did do something, the use of causative grammar in a way exalted the doer.
Distinguishing this use from the causative meaning requires paying close attention to the case particles at play. If you find に or をして marking an indirect agent (the actual doer of the action), ～しむ should be interpreted as a causation auxiliary. If, however, you only see a subject/agent, then ～しめる is likely being used as an honorific marker.
Additionally, the honorific ～しむ is always paired with ～給ふ—pronounced as たもう. The resultant ～しめ給ふ equivalent to お〇〇になる in Modern Japanese.
35. 明石の駅といふ所に御宿りせしめたまひて、駅9の長のいみじく思へる景色を御覧じて、作らしめたまふ詩、いと悲し。
When he stayed at the stable in Akashi, he saw the plight of the stable master’s own circumstances, and the poetry he wrote (of this) is very saddening.
From 『大鏡』.
36. すべては神様の御心になさし給え。
Leave everything to the Lord’s will.
37.「天は人の上に人を造らず人の下に人を造らず」と言えり。 されば天より人を生ずるには、万人は万人みな同じ位にして、 生まれながら貴賤上下の差別なく、 万物の霊たる身と心との働きをもって天地の間にあるよろずの物を資り、もって衣食住の用を達し、自由自在、 互いに人の妨げをなさずしておのおの安楽にこの世を渡らしめ給うの趣意なり。
It is said that, “heaven neither creates a man above another man nor a man beneath another man.” The intention of this is that as such, by heaven giving birth to mankind, all man is of equal rank; that we are not innately born with high and low statuses; that through the works of both mind and spirit of creation, we use the many things of this earth, moreover, to fulfill our necessities, uninhibited and without interfering others so that each may live a life of ease.
Quote from 福沢諭吉.
させ給う・せ給う mean the same thing as しめ給う, and their distribution in older Japanese is determined by genre as mentioned earlier rather than on semantic grounds.
38. その夜、大臣の御里に源氏の君10まかでさせ給ふ。
That night, [the emperor] allowed for Lord Genji to set out for the minister’s home.
From 『源氏物語』.
Miscellaneous しめる
For the purpose of disambiguating between homophones, there are a number of verbs that also happen to be read as しめる.
- 占める means “to occupy” or “to account for/to make up.”
39. 観光は国のGDPの30％以上を占めています。
Tourism accounts for over 30% of the country’s GDP.
40. 現状では、上院・下院ともに共和党が過半数を占めています。
Currently, the Republican Party controls over half of both the Senate and House.
- 締める has various interrelated meanings including, “to tie/fasten,” “to total/sum” (alternatively 〆る), (in cooking) “to salt/marinate/pickle” (alternatively also 〆る), “to wear (a tie/belt),” “to be strict with (alternatively 累める),” “to economize,” and, “to constrict (one’s emotions).”
41. 勝って兜の緒を締めよ。
Literally: Tighten the strings of your helmet after a victory.
Do not let your guard down after a victory.
42. 高価なものが到着する予定の時は南京錠を締めておきましょう。
When something valuable is due to arrive, make sure to lock the padlock.
43. 普段はしっかり財布の紐を締めているはずなのに、つい無駄遣いをしてしまった。
I usually always have a tight grip on my wallet, but I just accidentally wasted money.
44. 会社も褌を締めてかからなけりゃいけないな。
The company will also have to tighten its belt.
45. 箍を締めるのではなく箍を外すことが重要なときもあります。
There are also times when it’s important to let loose rather than getting one’s act together.
- 絞める means, “to strangle/constrict.”
46. 生きたアヒルの首を絞めた。
I snapped the neck of a live duck.
- 閉める means “to close/shut” as in a store/business, door/window, etc.
47. 子供が泣くのは仕方ない事だが、時間帯によっては窓を閉めるのがマナーだと思う。
A kid crying can’t be helped, but depending on the time of the day, shutting the window is a matter of etiquette.
- 染める is used in compounds such as 煮染める (to boil down) with the meaning of “to soak/permeate a smell/color/taste into….” This verb is seldom used these days.
48. 深川飯というのは、アサリ・ハマグリ・バカガイなどの剥き身にネギなどの野菜を刻み入れて煮染めた汁物をご飯にかけて丼に盛ったものである。
Fukagawa-meshi is a (Japanese) soup dish served [as/in] a donburi (porcelain bowl) in which the meat removed from the shells of asari, hamaguri, and/or bakagai is boiled down thoroughly with vegetables cut up such as onions.
All these verbs involve exerting control over something—from tightening a tie to strangulation. Their original form しむ does most likely share the same etymology as the auxiliary verb ～しむ・しめる, making them not so miscellaneous after all. They also all share the same intonation, which is low-high-low.
- 湿る means, “to become damp/moist” or “to be in low spirits.” This verb, unlike all the other しめる verbs is a 五段動詞. It also distinguishes itself from the others as having a different intonation than the other verbs. 湿る is pronounced with a low-high-high intonation.
49. 低気圧に向かって南から暖かく湿った空気が流れ込む見込みです。
Damp, warm air from the south heading toward the low pressure will be streaming in.
- 卑しめる means, “to demean/despise,” and is being mentioned due to its likeness with ～しめる. In reality, its etymology may very well be tied to the other しめる verbs which could have very well been used in concert with the word 嫌 (to be detestable) to produce a verb for detesting.
50. 悪質なデマで市民を卑しめる。
To demean the townspeople with malicious misinformation.
- せしめる is very productive, both when する is used independently and when it is a part of a する verb. In isolation, せしめる has also gained the meaning of “to cheat… out of…” ↩︎
- 来しめる, although technically possible, is effectively not used in Modern Japanese. Arguably, only its predecessor 来しむ is productive (in much older writing). ↩︎
- Here, ～ん is an older form of the auxiliary ～よう, which is used here to indicate supposition. ↩︎
- The conditional use of the conjunctive particle ば traditionally goes after the 未然形. ↩︎
- 思うて is a dialectal variant of 思って, exhibiting a sound change phenomenon known as ウ音便, which heavily affects Western Japanese dialects. ↩︎
- As a noun, 見せしめ meaning “making a lesson of…” is commonly used. ↩︎
- The particle ば seen connected to the 已然形 of ～しめる does not mean “if.” The speaker is instead stating in a matter of fact tone that when those actions occur that the outcomes are to be expected—general rule. There is also a nuance of causation behind this, which is why ～しめれば often preserves this original nuance of ば. ↩︎
- In this sentence, the particle ば ought to be interpreted as the conditional ば, in contrast to the instances in Ex. 14. One way of discerning this is by realizing how the overall language is far more modern in this example than the language found in Ex. 14. ↩︎
- 厩・馬屋・駅・驛 are all ways to spell うまや・むまや meaning “stable/stage” in olden times. Before the invent of trains, 駅・驛 referred to where people would stay along with their horses while traveling. ↩︎
- 君 is understood in this line as meaning of “master/sovereign.” ↩︎