Can anyone please tell why was候文 replaced by 漢文訓讀體 during the 明治 period?

2 comments

1. 候文 【そうろうぶん】 (n) (hist) epistolary style using the auxiliary “sōrō” in place of “aru”

   http://nihongo.monash.edu/cgi-bin/wwwjdic?1F

2. 候文 and 漢文訓読 are kinda different things while they are commonly seen together.

   候文 is a style of formal writing, commonly used in official documents or daily writings during the edo period.

   漢文訓読, as the kanji says, is to read the Chinese texts in the Japanese kun-yomi way.

   候文 is mostly written in full kanji, so it reuqires the 漢文訓読 technique to read them out.

   for example something like 被(動詞), it will be read as (動詞)され; the reading order is not the same as it appears with the kanji writing.

   back to your question, do you mean the writing style changes from 候文 to 口語文？ During the meiji period, there was the movement of 言文一致, to write in colloquial Japanese, so that writings and literatures could reach more audiences, in order to improve literacy. Natsume Soseki is famous for his works written in 口語文, in a way creating the foundation of what modern Japanese writing looks like today.