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Here's a bit from a Kamoshida Hajime novel ( _Just Because!_ ):

[![Page 116 of Just
Because](https://i.stack.imgur.com/9AheX.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/9AheX.png)

I've reviewed the Wikipedia article on [Japanese
punctuation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation) as well as
some related questions on this Stack Exchange but am unable to figure out what
this dash-like punctuation at the beginning of each of these lines is, and how
to type this. I've been using
[U+2500](https://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2500/index.htm), BOX
DRAWINGS LIGHT HORIZONTAL, for this because two of them combine nicely without
any space inbetween (on all my devices and apps), like in the image:

> ──私、決めたから

Alternatives I've considered are: U+2015 (HORIZONTAL BAR), em dashes, and
katakana continuation marks (though none of these combine perfectly without
spacing?):

> ――私、決めたから (two horizontal bars)
>
> ——私、決めたから (two em dashes)
>
> ーー私、決めたから (two continuation marks/chouonpu)

What's the right answer here? How should I properly represent this in text?
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2020-12-21T19:04:33.703
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2020-12-22T05:28:15.240
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question
orthography punctuation
What is this dash-like punctuation at the beginning of lines, seeming to indicate rapid-fire thoughts?
It's indeed a (long) dash. See:

  * [Is Japanese em dash equal to Latin em dash?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/36601/5010)
  * [Meaning of long horizontal bar in Japanese](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/57904/5010)
  * [What does ー mean in this context?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/60433/5010)

It has several uses, but here, it is similar in purpose to 3点リーダー (･･･) used
to add an emotional or reflective pause. Dashes are less common and thus feel
somewhat literary. Perhaps these three sentences are monologues or lines
imagined in someone's mind?

It's still difficult to reproduce this symbol outside professional-use DTP
software like InDesign. See the first link above, too.

  * The most traditional and conservative approach is to use `U+2014` (EM DASH) twice. The 全角ダッシュ symbol in traditional Japanese encodings (`0x815C` in SJIS/CP932) is now mapped to this.
  * You can also use `U+2E3A` (TWO-EM DASH), but this is a relatively new Unicode character and may not be supported by all platforms yet.
  * The 全角ダッシュ was once mapped to `U+2015` (HORIZONTAL BAR), but this is now considered a mistake (See: [全角ダッシュのマッピング問題](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%80%E3%83%83%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A5_\(%E8%A8%98%E5%8F%B7\)#%E5%85%A8%E8%A7%92%E3%83%80%E3%83%83%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A5%E3%81%AE%E3%83%9E%E3%83%83%E3%83%94%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0%E5%95%8F%E9%A1%8C)). However, according to [this article](https://moji-memo.hatenablog.jp/entry/20100128/1264669476), this "horizontal bar" was initially intended to be used as a "quotation dash", so it may be a good choice in your specific case.
  * [Box-drawing characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box-drawing_character) like `U+2500` are for making a table in a fixed-width terminal, etc. You should not use them to make a dash.
  * By "katakana continuation marks", do you mean the long vowel marker (長音符)? Then you should not use it. It will render terribly ([![like this](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WdNrb.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WdNrb.png)) in serif fonts.
CC BY-SA 4.0
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answer