2014 Kuzushiji Workshop | Reading Kuzushiji

The 2014 Reading Kuzushiji Workshop will take place June 16-20. The workshop will meet each day 9:00am-4:00pm (see below for more details). It is open to students and faculty with a working knowledge of classical Japanese and hentaigana. Our instructor will be Professor Aratake Kenichiro of Tohoku University’s Center for Northeast Asian Studies. Professor Aratake, who received his Ph.D from Kansai University in 2004, is a social historian whose research focuses on urban history and the development of trade routes and market economies. This year, we will be reading both print and manuscript materials. The workshop will culminate with an informal symposium on June 21st at which Prof. Aratake will present on his own research. We invite participants, as well, to present their work.

Daily Schedule (June 16-20, except June 18):

9:00–10:30 資料の解読
10:30–10:45　休み
10:45–12:15　資料の解読
12:15–1:15　昼食
1:15–2:45　資料の解読
2:45–3:00　休み
3:00-4:00　資料の解読
4:00-5:00　Tutorial（個別テーマの資料解読相談）

On Wednesday, June 18th, we will make a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago, which currently has an exhibit of prints and illustrated books by Utamaro. We’ll be working with some of these on Wednesday morning and then will head to the Art Institute after lunch.

Kuzushiji Symposium

Date: June 21 (Saturday), 2014, 9:00am-12:30pm
Location: John Hope Franklin Room (Room 224, 1126 E.59th street, Chicago, IL)

Keynote Speech: Aratake Ken’ichirō (Associate Professor, Tohoku University, History): “Reading Society through Merchant’s Diary: Local History and Japanese History (商人の日記から社会を読む―地域史と「日本史」をつなぐ―.)”

Supernatural Edo: Deities, Monsters, and Miracles (Chair: Susan Burns)

Nobuko Toyosawa (Post-Doctoral Scholar, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago,) “Creating the Past: Fusō meishozu (Illustrated Scenic Japan, 1713-28) and the Country of the Deities.”
Michael Toole (PhD Student, Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison) “Exterminating the Monstrous Body: Illegibility and Embodiment in Momotarō mukashigatari.”
Susan Burns (Associate Professor, History, University of Chicago) “The 8 Year-Old Mother and the Politics of a Miraculous Birth in Late Tokugawa Japan.”

Reporting Japan: Media, Newspapers, Prints, and Geography (Chair: Nobuko Toyosawa)

Michelle Damian (PhD Candidate, History, University of Southern California) “A Geographic Analysis of Medieval Maritime Trade on the Seto Inland Sea.”
Maria March (Independent Scholar) “Newspapers and Sumo: Tracing the Invisible Forces that Shaped Japan’s National Sport.”
Chelsea Foxwell (Assistant Professor, Art History, University of Chicago) “To Hell with the Restoration: Mantei Oga’s Odontaku shinbun kidan (大鈍託新聞鬼談, 1872年) and News Images in the Early Meiji.”
Anna Pushakova (Museum Curator of Chinese and Japanese Papers, The State Museum of Oriental Art, Russia) “Japanese Woodblock Print Collection from The State Museum of Oriental Art (Russia, Moscow): a Brief Overview.”

Resources

2014 Kuzushiji Workshop Texts (PDF files):

Articles for the Flowering Cherry and Maple Trees Screens with Poem Slips by Tosa Mitsuoki (Part I and II)
Tosa Mitsuoki Part I, Tosa Mitsuoki Part II
Descriptive catalogue of Japanese and Chinese Illustrated Books in the Ryerson Library of the Art Institute of Chicago by Kenji Toda
Grammar Guide
Hentaigana Guides

Tokyo University’s Historiographical Institute has created an electronic online kuzushi database. The link takes you to the database homepage. To find the database, click 電子くすし字辞典データベース.

Hentaigana Chart
Jikoku hyo
Chart for converting wareki to seireki: Kinsei%20Nenpyo1
Yojo kokoroe so (養生心得草):
http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/wo06/wo06_3145_82_03/index.html