The Kuzushiji reading group meets weekly on Tuesday, 3:30-5, to read print and manuscript materials from the Edo and Meiji periods. It is open to students, graduate students, and others in the UChicago community with an interest in the literature, language, history, and culture of Japan from the 17th-19th centuries. Knowledge of modern Japanese and some familiarity with classical Japanese is required. If you are interested in participating, please contact Professor Susan Burns.
Sign up for the Kuzushiji reading group listserv.
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November 26th : We’ll continue reading the challenging 吾吟我集 on the 26th. For our sessions on December 3rd and 10th, we’ll take 養生七不可, which is available on the Waseda Library Koten Database: http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/search.php
Each section begins with a sentence in kanbun, so we can also practice our kundoku skills!
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November 19th : After working on the 安政見聞録 for three sessions, next week we’ll change what looks to be a much more challenging work: the preface to 吾吟我集, a parody of the canonical poetry anthology 古今和歌集. The text is available here: 吾吟我集
As a reference, here is the kana preface from 古今和歌集: 古今集仮名序
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November 5th : Thanks to everyone for a very stimulating first session! Our Nov. 5th meeting will take place in Room 504 in Regenstein from 3:30-5:00. We’ll continue with our reading of 地震の辨 from the 3rd page, line 6, and move on to the next section.
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Inaugural Kuzushiji reading session : At our first meeting, we’ll be reading the Ansei kenmonroku, an account of the 1855 earthquake. It is downloadable from the Waseda Library Koten Database: http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/html/wo01/wo01_03755/index.html. We’ll be working on the preface and the first chapter entitled 地震の辨.
