The purpose of this course is to teach graduate students to read premodern Japanese historical language materials in the original Texts will include the Nihon shoki, other excerpts from the rikkoku shi, the Shosoin documents from the Nara period, other types of documents from the Heian through early Tokugawa periods, aristocratic diaries from the Heian through the Warring States' periods, the Azuma kagami, the Shomon ki, and legal sources from the ritsuryo through early Tokugawa legal compilations. Students may also bring texts into class for group reading, with the permission of the instructor. The instructor will provide guides to help students parse out difficult passages.
Students will be evaluated through in-class quizzes and by their class participation.
Only graduate students who have a solid basis in modern Japanese will be admitted.