JAPN-3051: Introduction to Clas & Lit Japanese

Course Description: This course is an introduction to the Japanese language as represented in written sources composed between the ninth and the nineteenth centuries. Our primary goals are (1) the development of basic skills in reading and translating premodern texts, and (2) the enrichment of our vocabulary, as many “classical” words, phrases, and even a few grammatical structures remain in use in modern Japanese. Preparation: Students of classical Japanese should generally have at least two years of modern Japanese, and should be familiar with all of the basic modern verb conjugations (e.g., passives, causatives, etc.) Linguistically, our survey will cover four historical phases of Japanese:

❖ Old Japanese or jōdai Nihongo 上代日本語, the language of Nara-period texts such as Man’yōshū 万葉集.

❖ Early Middle Japanese or chūko Nihongo 中古日本語, the language of Heian-period works like Genji monogatari 源氏物語.

❖ Late Middle Japanese or chūsei Nihongo 中世日本語, the language of Japan’s turbulent, dynamic “medieval” age (c. 1185-1600).

❖ Early Modern Japanese or kinsei Nihongo 近世日本語, which despite its name persisted well into the Meiji period of modern Japanese history.

Conveniently, the relative structural stability of Japanese through the ages means that a good grounding in material from one premodern era will enable relatively easy linguistic access to material from other premodern eras, since the student will not have to learn very much fundamentally new grammar.

After briefly surveying the basics of classical Japanese verb conjugation, we will begin our course with the Meiji-era work Gakumon no susume 学問のすゝめ (An Encouragement to Learning, 1876), then proceed to Hōjōki 方丈記 (An Account of My Hut, 1212) and Ise monogatari 伊勢物語 (The Tales of Ise, ca. 880).