JAPANESE PHILOLOGY

Knowledge and Understanding: By the end of the course in Japanese Philology the students will be able to read and to translate short sentences in classical language and to understand its grammar. The course will provide the study of several texts, which, in their turn, will enable the students to gain competences in deciphering the ancient language. The course in Japanese Philology will give the students the chance to improve their proficiency in consulting Chinese Characters and Classical Japanese Dictionaries.

Applying Knowledge and Understanding: The students will be able to analyse short texts and sentences. Moreover, they will gain competences in linguistic and glottology. They will also be able to recognize the structures of the sentence, and to compare them with their modern counterparts. The study of texts from Heian and Kamakura periods (specifically Taketori monogatari, Ise monogatari and Hōjōki) will enable the students to recognize the most important constructs and to translate them.

Making Judgment: The course in Japanese Philology will provide several practical activities: by translating sentences and short excerpts, the students will not solely practice their critical skill. They will also be able to cope with texts and pieces of research written in Japanese. Classes, exercises and written exams will enable the students to understand, to analyse, and to organize autonomously their study time. Furthermore, by reading and analysing texts and excerpts coming from different literary works, students will have the chance to think about a very long literary tradition.

Communication Skills: The study of classical languages often constitutes an unrepeatable chance to improve knowledge and competences in contemporary language. At the same way, by studying the kogo, students will be able to improve their proficiency in modern Japanese.

Learning Skills: The course will constitute the first step toward an independent research activity and a personal engagement with Japanese ancient texts. This will be a great challenge and, at the same time, an opportunity of personal enrichment.

Frontal teaching, practice activities and written exams.

Should teaching be carried out in mixed mode or remotely, it may be necessary to introduce changes with respect to previous statements, in line with the programme planned and outlined in the syllabus.

The course is divided into two different sections: the first (march-april) comprises an introduction to the structures of classical Japanese, starting with the old syllabary and its typical pronunciation (rekishitekina kanazukai), following with the verbs and their classes (na verbs, yodan or regular verbs, ra verbs, kami ichidan and kami nidan verbs, shimo ichidan and shimo nidan verbs, sa and ka verbs), and ending with adjectives and pseudo-adjectives.

At the end of the first section, there will be a midterm written examination.

The second section (april-may) dwells on inflecting suffixes (-su and -sasu, -ru and -raru, -zu, -mu, -ji, -beshi, -maji, -rashi, -ramu and -meri) and provides the presentation of short excerpts from works dating from Heian (794-1185) and Kamakura (1192-1333) periods.

1) Taketori monogatari (Kaguyahime no oitachi)

2) Ise monogatari (Azuma kudari)

3) Hōjōki (Yukugawa no nagare)

At the end of the second section, there will be the second midterm written examination, which will be about the sole grammar section.

The third and last exam will test students’ knowledge of classical texts and will be held immediately after the second midterm examination.

Komai Akira, Rohlich Thomas, An Introduction to Classical Japanese. (Chapters 1 – 4.11, pp. 1-191)

Morino Muneaki (edited by), Ise monogatari 伊勢物語. Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1977.

Nishio Minoru (edited by), Hōjōki 方丈記. Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1957.

Noguchi Motohiro (edited by), Taketori monogatari 竹取物語. Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 2014.

Other sources of information will be:

Akiyama Ken, Rikaishiyasui kobun, Bun’eidō, 1994.

Ikeda Tadashi, Classical Japanese Grammar Illustrated with Texts, Tōhō gakkai, 1975.

Nakahara Keiichi, Kobun, Hieisha, 1982.

Nakahara Keiichi, Koten bunpō, Hieisha, 1982.

Pigeot Jacqueline, Manuel de japonais classique : initiation au bungo, L’Asiathèque, 1998.

Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

All the books listed in the programme can be consulted in the Library.