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Course handbook: Japanese

The Oxford BA course in Japanese is a four year course, including a compulsory study periodof one year in Japan in the second year. The course is comprehensive and demanding, revolvingaround intensive work on the written and spoken language through all four years, combinedwith both general and specialized study of Japanese culture, civilization and society. Thelanguage teaching takes place in classes and small groups and in language laboratories. Itincludes work conducted by experienced native speakers.

The B.A. Honours course in Japanese at Oxford aims:

to give students a thorough grounding in modern written and spoken Japanese, and in thewritten classical language;

to ensure that they have a good general knowledge of Japanese civilization, culture, historyand society; and

to allow them to do in-depth, specialised study from a range of subjects, including bothclassical and modern literature, linguistics, pre-modern and modern history, anthropology,politics, economics, and art.

Teaching Staff

First year

The first year is dedicated to intensive work on the Japanese languages and study of the historyand culture of Japan, and East Asia in general. At the end of the first year you will take Prelimswhich examines the language and history and culture work you have done during the first year.

Subjects taken in the first year:

1. Modern Japanese I2. Modern Japanese II3. East Asia Survey: Japan

Second Year

The second year of the course will be spent at Kobe University in Japan for continued extensivelanguage study, combined with the study of civilization, culture and history. Details about theyear abroad will be given during the course of the first year.

Third and Fourth Year

In the third and fourth years the regular language work continues, you will begin study in theclassical language. An important part of these two years is specialized work within subjectareas chosen by yourself from a wide array of available options, including both classical andmodern literature, linguistics, pre-modern and modern history, anthropology, politics,economics, and art. In the fourth year you also write a maximum 15,000 word dissertation ona subject of your own choice under supervision. At the end of the fourth year you will beexamined in all the work you have done over the four years.

It is possible to study an additional language (from Chinese, Korean, and Tibetan) in the thirdand fourth years of the course.

Japanese Japanese with a subsidiary language

1. Modern Japanese I2. Modern Japanese II3. Spoken Japanese (1/2 paper)4. Classical Japanese5. Special text option I [translation andcommentary]6. Special subject option I [essays]7. Dissertation8. Special text option II [translation andcommentary]9. Special subject option II [essays]10. Either Special text option III or Special subjectoption III

1. Modern Japanese I2. Modern Japanese II3. Spoken Japanese (1/2 paper)4. Classical Japanese5. Special text option I [translation andcommentary]6. Special subject option I [essays]7. Dissertation

A Subsidiary Language:

11. Chinese, Korean, or Tibetan Texts12. Chinese, Korean, or Tibetan History andCulture13. Chinese, Korean, or Tibetan Language

Important Deadlines

Special Subject Options

Core Special Subject Options.(all Michaelmas Term only)

Classical Japanese Literature Japanese Linguistics Modern Japanese Literature

Other Special Subject Options

Economy of Japan (To be confirmed) History of the Japanese Language (HT) Japanese Art (currently unavailable) Japanese Politics (HT2016, TT2016) Japanese Society (HT and first 4 weeks of TT) Modern History of Japan (MT2015) Pre-modern Japanese History I: to 1185 (HT and other terms by arrangement) Pre-modern Japanese History II: 1185 to 1853 (TT and other terms by arrangement) Topics in Court Literature (900-1300AD) (HT) Topics in Modern Japanese Literature (HT)

Special Text Options

Classical Japanese I: The Tale of Genji and the Pillow Book (MT) Classical Japanese II: Warrior Tales (HT)

Classical Japanese III: Haikai from Bashō to Buson (HT 2016, TT 2016, TT only from 2017onwards)

Japanese Linguistics I: Boku wa unagi da (MT, HT) Japanese Linguistics II: Linguistic variation (HT, TT) Japanese Linguistics III: Old Japanese (TT) Japanese Politics (HT2016, TT 2016) Modern Literature I: Proletarian Literature (MT) Modern Literature II: Trauma and Narrative in Modern Japanese Literature (TT) Modern Literature III: Gender in Modern Japanese Literature (HT 2016) Special Texts Japanese History I: to 1185 (HT)f Economy of Japan

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Teaching Staff

Teaching Staff from Oriental Studies:

Dr Linda Flores, Associate Professor of Modern Japanese Literature (Pembroke College)

Professor Bjarke Frellesvig, Professor of Japanese Linguistics (Hertford College)

Dr Jennifer Guest, Associate Professor of Classical Japanese Literature (Queen’s College)

Dr Kerri Russell, Departmental Lecturer in Japanese Linguistics. (Hertford College)

Dr James Lewis, Associate Professor of Korean History (Wolfson College)

Ms Kaori Nishizawa, Japanese language instructor

Ms Junko Hagiwara, Senior Japanese language instructor

Mrs. Keiko Harada, Faculty Tutor in Japanese

Ms Hiroe Kaji, Japanese language instructor

Teaching staff from the Nissan Institute:

Professor Roger Goodman, Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Studies (St Antony’sCollege)

Dr Ekaterina Hertog, Associate Professor of Japanese Sociology

Professor Takehiko Kariya, Professor of Japanese Sociology (St Antony’s College)

Professor Sho Konishi, Associate Professor of Modern Japanese history (St Antony’s College)

Professor Ian Neary, Professor of Japanese Politics (St Antony’s College)

Professor Hugh Whittaker, Professor in the Economy of Japan

Compulsory Subjects

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First Year: Modern Japanese I and Modern Japanese II

Term in which it is taught and hours of teaching:

Language Classes: approximately 10 hours per week; throughout the academic year.Grammatical Analysis: one weekly class in Hilary Term.

Course description:

You will be taught how to read and write Japanese and how to translate from English intoJapanese. Language classes will prepare you for the examination at the end of your third term.

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First Year: East Asia Survey: Japan


On average just over 2 lectures per week; throughout the academic year with essay tutorialsevery two weeks. You will write 12 essays over the academic year.

Course description:

Lectures in the first two terms will cover all of East Asian history with a focus on Japan in EastAsia. Lectures in the third term will focus entirely on modern and contemporary Japan.Preparation for the examination at the end of your third term will be a combination of lecturesand essay tutorials.

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FHS: Modern Japanese I and Modern Japanese II

Course description:

The two papers in Modern Japanese will test your ability to translate into Japanese and fromJapanese into English, as well as writing in Japanese. The teaching directly preparing you forthese papers will be language classes, text classes, and text tutorials.

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FHS: Spoken Japanese

Course description:

The paper in spoken Japanese will be taken in Hilary term of the fourth year. It will test yourability to understand and produce spoken Japanese. The Spoken paper counts as half a paper.Most of the teaching directly preparing you for the paper in spoken Japanese will be languageclasses.

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FHS: Classical Japanese

Course description:

The paper in Classical Japanese will take the form of translation into English of ClassicalJapanese set texts and unseen texts, with a small amount of translation into Englishofkanbun set texts. There will be classes and tutorials in Classical Japanese set texts in the thirdyear, classes on translation of unseen texts throughout the fourth year, and classeson kanbun set texts in Michaelmas Term of the fourth year.

Set texts:

SET TEXTS

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FHS: Dissertation


Third and Fourth Years. Usually two hours of supervision in the third year and three hours inMT and HT of the fourth year.

Teaching staff:

Individual supervisors depending on topic.

Course description:

During your fourth year on the course you will produce a dissertation on a topic relating toJapan. You should already be thinking about your dissertation topic in the third year, and yourtopic may well be informed by option work you have done on the course. For the dissertationyou are expected to utilise your Japanese language skills in your research on your topic. Thedissertation should be between 12,000 and 15,000 words, including footnotes and endnotes,but not including the bibliography. You should use the style sheet appropriate to the disciplinein which you are working.

For the submission deadline you should look up the General Regulations at the beginning ofthe Oriental Studies section of the Examination Regulations.

Further Subjects

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CORE: Classical Japanese Literature: Ancient to EarlyModern


Michaelmas Term

Teaching staff:

Dr Jennifer Guest

Course description:

This course provides a survey of classical Japanese literature from earliest times to the earlynineteenth century, with readings in English translation from a wide range of important worksas well as suggested secondary readings on key topics in the literature of each period.

Week 1: What factors make a text classical, literary, or Japanese? (Does the Kojikiqualify?)Week 2: The meaning of a “good poem” in early JapanWeek 3: Memoirs, diaries, and biographies in the Heian courtWeek 4: Gender and genre in the mid-Heian classicsWeek 5: Buddhist themes in medieval poetry and anecdotal literatureWeek 6: Portrayals of warriors and warfare in medieval prose and theatreWeek 7: Humour in Edo literatureWeek 8: Reflections of earlier classical literature in Edo prose and haikai poetry

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CORE: Japanese Linguistics

Teaching staff:

Professor Bjarke Frellesvig; Dr Kerri Russell

Course description:

This option is designed to give an overview of the Japanese language and linguistics throughreading and writing of essays on selected topics across the major fields of linguistics, beginningwith a look at the main characteristics of Japanese as compared to other languages. Next welook at variation within the Japanese language, considering in turn sociological characteristicsof the speech situation (e.g., status and keigo), of the speaker (e.g., gender), and of the speechcommunity as a whole (e.g., dialect region). We will also examine loanwords in the Japanesevocabulary, lexical stratification, and some selected aspects of Japanese grammar, focusing on

transitivity in particular. Finally we will work on a syntactic description of sentences selectedfrom naturalistic data in Modern Japanese.

Week 1: Identify, describe and discuss three main features of the Japanese languageWeek 2: Honorific language (keigo) in Japanese, including its acquisition and useWeek 3: Gender as a factor in language variation in JapaneseWeek 4: Describing the features of a spoken dialect text in Japanese (to be distributed)Week 5: Loanwords in JapaneseWeek 6: Lexical stratificationWeek 7: Syntactic description of a given set of Japanese sentencesWeek 8: The notion of transitivity and its role (including transitivity pairs) in Japanese

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CORE: Modern Japanese Literature: The Invention ofModern Japanese Literature

Teaching staff:

Dr Linda Flores

Course description:

This option provides an overview of important literary works and writers in the period spanningfrom the middle of the Edo to the beginning of the 20th century. We will explore key issues inJapanese literary studies including modernity, the self, identity, and gender. This option willexamine the development of the concept of modern Japanese literature and explore the waysin which that development accompanied the rise of Japan as a modern nation. Lectures andtutorials will address both the social and historical context of the works under examination aswell as closer readings of the texts themselves.

Week 1: What is ‘Modern’ ‘Japanese’ ‘Literature’?Week 2: The Edo Period and the Invention of JapanWeek 3: Defining Japan, Defining WomenWeek 4: Civilisation and EnlightenmentWeek 5: The Invention of LiteratureWeek 6: Women Writers and the Reform of Tanka PoetryWeek 7: The Rise of EmpireWeek 8: Japanese Naturalism and the ‘I-novel’

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Special Subject Option: Economy of Japan


To be confirmed.

Teaching staff:

Professor Hugh Whittaker

Course description:

To be confirmed

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Special Subject Option: History of the JapaneseLanguage


Hilary Term

Teaching staff:


Course description:

This option focuses on the development of the Japanese language from Old Japanese as itappears in the earliest attested writings through to written and spoken Modern Japanese withinthe phonology, morphology and syntax of the language. Other themes covered will be thereconstruction of even earlier language stages than that of Old Japanese, the origins anddevelopment of the scripts used to write Japanese, dialectal and other variation within pre-modern Japanese, and the influence from foreign languages, both Chinese and European, onthe Japanese language. Students taking this option should also follow Professor Frellesvig andDr Russell’s lecture series History of the Japanese languageand Introduction to OldJapanese in Hilary Term.

Topics covered may include:

Proto-Japanese and Japanese before Old Japanese; Japanese scripts; The sound system of OldJapanese and phonological changes; The Eastern Old Japanese dialects; Old Japanesemorphology and later changes in inflection and verb morphology; Historical syntax; Externalinfluences on Japanese.

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Special Subject Option: Japanese Art


Currently unavailable

Teaching staff:

Dr Clare Pollard

Course description:

This option will focus on Japanese art from the Edo and Meiji periods, with reference to thecollections of Ashmolean Museum.

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Special Subject Option: Japanese Politics


Michaelmas Term 2014, Hilary Term 2014, 2016, Trinity Term 2016.

Teaching staff:

Professor Ian Neary

Course description:

This course provides an introduction to Japanese politics.

Aims of the course: To see how an advanced, industrial urban society such as Japan can bestudied using the methods of political science; and to get a firm understanding of how Japanesegovernment works. Major themes to be covered include modern political history, the structuresand institutions of contemporary politics: parties, elections, bureaucracies, and policymaking.It will be possible to study a number of contemporary policy areas in depth, including welfarepolicy, foreign and defence policy, industrial policy among others. We will look at the microlevel of policy making while also relating this to the wider political and economic arena bothinside and outside Japan. Students taking this option should also follow Professor Neary’slecture series on Japanese Politics which take place Fridays at 12-1 in the Nissan Institute. Thelectures start in Michaelmas Term, so those taking the option in Hilary Term must also followthe lectures in Michaelmas Term.

Tutorial topics will be chosen from:

The Political reforms of the Occupation; The Liberal Democratic Party; The opposition parties;Election systems; Local Government; Interest Groups; Industrial and Agricultural Policy;Foreign and Defence Policy; Human Rights, ODA and FDI; Environment Policies and CitizensMovements; Welfare politics.

Recommended reading:

Recommended Introductory Reading:Hook, Glenn D. 2005. Japan’s International Relations: Politics, Economics and Security,Routledge.Neary, Ian J. 2002., The State and Politics in Japan, Blackwell.McCargo, Duncan. 2004. Contemporary Japan, Palgrave.Shinoda Tomohito, 2013 Contemporary Japanese Politics, Columbia.

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Special Subject Option: Japanese Society


Hilary Term

Teaching staff:

Professor Roger Goodman

Course description:

This option has two main aims: (a) to provide an introduction to Japanese society from ananthropological perspective and (b) to show how the study of Japan can contribute tomainstream anthropological theory. Major themes which will be covered include notions ofpersonhood, rituals and symbols, time and space, structure and agency, continuity and change,and the construction of ethnic, gender, sexual and minority identities. It will be possible tostudy a number of contemporary social institutions in depth, including the Japaneseeducational, legal, medical, welfare, company, household and kinship systems, new religionsand the worlds of traditional arts and popular culture. At the micro level, the details of theseoperations and the ideologies which support them will be examined, while at the macro levelthe course will explore their relation to other social institutions and the wider political andeconomic arena both inside and outside Japan. Students taking this option should also followProfessor Goodman’s lecture series Japanese Society in Hilary Term.

Recommended reading:

Recommended Introductory Reading:Hendry, Joy. 2013. Understanding Japanese Society (4th edition). Routledge.Martinez, D. P. (ed.). 2007. Modern Japanese Culture and Society (4 Vols). Routledge.Nakane, Chie. 1973. Japanese Society. Penguin.Robertson, Jennifer (ed.). 2005. A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan. Blackwells.Ryang, Sonia. 2004. Japan and National Anthropology: A Critique. RoutledgeCurzon.Sugimoto, Yoshio. 2010. An Introduction to Japanese Society (3rd edition). CUP.

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Special Subject Option: Modern History of Japan


Hilary Term 2015.

Teaching staff:

Dr Sho Konishi

Course description:

This option offers a broad introduction to the cultural and intellectual life of nineteenth- andtwentieth-century Japan in the wider world. We will read both primary texts in translation andsecondary works. Assigned readings consist of all common readings and your choice of text(s)from the list of selected readings or outside the list. Common readings will be on reserve at the

Bodleian Japanese Library. Some suggested theoretical readings are also listed throughout thesyllabus, which should prove helpful for future research and writing on Japanese history.

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Special Subject Option: Pre-modern Japanese HistoryI: to 1185


Hilary Term and other terms by arrangement

Teaching staff:

Dr James B Lewis

Course description:

The narrative of Japanese history can be broken into three main divisions: to 1185, 1185 to1853, and 1853 to the present. Japanese Pre-modern history options cover the first twodivisions. The essay questions are thematic and range over institutions, religions, politics,intellectual concerns, economy, and foreign relations. They do not address the history ofliterature or language.

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Special Subject Option: Pre-modern Japanese HistoryII: 1185 to 1853


Trinity Term and other terms by arrangement

Teaching staff:

Dr James B Lewis

Course description:

The narrative of Japanese history can be broken into three main divisions: to 1185, 1185 to1853, and 1853 to the present. Japanese Pre-modern history options cover the first twodivisions. The essay questions are thematic and range over institutions, religions, politics,intellectual concerns, economy, and foreign relations. They do not address the history ofliterature or language.

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Special Subject Option: Topics in Court Literature(900-1300AD)


Hilary Term

Teaching staff:

Dr Jennifer Guest

Course description:

This course focuses on classical literature of the Heian and early medieval periods, withprimary and secondary readings in English; the first three sessions will focus on wakapoetryand its social and literary contexts, while weeks 4-6 will be centred on the Tale of Genji andother prose tales, and the final two sessions approach topics in the history of literary thought.It may be helpful to take the Classical Japanese Literature Special Subject Core option first,but it is not necessary or required.


The Kokinshū and debates on the nature of waka poetry; Poetry competitions, material culture,and the literary environment; The Wakan rōeishū: poetry as visual and auralart;Monogatari (tale literature): Narihira and the young Genji; Genji’s later years; Tales ofexotic lands (travel to China and beyond); University scholars and court literature; The Wayof Poetry (Fujiwara Teika and the Hyakunin isshu).

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Special Subject Option: Topics in Modern JapaneseLiterature


Hilary Term

Teaching staff:

Dr Linda Flores

Course description:

This option provides an overview of important literary works and writers in the period spanningfrom the early 20th century to the present day. For this option we will consider more closelyissues such as gender (masculinity, femininity, the feminist movement), reactions to the I-novel, and reactions to the post war. Lectures and tutorials will address both the social andhistorical context of the works under examination as closer readings of the texts themselves.Students taking this option should also follow the lecture seriesTopics in Modern JapaneseLiterature in Hilary Term.


Proletarian Literature; Japanese Modernism; Nikutai bungaku: Literature of the Flesh; AtomicBomb Literature; Beyond the Postwar: Oe Kenzaburo; The Feminist Movement; AngryWomen: Enchi Fumiko, Takahashi Takako, Ohba Minako; Murakami Haruki and the Postmodern.

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Special Texts: Classical Japanese I: The Tale of Genjiand the Pillow Book


Michaelmas Term

Teaching staff:

Dr Jennifer Guest

Course description:

This option will involve readings from two near-contemporary works of Heian court prose,the Tale of Genji and the Pillow Book. Through close reading of passages from the PillowBook, students will trace Sei Shōnagon’s accounts of how she outwitted various other courtiers and impressed the empress with her quick literary responses; get to know the rhythms of Heiancourt life and the seasonal progression of waka topics; and consider the socio-political andgendered dynamics behind the brilliant setting of mid-Heian court salons. Readings fromthe Tale of Genji will focus on the early volumes of the tale and on Genji’s relationship withthe character known as Murasaki, perhaps the most iconic (if at times problematic) romance inJapanese literary history; the dynamics of romantic longing, power, and transgressionestablished in these early episodes provide one possible set of signposts through the complexplot of the text as a whole.

These two texts, which are now among the best-known canonical works of classical Japaneseliterature, illuminate many facets of life in the Heian court around the turn of the eleventhcentury, including poetry and aesthetics; ideals of romance and other relationships; sharedassumptions about literary and cultural knowledge; conceptions of death, the supernatural, andthe world beyond the capital; and attitudes toward gender and women’s writing. By readingkey excerpts from the Tale of Genji and Pillow Bookalongside each other, we will aim for adeeper understanding of these themes and the roles they played in Heian court literature.

Set texts:

Set Texts

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Special Texts: Classical Japanese II: Warrior Tales


Hilary and Trinity Term

Teaching staff:

Dr Jennifer Guest

Course description:

In this option, students will read, translate, and comment on selected medieval warrior tales.Our focus will be on iconic passages from the immensely influential Tales of the Heike (Heikemonogatari), which depicts the rise and fall of the Taira warrior clan along with the heroic actsand tragic deaths of characters on both sides of the twelfth-century civil wars. As we examinespecific scenes in detail, we will also consider themes that run through the text as a whole andhave wider implications for medieval Japanese literature, including portrayals of ideal warriorconduct and feats of bravery; Buddhist worldviews and attitudes toward death; the roles playedby women in the tale; and the interaction between written sources and oral performance. Wewill conclude with a quick look at how the characters of the Heike were reimagined in laterstorytelling, art, and Noh drama, reading a passage from the Story of Yoshitsune (Gikeiki) – apopular account of the exploits of the Genji general Minamoto no Yoshitsune and his loyalwarrior-monk companion Benkei that provides a chance to think further about the literaryconstruction of warrior heroes (particularly doomed ones).

Set texts:

Set Texts

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Special Texts: Classical Japanese III: Haikai fromBashō to Buson



Teaching staff:

Dr Jennifer Guest

Course description:

In this option, students will read, translate, and comment on poetry and prose by two great earlymodern haikai poets, Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694) and Yosa Buson (1716-1784). We will read from two poetic travelogues by Basho, Nozarashi kikō (a journey from Edo west into Kansai)and Oku no hosomichi (a journey north from Edo), which offer opportunities to consider theperception of landscape through poetry and the mapping of literary associations onto sites oftravel. We will also examine part of a linked-verse session in which Bashō participated alongside other poets in trading verses to create a combined sequence, and will consider

Bashō’s ideas about the proper composition and linking of haikai poetry. Additional readings in Yosa Buson’s poetry and haikai-style prose will let us consider how he inherited anddiverged from Bashō’s poetic practice and how he participated in literary culture of his day. We will also look at selected paintings, including Buson’s quirky illustrated version ofBashō’s Oku no hosomichi, in order to consider the close relationship between haikai poetryand visual arts. The works of these two poets provide a vivid introduction to the seasonalsystem of poetic topics that underlies much classical literature, and are ideal sources fordiscussing text-image relations, humour and wordplay, and evolving relationships betweenliterary innovation and canonical literary traditions in early modern Japan.

Set texts:

Set Texts

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Special Texts: Japanese Linguistics I: Boku wa unagida


Michaelmas and Hilary Term

Teaching staff:


Course description:

The purpose of this option is for students to examine a particular set of issues in Japaneselinguistics in some detail, while assimilating the necessary concepts and vocabulary in theprocess. Students will read, translate, and comment on two parts of the book 'Boku wa unagida' no bunpō: da to no by Okutsu Kei’ichirō (1979).

This is an important and oft-quoted work on Japanese grammar that takes as its starting pointvarious possible uses and interpretations of the sentence boku wa unagi da sometimes literally(but usually mistakenly) translated ‘I am an eel’. Depending on context, this sentence can beused in reply to questions such as “What did you order?”, “What are you fishing for?”, or“What is your favourite fish?”, amongst many others. Okutsu examines the many sentencesthat can be formed on the same basic pattern from the perspectives of syntax and semantics.

The first excerpt we will read is part one of the book: “‘Boku wa unagi da’ no bunpō”. We will also read the follow-up essay that Okutsu wrote to address some of the observations made bysupporters and critics of his original work: “Unagibun no sekai”.

The book addresses in particular the question of the status of the ‘copula’ within Japanese. Thetopic Okutsu treats here has been and is still controversial in the field of Japanese linguistics.It raises further questions about focus, presupposition, etc., thus covering some basic notionsin pragmatics. As an introduction to Japanese linguistics, the book covers a broad range ofissues using basic intuitions about meaning and grammaticality in a very accessible way.

Set texts:

Set Texts

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Special Texts: Japanese Linguistics II: Linguisticvariation



Teaching staff:


Course description:

The purpose of this option is for students to explore varieties of the Japanese language, and toconsider the factors that bear on the choices speakers make with regard to what they say andhow they say it. The first 2 weeks of the term will be devoted to exploring various dialects ofJapanese and the geographical patterns that dialectal variation exhibits. The readings will betaken from the book: O-kuni kotoba o shiru (Satō 2002). The topics looked at include: the east/west dialect split in Japan (332-3); inferring how innovations spread (334-5); thestandardization of Japanese (336-7); the future of dialects in Japan (346-7); philology anddialectology (358-359); the sources of dialect items (362-3); etc.

The second part of the term will look at sociolects (varieties used by subgroups of a givenspeech community) and registers (varieties used for different situations and purposes). Afterreading a general discussion of different kinds variation according to register (Tanaka 1999: 1-18) we focus on a classic case study on how age difference correlates with variation in thepronunciation of /g/ (Kindaichi 1967:168-197);

The third part of the term will concentrate specifically on gender and sexual orientation as afactor on variation in speech and writing in Japanese, and its interaction with othersociolinguistic variables. The readings are selections from the book Onna to Kotoba (Endō 2001). The topics looked at include: girls who refer to themselves using boku (30-39); whichgenders use masculine and/or feminine speech in TV dramas (91-99); factors on women's useof pauses and fillers in speech (100-111); the place of feminine speech in 'queer' contexts (217-227).

Finally, we will look at yakuwarigo "stereotypical speech in fiction" as presented in thebook Vaachuaru Nihongo: (Kinsui 2003). Students will read the preamble (v-xiii) and thesection "Yakuwarigo no sekai he no shōtaijō" (1-51). Topics will include: "professor-ese" (1-28); stereotypes (29-51); etc.

Main Texts:

1. Satō, Ryōichi. 2002. O-kuni kotoba o shiru: Hōgen no chizuchō, Tokyo: Shōgakukan. 2. Kindaiti, Haruhiko. 1967. Nihongo on'in no kenkyuu. Tokyo: Tokyodō. 3. Tanaka, Akio. 1999. Nihongo no isō to isōsa. Tokyo: Meiji Shoin.4. Endō, Orie (ed). 2001. Onna to Kotoba: Jugaku Akiko-san no kiju wo kinen site, Tokyo:

Akashi Shoten.5. Kinsui, Satoshi. 2003. Vaachuaru Nihongo: Yakuwarigo no nazo. Tokyo, Iwanami

Shoten.

Set texts:

Set Texts

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Special Texts: Japanese Linguistics III: Old Japanese


Trinity Term

Teaching staff:

Professor Bjarke Frellesvig; Dr Stephen Horn

Course description:

The purpose of this option is for students to learn to read, translate and comment on textswritten in Old Japanese, the oldest known form of the Japanese language (from the Asuka/Naraperiod). The writing, the vocabulary, and the grammar of Old Japanese are significantlydifferent from that of the canons of Classical Japanese literature from the Heian periodonwards. The texts will be read and studied from a linguistic, rather than literary, point of view,focusing on the special features of Old Japanese script, phonology and grammar. These textsraise many points of interest for all students of Japanese, but knowledge of Old Japanese is anespecially valuable addition to the study of Classical Japanese.

Most of the texts from this period are poetry. We will read texts from the poetry anthologythe Man’yōshū (compiled after 759 AD), which is the main source of texts from the period,and we will also read poems from other sources: some of the Bussokuseki-ka (“Footprints ofthe Buddha”), a series of poems carved in stone in the Yakushi-ji in Nara sometime after 753AD; and some longer poems that appear within the first Imperial History (Kojiki).

We will also read works written in a ritualistic prose, beginning with a selection of ImperialEdicts (Senmyō), and some related poetry from the Shoku nihongi. We will also read twoliturgical texts from the Norito: Tatuta no kaze no kamwi no maturi (“Festival of the windspirits of Tatsuta”) and Tatarigamwi wo utusiyaru (“Driving away a vengeful spirit”).

Finally, we will read some of the few texts written in Eastern Old Japanese, a group of dialectswith characteristics that are different from the language of the capital, which is that reflectedin the majority of sources. Students taking this option should also follow Professor Frellesvigand Dr Russell’s lecture series Introduction to Old Japanese in Hilary Term.

Set texts:

Set Texts

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Special Texts: Japanese Politics


Michaelmas Term

Teaching staff:

Professor Ian Neary

Course description:

Over the term we will look at extracts from two texts: Seiji no shikumi by Fukuoka Masayukiand Nihon Gendaishi 1945-85 by Fujiwara, Arakawa and Hayashi. The first is a basicintroduction to Japanese politics that assumes no political knowledge. The chapter we will readfrom the second covers the period from prime ministers Tanaka to Nakasone looking at aspectsof both political and economic developments. Students will write essays on four topics that wewill discuss in tutorials.

There will be an accompanying series of lectures on Japanese politics every Friday during MTfrom 12.00 in the Nissan seminar room.

All the classes will be taught by Professor Ian Neary, professor in the Politics of Japan, who isbased at the Nissan Institute who can be contacted at [email protected]

Set texts:

Set Texts

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Special Texts: Modern Literature I: ProletarianLiterature


Michaelmas Term

Teaching staff:

Dr Linda Flores

Course description:

This option will examine the relatively short-lived but highly influential proletarian literarymovement in Japan. The movement is said to have peaked in 1927, the year of AkutagawaRyûnosuke’s suicide, and ended with the Kobayashi Takiji’s death by torture at the hands ofJapanese special higher police in 1933. Despite the brevity of the actual movement, its impacton early Japanese twentieth century society and the literary scene has been profound. In 2008Japan experienced a resurgence in interest in proletarian literature inspired by a Mainichishinbun article in which novelist Takahashi Genichirô and singer/activist/writer AmamiyaKarin discussed Takiji’s 1929 novella and Japan’s socioeconomic problems. That year thecirculation of Takiji’s seminal piece ‘Kani Kôsen’ (The Crab Cannery Ship) skyrocketed fromroughly 5,000 copies per year to over 500,000 copies. Since then Japanese proletarian literarystudies has continued to flourish, and this option will explore both discourses contemporaneousto Takiji as well as current debates.

For this option three primary texts will be read: Kobayashi Takiji’s ‘Yasuko’(Excerpts), Hirabayashi Taiko’s, ‘Nagesuteyo!’ and ‘Jinsei Jikken’. Other works ofproletarian literature will be read in translation, such as: Miyamoto Yuriko’s ‘Koiwai ke’ (TheKoiwai Family); Hayama Yoshiki’s ‘Inbaifu’ (The Prostitute); and Sata Ineko’s ‘Kyaramerukôjô’ (The Caramel Factory).

Set texts:

Set Texts

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Special Texts: Modern Literature II: Trauma andNarrative in Modern Japanese Literature


Trinity Term

Teaching staff:

Dr Linda Flores

Course description:

Saito Tamaki has described the past few decades of Japanese literature as a ‘torama to iyashino bu-mu’ (trauma and healing boom). He has argued that writers such as Murakami Harukiand Yoshimoto Banana are actively engaged in writing as a process of working through traumaand embarking on the process of healing. This option will consider trauma broadly conceivedto include: the Meiji Restoration and modernity; the Pacific War; the atomic bombings ofHiroshima and Nagasaki; the post war Occupation; childbirth and motherhood. We willexplore topics such as war responsibility, survivor guilt, post-traumatic stress disorder, post-partum depression, memory and narrative. Readings will include English language studies oftrauma and memory by scholars such as Cathy Caruth, Pierre Janet, Sigmund Freud, DominickLacapra and Jeffrey Alexander.

For this option two primary texts will be read: Natsume Sôseki’s Kokoro (excerpts) and twochapters from Takahashi Takako’s Sora no hate made (To the Far Reaches of the Skies). We

will also discuss critical articles about trauma and memory relating to both western andJapanese literature.

Set texts:

Set Texts

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Special Texts: Modern Literature III: Gender in ModernJapanese Literature


Hilary Term 2016

Teaching staff:

Dr Linda Flores

Course description:

This option is designed to explore in depth issues of gender in modern Japanese literature. Wewill explore works of fiction that address issues of gender alongside discourses on masculinityand femininity. Of particular interest in this option are literary works that challenge stereotypeson female identity, motherhood, and the ryôsai kenbo(good wife-wise mother)model. Examples of these include infanticide mothers, or women who resist the vocation ofmotherhood, either through acts of violence, through the realm of fantasy, or through engagingin sadomasochism. Topics of discussion will include the archetype of the witch and theinfanticide mother in modern Japanese literature; hyper-masculinity, the bushido warrior code,resistance to motherhood, gender-bending and parody.

We will also read scholarship on gender studies; this may include works by Ueno Chizuko,Mizuta Noriko, Douglas Slaymaker, Jonathan Mackintosh, and Toril Moi.

Three primary texts will be read for this option: Mizuta Noriko’s Yamanba-tachi nomonogatari (josei no genkei to katarinaoshi) (Excerpts); Ohba Minako’s ‘Yamanba no bishô’(The Smile of A Mountain Witch) and Takahashi Takako’s ‘Natsu no fuchi’ (The Edge ofSummer).

Set texts:

Set Texts

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Special Texts: Japanese History I: to 1185


Hilary Term

Teaching staff:

Dr Jay Lewis

Course description:

The readings for this unit were chosen with two purposes in mind. The first is to introducestudents to the field of ancient Japanese history, and the second is to focus on one aspect ofantiquity—foreign relations. Time permitting, a third aspect will be developed that looks at thecontroversial ways history is used to elaborate contemporary identities.

The first text is a bibliographical survey of the fields covered by ancient historians. A newsurvey is published annually, and this survey is the best way for students to identify the latestscholarly work in a field that interests them. Acquaintance with this resource is essential forany historical work—ancient, medieval, modern, or contemporary—and could be the startingpoint for any dissertation topic on any aspect of Japanese history. We will read selections fromthe section on ancient history.

The second text is a modern Japanese translation of the oldest and most elaborate descriptionof the Japanese. The text was written in the third century CE in Chinese.

Time permitting, we will also read sections and discuss the third and fourth texts, which willbe one part of a comparative composite of Japanese high school texts on ancient history. Thesemay also be most usefully read as background.

Set texts:

SET TEXTS

Special Subjects

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Special Texts: The Economy of Japan

Teaching staff:

Professor Hugh Whittaker

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Important Deadlines

Monday Wk 9 of Trinity Term Year 1 Provisional start date of the First PublicExaminations.

Monday Wk 2 of MichaelmasTerm

Year 4 Deadline for applications for approval ofdissertation titles.Forms available here.

12 noon, Friday Wk 10 ofHilary Term

Year 4 Deadline for submission of dissertation

Wk 0 of Trinity Term Year 4 Oral examinations for Japaneselanguage. Timetables available about 5 weeksbefore the oral exams.

Monday Wk 7 of Trinity Term Year 4 Provisional start date of the Final Honour Schoolexaminations.

course handbook: japanese - weblearn · course handbook: japanese ... the paper in classical...

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