2018 Kuzushiji Workshop

The Center for East Asian Studies Committee on Japanese Studies at the University of Chicago is pleased to announce the 2018 Early Modern Japan Summer Workshop: Reading Kuzushiji. The workshop will meet from June 11th-15th.   This year’s workshop will feature two tracks. Professor Ken’ichiro Aratake of Tohoku University’s Northeast Asia Center will instruct the intermediate group in the reading of manuscript materials from the Tokugawa and early Meiji period, while Dr. Nobuko Toyosawa (PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, now Fellow at the Czech Republic’s Oriental Institute) will lead a three-day introductory workshop focusing on print materials.  Participants in Dr. Toyosawa’s group will be prepared to join the intermediate group from day 4 of the workshop.  The workshop will conclude with a symposium on Saturday, June 16th in which workshop participants present on their current research.

The workshop is open to faculty, graduate students, advanced undergraduates, librarians, curators, and independent scholars who are interested in reading print and manuscript materials from the Tokugawa and early Meiji periods. .  Please note that the workshop will be conducted in Japanese and participants should have a working knowledge of classical grammar and some familiarity with hentaigana.  There is a $100 program fee that covers copy costs and lunch each day.

The workshop venue is in the Social Sciences Research Building, 1126 E. 59th St, Chicago, IL 60637.

Applications can be submitted online at https://japanatchicago.wufoo.com/forms/reading-kuzushiji-summer-2018/

Modest funds are available to assist faculty and graduate students coming from institutions unable to offer support.

Additional inquiries can be directed to the workshop organizer, Professor Susan Burns (slburns@uchicago.edu).  The application deadline is May 1, 2018. For more information, please visit: https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/kuzushiji/

Participants are responsible for making their own housing arrangements.  In the past, participants have used airbnb to identify inexpensive lodging options.  In addition, housing is available in guest houses in Hyde Park with a listing available here.