The Penn Faculty Working Group for Reading Asian Manuscripts will hold a three-day workshop on reading Edo-period hentaigana and kuzushiji June 28-30, 2018 at the University of Pennsylvania, and invites applications from faculty and graduate students from all fields of Japanese studies to participate.

The workshop will be led by Dr. Laura Moretti, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, and will meet each day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A key feature of this intensive workshop is hands-on experience with a wide range of actual texts, graded by the instructor so that participants can achieve a working knowledge in reading a variety of Edo-period cursive forms. The materials will all be different from those used in previous workshops at Penn and in the Graduate Summer School that Dr. Moretti runs in August in Cambridge (www.wakancambridge.com). We will include materials from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. The workshop is suitable for participants with no knowledge of hentaigana/kuzushiji and for those with elementary or intermediary knowledge.

The workshop will be limited to 20 participants and will require a nominal fee of $100 from each participant; travel to Philadelphia, accommodation and related costs are also the responsibility of the participants.

Applications should include a two-page curriculum vitae and a brief paragraph describing how the workshop will be of assistance to your research as well as a self-evaluation of reading skill in hentaigana and kuzushiji. The workshop requires knowledge of Classical Japanese. Graduate students should also include the name of their advisor as a reference. All applications are due May 15, 2018, by 5 p.m., and participants will be informed by May 30 of acceptance; we will also keep a waiting list and notify additional participants on a rolling basis. All participants will be required to pay the fee upon acceptance. For more information, please contact Prof. Julie Davis (jndavis@sas.upenn.edu) or Prof. Linda Chance (lchance@sas.upenn.edu).