The Center for East Asian Studies Committee on Japanese Studies at the University of Chicago is pleased to announce the 2019 Early Modern Japan Summer Workshop: Reading Kuzushiji. The workshop will meet from June 17th-21st. The year’s workshop will feature two tracks: Professor Fujikata Hiroyuki of Tohoku University’s Northeast Asia Center will instruct the intermediate group in the reading of manuscript materials from the Tokugawa and early Meiji periods, and Dr. Nobuko Toyosawa (PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), 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 an informal symposium on the morning of Saturday, June 22nd. We invite participants to 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 John Hope Franklin Room 224, Social Sciences Building, 1126 E. 59th Street

Applications can be submitted online at https://japanatchicago.wufoo.com/forms/reading-kuzushiji-summer-2019

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, 2019.

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.