Japanese 412: Introduction to Classical Japanese
Spring 2013 Prof. Judith Rabinovitch, X5101 LA 320
This course is a nuts and bolts introduction to classical Japanese language, its grammar and sentence structure in particular, designed to acquaint you with the inimitable pleasures of classical Japanese as read without the intervention of translation. We will be sampling excerpts from various poetic and prose materials in the literary realm, mostly from the 8th to the 14th century, the Court Period. I will also teach you about the various genres/sub-genres and styles of classical Japanese literature, the forms and conventions of classical poetry, ancient orthography and conventions in the annotation of texts, and many other concerns of the classical literary tradition. Grammatical analysis of assigned passages and English translation activities will occupy a good part of our time.You will also learn the fundamentals of reading premodern “variant” hiragana (hentai-gana), an important skill for all students interested in Japanese literature from any period before 1900, when such hiragana were employed.
This course will be largely conducted in English, as discussions will be, first and foremost, linguistic in nature, and we will also be translating into English. Japanese will be used to render classical prose into Japanese and to make comparisons with modern sentence structure.
The main work of the course will be to read and analyze--and annotate--thoroughly the assigned passages, word by word, using the techniques and knowledge gained in class. Please come well prepared each time to work through the assigned text; please look up and take notes on all wordsin advance and attempt to make at least a tentative analysis of the passage,however far off the mark it might turn out to be (no matter). Errors are natural and expected. Your effort to prepareproperly for and participate actively in each class will be reflected in my grade assessment of your participation and preparation.
I offer assistance whenever you need it: please come in to office hours or ask for an appointment.
Course Texts:
Moodle downloads from course supplement (online)
Kogo jiten (classical Japanese dictionary)
Bungo Manual by Helen C. McCullough
Bound photocopied materials (to be sold at cost)
Grading breakdown: A (90-100) B (80-89) C (70-79) D (60-69) E (50-59); plusses and minuses will also be given at the upper (+) lower ( - ) two-point range of each grade bracket.
Please note that in this course, there is only the traditional grade option.
Midterms (2): 30% (15%/15%)
Final exam: 25%
Short quizzes: 10%
Homework: 15%
End of term translation project: 10%
Participation/preparation/attendance:10%
Further Details Concerning Assessment:
*Two midterm tests roughly at 5 weeks and 10 weeks.Each test is in effect cumulative with regard to the grammar and vocabulary already introduced.
*Final Exam: The final exam emphasize the post-midterm readings but may include some earlier readings and will certainly include constructions learned throughout the semester. The final may have a take-home translation (open book) element and/or a sight-reading passage.
*Brief pop quizzes, given for review purposes, closed book. These will always be based entirely on the previous90-minute class and the discussion points and/or the reading material covered on that particular day. Please review each day’s learning on the day of class and on the day following to prepare for these quizzes. The purpose of the quizzes is to encourage you to correct your work in class each time, take very good notes on the materials that are read, and then review both the reading and your notes prior to the next class. Your lowest quiz score will be dropped.
*Written homework: You will be preparing exercises (early in the semester), then grammar analyses and translations of passages as homework throughout the semester: roughly once a week, I will collect certain items for checking; grading will be on a 0-5 scale. Not every text analysis will be collected. Please note that work collected will generally be material that you have already had the opportunity to correct in class, during our discussion of the assigned texts. Please save all work done in the course carefully, for later review and possibly submission. I will drop one missed (or late) assignment.
*The need to correct your analysis of the passages assigned: During class, please correct each of your errors in your work using a different color ink (or similar). This is so that when I collect your work, I can observe your corrections and see the nature of the errors being made. This practice will help you to remember the corrections, while also assisting me to provide additional clarification of details, as needed. So, please do not simply erase errors during class but instead annotate, inserting corrections.
*Homework checks. From time to time, I will check your homework for completeness at the beginning of class.
*End of term translation assignment (with possible presentation): Details to follow.
Other Important Information:
(1) Attendance / Tardiness Policy:This is a class where you cannot easily catch up if you’ve missed class. For this reason, it is particularly important that you not miss class or arrive late. Each absence beyond twogratis ones (to cover illness and emergencies) will be reflected in a one point deduction from the participation score. Please keep track of your own attendance.Late arrivals will be treated similarly but with a 0.5 point deduction in your participation score after two gratis ones. Early departures will be handled the same way. With very late arrivals or early departures (20 mins or more), I will record an absence, unless there are extraordinary circumstances of which I have been made aware.
(2) Makeup Policy: In order to keep you on schedule, and to be fair to all, there will be no makeups for quizzes, tests, and homework except in documented cases of illness and emergency events (or mandatory off-campus university-sponsored events). If you have difficult circumstances, please advise me preferably before class on the day of the intended absence, if you wish to request any special consideration.
(3) Late work:In regular circumstances, please do not request that I accepted or read late homework (or homework left at home, although completed). Also, please do not ask to go home to pick up such homework after class or ask to send it by email or print it out at any time.
(4) Honesty: All students must practice academic honesty.Academic misconduct is subject to an academic penalty by the course instructor and/or a disciplinary sanction by the University. Please read the Student Conduct Code:
(5)Electronic devices. Please do not use a computer or texting device/cell phone during class and do not use a recording device of any sort.
(6)Moodle/Email. Please check your UM email account and the Moodle webpage every day for important messages and postings.
(7)Students with disabilities or special needs:if you are a student with a disability, please do not hesitate to contact me privately to discuss the specific accommodation/s you may wish to request. I will ask that you provide a letter from Disability Services for Students (located in Lommasson 154) verifying your requirements. For more information, please call DSS or visit them at
General Plan for Course:
We will begin with a survey of the classical grammar and an introduction to the use of handy grammar charts and other tools in the xerox pac.Please buy the course texts, including the dictionary immediately, even if you have an electronic dictionary at your disposal. I will also acquaint you with the use of McCullough’s handbook and the classical dictionary. In the first two weeks, we will learn today how to conjugate Japanese classical verbs and adjectives and how to attach special--and very meaningful--suffixes to them. Some exercises will be completed outside of class as homework and corrected in class. You will learn to identify all the verb families in classical Japanese, as well as to distinguish conjugatable suffixes (like -tari and -keri to show past tense) from non-inflectible ones (like -ba), and you will also learn the terms for the basic parts of speech, particles, suffixes, and so on. We will continue general activities of this sort until the end of week 3, when we will enter the reading portion of the course, using real literary materials.
List of Works to Be Read
(Tentative; please note that the list has been compiled so as to start with easier works and work up to harder ones, rather than solely on the basis of chronology)
“Iroha” いろは(A-B-C) poem: this poem contains each letter in the old Japanese alphabet nicely camouflaged as an imayō 今様poem with a Buddhist message. This renowned, anonymous, undated poem became a model for calligraphy practice and a handy syllabic inventory in the mid-Heian period.
A few selections from Man’yōshū 万葉集[The Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves, ca. 759], the first anthology of Japanese poetry, all verses recorded in an experimental, now defunct script.
Several selections from the first imperial anthology of Japanese poetry, Kokinshū 古今集, compiled 905. Became the model for the twenty-one imperial anthologies of the classical court.
The first page of Taketori monogatari竹取物語(early ninth century), the Bamboo’s Picker’s Tale, the first surviving Japanese tale from the Heian period. Anonymous.
A short portion of Kojiki古事記[Record of Ancient Matters, 712], the first Japanese work of literature, myth, and history that survives intact. Written in an experimental style of writing, which mixes Japanese and Chinese forms and uses a non-defunct syllabic kanji alphabet system. Kojiki also contains more than 100 poems, which constitute the earliest recorded native verse in Japanese (as opposed to Chinese).
An episode from the Tosa Nikki土佐日記(934), the first Japanese literary diary from the Heian period, documenting the adventurous journey of a provincial governor and his wife, as they travel by sea from their provincial post in Tosa土佐(in modern Shikoku) back to their home in Kyoto. Written by Ki no Tsurayuki 紀貫之, a male courtier and poet of high status, who creatively adopts the persona of a female diarist, breaking new narrative ground and writing in Japanese, rather than in some form of Chinese, the usual medium employed by male intellectuals and officialswhen recording diaries and records.
”Harugasumi 春霞,”an amusing anecdote about “poetry contests” taken from the Kokoncho monjū 古今著聞集, a diverse collection of 720-plus interesting stories compiled in 1254 by a courtier named橘成季Tachibana no Narisue.
An episode from Ise Monogatari伊勢物語(ca. 900), the first Heian poem-tale containing poems attributed to famous poet-lover Ariwara no Narihira在原業平and those in his circle.
The little tale “Sorane no Chigo そら寝の稚児” (The Child Who Feigned Sleep), from the collection of tales Uji shūi monogatari 宇治拾遺物語, compiled in the early Kamakura Period (ca. 13th c).
“Anyō no Ama no Kosode 安陽の尼の小袖” [The Short-Sleeved Garment of Anyō the Nun]: a great little story from the Jikkunshō, a morally edifying story collection dating from ca. 1251.
Excerpts from Hōjōki方丈記[Record of My Ten-Foot Square Hut, 1212], a classic work in the zuihitsu essay tradition by Kamo no Chōmei. (NOT INCLUDED SOME YEARS).
ly.