Japanese 412: Introduction to Classical Japanese
Spring 2013 Prof. Judith Rabinovitch, X5101 LA 320 rabinovitchj@mso.umt.edu
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 words
in 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 prepare
properly 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):
Final exam:
Short quizzes:
Homework:
End of term translation project:
Participation/preparation/attendance:
30% (15%/15%)
25%
10%
15%
10%
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 previous 90-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 two gratis 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: http://www.umt.edu/SA/VPSA/index.cfm/page/1321.
(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 www.umt.edu/dss.
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 officials when 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.