In 2013 I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a research trip to Kyoto and Tokyo to explore, with other European colleagues, the similarities between reading practices in early medieval Europe and Japan in the period roughly 7th to 9th centuries.
This summer we had the great fortune to make a return visit, where we had the opportunity to see more precious manuscripts, to participate in an intense workshop at the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL) and to spend time in informal discussion with some of the leading experts in the field of East Asian glossing.
Once again, our visit was made possible by Prof. Teiji Kosukegawa (小助川貞次) of the University of Toyama and facilitated by Prof. John Whitman of Cornell University. We were joined by Prof. Tomokazu Takada (高田 智和, NINJAL), Prof. Miyoung Oh (呉 美寧, Soongsil, Korea), Dr Valerio Alberizzi (Waseda) and several other specialists. Other participants in the visiting group were Dr Alderik Blom (Oxford), Dr Franck Cinato (Paris, ÉPHE) and Dr Andreas Nievergelt (Zurich).
We are very grateful to the National Archives of Japan (国立公文書館) and to Prof. Masayuki Tsukimoto (月本雅幸) of the University of Tokyo for facilitating manuscript viewing.
This year again, Profs Kosukegawa and Whitman were extremely generous with their time and energy. We appreciate very much their investment in this new and very stimulating collaboration.
Pádraic Moran, Galway, 6 November 2014
