Introduction to week 2
Video introduces the history of *waka* and *monogatari* manuscripts and illustrated books from the 9th to the 17th century.
In this week, we will take a closer look at the relationship between binding style and content, as well as the practice of rebinding and reformatting. Then we will explore the history of waka and monogatari manuscripts and illustrated books from the 8th to the 17th century.
Japanese-language literary works were mostly written in hiragana, the syllabic alphabet derived from kanji. Different formats were used for poetry (especially waka) and prose genres (monogatari, etc.). A great many illustrated books were also made, but they followed a somewhat different path from that of text-only books.
Books introduced in the video
- Bunshō Sōsi
Click to see the information and image
Week 2 materials
You can download PDF version of the text and transcript of Week 2, in English and Japanese at the DOWNLOADS section below.
