Realms of literacy : early japan and the history of writing / David B. Lurie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lurie, David Barnett, author.

Series:

Harvard East Asian Monographs ; 335.

Harvard East Asian Monographs ; 335

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Japanese language--Writing--History.

Japanese language.

Writing--Japan--History.

Writing.

Written communication--Japan--History.

Written communication.

Chinese characters--Japan.

Chinese characters.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxiii, 497 p. :) ill., maps ;

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Asia Center, [2011]

Summary:

In the world history of writing, Japan presents an unusually detailed record of transition to literacy. Extant materials attest to the social, cultural, and political contexts and consequences of the advent of writing and reading, from the earliest appearance of imported artifacts with Chinese inscriptions in the first century BCE, through the production of texts within the Japanese archipelago in the fifth century, to the widespread literacies and the simultaneous rise of a full-fledged state in the late seventh and eighth centuries.David B. Lurie explores the complex processes of adaptation and invention that defined the early Japanese transition from orality to textuality. Drawing on archaeological and archival sources varying in content, style, and medium, this book highlights the diverse modes and uses of writing that coexisted in a variety of configurations among different social groups. It offers new perspectives on the pragmatic contexts and varied natures of multiple simultaneous literacies, the relations between languages and systems of inscription, and the aesthetic dimensions of writing. Lurie's investigation into the textual practices of early Japan illuminates not only the cultural history of East Asia but also the broader comparative history of writing and literacy in the ancient world.

Contents:

Preliminary Material

Introduction

Shards of Writing? Early Fragments and the Nature of Literacy

Kings Who Did Not Read: Scribes and the Projection of Power from the First to the Sixth Century CE

A World Dense with Writing: Expanding Literacies in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries

Kundoku: Reading, Writing, and Translation in a Single Script

Governing in Prose: Written Style in the Kojiki and Nihon shoki

The Poetry of Writing: The Man'yōshū and Its Contexts

Japan and the History of Writing

Endnotes

Bibliography

Index

Harvard East Asian Monographs.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-68417-508-9

OCLC:

1132223024

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9781684175086 DOI