On 18 March, the Institute for Research in Humanities (IRH) held the 12th Tokyo Kanseki (Chinese classics) Seminar at Hitotsubashi Hall of the National Center for Sciences Building in Tokyo, attracting 167 participants.
The Kanseki Seminars aim to make the Institute's over 80 years of achievements in Chinese studies more accessible to the general public, and further arouse people's interest in the culture of kanseki and kanji (Chinese characters).
After an opening address by Professor Minoru Inaba, director of the Center for Informatics in East Asian Studies, three lectures were delivered related to the main theme "The long journey of kanseki from the perspectives of publication, distribution, and storage": "The road of books in the era of the Mongol Empire" by Assistant Professor Noriko Miya of IRH; "Kanseki published by missionaries in the late Ming Dynasty, and also Kirishitan-ban (books printed in Japan by Jesuits)" by Professor Akinori Nakasuna of the Graduate School of Letters; and "Journey of purchasing kanseki; Reading travel literature on China written by intellectuals during the late Joseon Dynasty" by Professor Takeshi Yagi of IRH.
After the event, participants commented that "I was reminded of how little I know about Mongolia," and "Professor Yagi demonstrated that the dots of Kirishitan-ban and those of publications in the late Ming Dynasty are connected to form a clear line, which was a great eye-opener."
From left: Director Inaba, Professor Miya, Professor Namasuna, and Professor Yagi
At the Kanseki Seminar
