Waseda University Faculty of Letters has rediscovered the beauty of "Hentaigana", which has been widely used in Japanese classics such as "Genji Monogatari" as a writing style that breaks down Chinese characters, and has a total of 327 characters in modern times. We have released a free app for smartphones that allows you to learn how to read like a game.The English version will soon be released to the United States and Europe by co-developer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
This app was developed as part of the "Tadashi Yanai Initiative Global Japan Humanities Project" conducted by Waseda University and UCLA, and is a traditional Japanese character, Hentaigana and cutting-edge technology. The smartphone app that is is combined.The planning and development will be led by Professor Toshieda and Professor Jinno of Waseda University Faculty of Letters, who are the steering committee members of the project, and Michael Emmerich, an associate professor of the Faculty of Asian Languages and Cultures of UCLA and a visiting associate professor of Waseda University. I did.
Except for some researchers, experts, and people who are familiar with Japanese culture, many people are said to have difficulty reading Hentaigana.Also, even if I wanted to be able to read it, I had no choice but to slowly read the esoteric classical literature and ancient documents alongside the Hentaigana dictionary, and it can be said that the hurdle was high.Therefore, by making full use of modern technology so that more people can enjoy Japanese classics, not only university and graduate students who are interested in Japanese culture, but also junior and senior high school students who are taking classical classes, and Japanese art. It also provides the general public with an interest in Japanese history, calligraphy, etc., with the opportunity to rediscover the beauty and enjoyment of reading Hentaigana.It is hoped that Japanese classics will become more familiar to people around the world who are interested in Japanese culture.
