Symposium Announcement: Tangible Knowledge: Japan’s Shōsōin and the Making of Manuscripts, Treasures, and Archives
Bryan D. Lowe
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce an upcoming symposium at Princeton University on the Shōsōin, “Tangible Knowledge: Japan’s Shōsōin and the Making of Manuscripts, Treasures, and Archives,” a part of Princeton University’s Numata Visiting Scholar program. The symposium, organized by Bryan Lowe (Princeton University) and Akiko Walley (University of Oregon), will be held for two days, in-person from March 1–2, 2025. This international conference builds upon an earlier conference at Harvard University in 2023 and we hope that these two conferences will be the start of broader collaborative research on the Shōsōin. This event will also include specialists on Dunhuang and the Cairo Geniza from Princeton University to help expand the discussion to a broader audience and embrace comparative perspectives.
More information on the workshop and a list of speakers can be found here: https://csr.princeton.edu/events/2025/shosoin
Registration will be available soon. The workshop will be conducted in both English and Japanese.
We are able to support limited travel expenses for a small number of interested graduate students. Please send a short one-page proposal explaining your interest in the workshop and relevant training, as well as a detailed budget to bdl...@princeton.edu. We will begin reviewing applications next week, though we will continue to accept applications on a rolling basis as long as funding is available. Precise amounts awarded will depend on need and availability, but we expect that applicants will also seek out some funding from their home institutions whenever possible.
In addition to the Numata Visiting Scholar Fund, the workshop is generously supported by the Department of Religion, the East Asian Studies Program, the Humanities Council, the Tang Center for East Asian Art, and the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.
Sincerely,
Associate Professor of Religion
Melancthon W. Jacobus University Preceptor
Princeton University
Dan Sherer
Hello All,
A student of mine asked if there was any research on the history of Goroawase (語呂合わせ), specifically as to the use of words for numbers. I have not found any myself, but thought perhaps someone in the group might know.
Thanks,
Dan Sherer
Avery Morrow
Goroawase can be traced back to the Man'yōshu. For instance, the text
uses 十六 to express the sound "shishi" and 二五 to express "tō".
Some sources available here:
https://crd.ndl.go.jp/reference/entry/index.php?id=1000325283&page=ref_view
Others:
竹尾利夫（1994）万葉集の数字表記『中央大學國文』37
中村 昭 (1980) 万葉集の数仮名 『上代文学』 45
Some interesting trivia is that nearly every year from 1959 to 1996,
Japan’s Ministry of Finance set the country’s budget forecast to a
number that can be read as a goroawase. A list of these can be found
at the Wikipedia article on 大蔵省による一般会計予算の語呂合わせ.
Avery Morrow
Brown University
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Dan Sherer
Thanks Avery,
My student had been hoping for something a little more recent,
but I will report this back.
As further thanks to you and the list: to anyone who appreciates a
good dad joke, while searching for more on this topic I came
across this list
of century old pun names.
-Dan