FACULTY OF LETTERS

The Department's purpose is to cultivate the comprehension of the Japanese language through acquisition of specialized knowledge of the language and its literature, which together serve as the basis of a rich human education, and further, to study in depth the country's broad cultural traditions as seen through the medium of literary works.

Maintaining faculty in all areas of both Japanese literature and Japanese language studies, the utilization for study of the rich materials pertaining to language and literature held by the Tenri Central Library is one of the Department's strengths. Moreover, reading courses, classes on special research topics, and seminars are conducted effectively through direct interchanges with the instructors in charge in small class settings.

The Yamato region has played a crucial role in promoting Japan's modernization. The History Major emphasizes the study of Yamato in the Edo and subsequent periods.

Yamato, the cradle of Japanese culture, is alive even today with the fragrance of ancient culture and its life styles. Unraveling the history which developed here in Yamato while living in just such a place, yet racing one's thoughts to far off Asia and Europe, is the great pleasure of learning at Tenri.

Synthesis of the various fields involved in the study of history, namely, a research approach integrating archaeology and folklore together with textual studies, will take on greater importance in future historical explorations.

Through the study of materials from the fields of archaeology and folklore, the purpose of this major is an attempt at historical description of the ways of human beings from ancient through modern times.