Kanagawa University the 21^st century COE program Systematization of Nonwritten Cultural Materials for the Study of Human Societies

Study Groups and Achievements

Task 1: Compilation and Publication of Multilingual Version of Pictopedia of Everyday Life in Medieval Japan

• Research Process
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• Research Results

The original Pictopedia of Everyday Life in Medieval Japan is a five-volume publication, but our goal for this five-year-long 21^st COE Program was to translate the first two volumes into multiple languages and then publish them. Two sets of reference materials were produced for each volume. One set is the main volume, which can be regarded as the English version of the original. The names of depicted objects and explanations accompanying the illustrations were translated into English. For English-speaking users, this volume alone should serve as a useful reference to Japanese culture as well as a pictorial guide to Japanese medieval history. The other set is a comparative table which allows users to see at a glance the depicted objects and their corresponding names in English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, based on assigned caption codes. It not only shows how objects used in Japanese medieval daily life translate into different languages, but also enables speakers of Chinese or Korean to refer to the original version.

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