1999 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Publication of E. Kaempfer's Manuscript "Das Heutige Japan" and Compilation of a Comprehensive Inventory of Kaempfer Materials
| Project/Area Number |
09610514
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
独語・独文学
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| Research Institution | KYUSHU UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
HICHEL Wolfgang Inst. of Languages and Cultures, Kyushu University, Professor, 言語文化部, 教授 (50174115)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1997 – 1999
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| Keywords | Engelbert Kaempfer / Solane Collection / Das Heutige Japan / History of Japan / VOC / genroku Era / Tokugawa Tsunayoshi / Intercultural contacts |
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| Research Abstract |
During the first year of this project a text file was made of Engelbert Kaempfer's manuscript on Japan (British Library, Sloane Collection no. 3060). The structure of the manuscript and its features turned out to be more complex than previous publications had stated. Thus further investigations in London became necessary. Only a part of this manuscript was written by Kaempfer himself. Most pages show the handwritings of others who helped Kaempfer to copy his first drafts. Nevertheless numerous ambiguities, repetitions, incomplete sentences, incongruities and misspellings suggest that this was not a final version ready for the printing house. The same conclusion lies at hand when going through the graphic materials bound together in the ms volume 3060. Although we are able to reconstruct Kaempfer's intentions fairly well there remain uncertainties concerning the final form of the book he would have published, if he had been given a chance to do so. In comparison with the printed versions edited by Scheuchzer and Dohm Kaempfer's original manuscript shows a distinctive language of description. This manuscript is an excellent source for cases studies on intercultural perception.
While deciphering the handwritings in the manuscript 3060 some observations on specific phenomena were published in three articles and parts of a book. The voluminous text of the manuscript itself together with more than 9000 footnotes is printed by the iudicium verlag in Germany. Furthermore a detailed discussion of the writing of this manuscript and related questions is published in a separate volume aiming at deepening the understanding of the manuscripts and its contents.
As a byproduct of this project many biographic materials, a sample set of Kaempfer's handwriting and a bibliography of international studies on Kaempfer (the most comprehensive bibliography up to now) were published on the homepage of the investigator.
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Research Products
(12 results)
