A survey of materials on modern Japanese political history: Reading handwritten letters

This course presents an introduction to reading material on modern Japanese political history by deciphering the handwriting of leading political figures, as found in letters from the collection of the Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room at the National Diet Library.
These course materials were compiled from a lecture for librarians given on Feb. 19, 2014 by Dr. Yoshiya SUETAKE, professor at Soka University and visiting researcher at the National Diet Library.

• A survey of materials on modern Japanese political history: Reading handwritten letters (YouTube)

1. Letters as Historical Materials
   What are historical materials? Characteristics and functions of letters
2. Why are letters as historical materials essential for research of modern and current history?
   Outline of written materials in the modern and present-day eras; why letters are significant among other written materials
3. Forms and manners of modern letters
   Composition, grammar, writing paper, format of characters, and envelopes used for modern letters; what changes have been observed over the course of time from the Taisho or Showa eras?
4. Practice in Reading Letters
   Fundamental techniques for deciphering letters
5. Practice
   Explanation of techniques for reading, using letters written by Hirobumi ITO, Aritomo YAMAGATA, and others.