Attempting research

[owlectomy]

I guess it is the nature of research, or buying books by mail-order, that once in a while you get a book like this one. I spent way too long discovering that I couldn't make sense of the first chapters, which seemed concerned with the precise geography of the Heian court, before moving to the part that I could understand.

Which is on the relative merits of plum blossoms and cherry blossoms.

(As a symbol of the development of kana, the move from a more Chinese-influenced culture to a more Japanese one, etc. I guess.)

It's unfortunate not to be able to skim very efficiently in foreign languages. And I probably oughtn't even try, but I can't get a decent English book on Heian Japan without going through interlibrary loan. On second thought--Duke has a nice Japanese collection, and it's not that much for a borrower's card. Yay for living in close proximity to research libraries. Close proximity being a relative thing. But I will inherit the ancient minivan within the next couple weeks, it seems; my mother can't take much more of doing the hourlong commute with me.

Comments

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

That does look like a book Everybody Needs to Have, she says wistfully, but I seem to recall other books that begin with equally obscure geography, to intimidate amateurs.