2023 Edition

The research and education carried out in the Faculty and Graduate School of Letters is generally called humanities/humane studies. Humane studies concern the overall actions of human beings in the present and past. In fact, they cover a broad range of intellectual inquiry —— from the study of people’s activities in making a living and conducting their daily lives, to the study of their family activities, the study of their cultural and intellectual activities, the study of their political actions, and so on. To understand these kinds of activities and give them their proper significance, humane studies take as clues the vestiges of the past that human beings have left in things, texts, and artistic creation. In addition, fields investigating contemporary society (such as geography and sociology) and fields focusing on observation and experimentation, such as psychology and similar disciplines, are also included in the Faculty and the Graduate School of Letters. In this way, the Faculty and the Graduate School of Letters take an extremely wide and diverse approach to human beings and society in the scholarship done under their aegis. One can say that all of these fields, taken together, constitute humane studies.

Currently we find ourselves in the midst of globalization in all aspects of our lives. On a worldwide scale, globalization packs together economies, people’s daily lives, and information networks, and it strengthens the effects of relationships and mutual dependencies. It also gives rise to grave problems such as political and economic disparities, income inequalities, and environmental destruction. These types of problems must be investigated on a global scale, and thus we must inevitably think of the earth as one community. However, what makes up this world is, needless to say, countries, regions, and peoples that have a variety of languages, histories, cultures, and values. Because of this diversity, we will need correct judgment, fostered by humane studies and based on a deep understanding of the history and cultures of all countries, peoples, and regions, to realize peaceful co-existence and prosperity within the context of globalization. We believe ‘a multi-dimensional view of the humanities’ best expresses the role of research and education in the Faculty and the Graduate School of Letters, a role in which we seek to contribute to the coexistence and the prosperity of the world’s peoples, nations, and regions through studies in various specialized fields.

The Faculty and the Graduate School of Letters are composed of more than 30 departments of research and education. Even after students have joined their respective departments, they can take lectures and courses from other departments, and we have been developing an innovative curriculum in which students can learn widely through inter-disciplinary studies. Without confining themselves narrowly to just one specialty, students broaden their views and look at neighboring disciplines. In doing so, they expand the intellectual foundations by which they can contribute to global peace, and this expansion is precisely the major challenge that contemporary humane studies are being called upon to meet. Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, we have been obliged to revise our view of the past and present of the Japanese state and society, taking into account scientific technologies and environmental problems. We now face directly the urgent problem of creating a concept of a sustainable future society on a global scale. We can say that the role the Faculty and the Graduate School of Letters should carry out in education and research is then all the more important for the peaceful co-existence of human beings based on dialogue and mutual understanding.

Naturally teachers in the Faculty and Graduate School of Letters also instruct students as to the essential reading to do and the standard methods to follow in studying in a given specialty. Our teachers also discuss the results of specialized research in their lectures. However, what and how the students learn and what kind of intellectual experiences they have, will depend on the motivation, enthusiasm, concerns and desires of the students themselves. And, if you as a student knock on one of the doors of our faculty leading to a specialized field, you will find a limitless, broad, and beautiful world waiting inside. Once inside, no one will tell you how you should behave or which direction you should go. Those are things that will be left to the judgment and thought of all of you as students. In that sense, please understand that what will be especially required of you in the Faculty and the Graduate School of Letters is ‘Self-Study and Self-Learning’. So why not muster the courage and come and knock at our door?

The Dean

We encourage students interested in the humanities to develop a clear and wide perspective and think for themselves. In order to gain a broad and deep understanding of any subject within the humanities, the best approach is solid research and rational analysis rather than a reliance on preconceived ideas. Members of the faculty are here not so much to give answers as to think together with the students, encouraging them to develop their own capabilities and cultivate interests that will orient them towards new directions.

Four Years in the Undergraduate Program

Students primarily take general education courses open to all undergraduates in their first year, and then courses offered by the Faculty of Letters from the second year onward. Students are advised to take a wide range of courses during the first year, as those courses will serve as a foundation for later studies. We also recommend that students start learning foreign languages that are necessary in future research at this stage.

Students must choose a specialized field of study from one of the 32 Departments that comprise its six Divisions of the Faculty of Letters. They do so in two stages. First, they choose one of the Divisions in the second year. For this purpose, they are asked to submit applications in the autumn of the first year. Then, they must choose a Department in which to spend their third and fourth years of study. Since making this decision maybe difficult, second-year students can take courses offered by various Departments in order to discover the kinds of research done in the Departments of their Division. They are asked to submit applications for Department enrolment in the autumn of the second year. At this point it is still possible to switch to a Department outside the student’s current Division. It should be noted, however, that the size of each Department is limited and that the candidates are subject to screening.

Specialized training begins in earnest in the third year. Students attend lectures and seminars, some of which are also attended by graduate students. Daily interaction with senior and graduate students will bring them closer to the world of academic research. In order to concentrate as much as possible on their graduation theses in the fourth year, students are advised to amass as many of the credits required for graduation as possible by the end of the third year.

In the fourth year, students are advised to focus on their graduation theses. They are to choose research topics, gather necessary materials, analyze them and organize the results into written theses, operating basically on their own. This process, which may sometimes be arduous, will no doubt prove a valuable and meaningful experience in their chosen careers after graduation. For those who wish to continue their studies at the graduate level, the graduation thesis marks the first step towards a full-fledged research career.

The Graduate Program

The Graduate School of Letters offers a two-year Master’s Program and a three-year Doctoral Program.
Among the benefits given to graduate students is the privilege of borrowing more library books for a longer
period. Some Departments also provide personal desks for their students. Before embarking on graduate
study, first-year students submit research proposals in early April and choose their supervisors. Graduate
students in the Master’s Program are required to obtain 30 credits, a far smaller requirement than that for
undergraduates, so they have enough time to pursue their own research. In order to devote maximum
energy to the master’s thesis during the second year, students are advised to amass as many credits as
possible while in their first year. The title of the thesis, which will likely be a student’s first serious academic
work, must be approved by the head of the Department by mid-October in the second year. We attach great
importance to the thesis in the fundamental belief that it should be constructed upon the work of our predecessors, improve on it, and take it further. A master’s degree is conferred when the thesis has successfully
passed through the evaluation process.

Having entered the Doctoral Program, students will undoubtedly realize that they have now become part of the research communities in their respective disciplines. In some cases, they may even assist faculty members in instructing undergraduates. Although students in the Doctoral Program are under no obligation to obtain credits, they do need supervision in preparing their doctoral theses. They must submit their research proposals for the duration of their entire
program at the beginning of the first year, and plans for the theses at the end of it. In this way their research will progress with systematic precision.

• Administration Offices for all Faculties

Administration Office for Graduate School and Faculty of Letters

• Yoshida Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501
• Telephone: +81-75-753-2700 (General affair)
  +81-75-753-2709, 2710 (Educational affair, Entrance examination)
• Contact Form

See Main Campus Map [Kyoto University main website]. The main building of the Graduate School/ Faculty of Letters is No.8 on the map.

How to get to our campus

See Directions [Kyoto University main website]. The Graduate School/ Faculty of Letters is located in Yoshida Campus.

The Graduate School of Letters now consists of five divisions: Philology and Literature, Philosophy, History, Behavioral Studies, and Contemporary Culture. These are further divided into 31 departments. The Faculty of Letters has always worked closely with the Institute for Research in Humanities, whose staff are directly involved in the education of graduate students.

The Faculty of Letters currently consists of six divisions: Philosophy, Eastern Culture, Western Culture, History, Behavioral Studies, and Contemporary Culture, further divided into 32 departments, although the way they are divided is slightly different from that in the graduate school.

Undergraduates spend the first two years attending classes which are open to students from all the faculties, but at the end of their first year they are required to choose one of the six divisions. At the end of the second year they are required to decide which department they wish to belong to, and spend a minimum of two years majoring in the field of their choice. The B.A. degree is awarded to those who submit a graduation thesis and fulfill all other requirements.

At the graduate school, students must spend a minimum of two years in study and write a thesis in order to qualify for the M.A. degree. They must work for another three years before submitting a doctoral dissertation. In addition to the Institute for Research in Humanities, the Faculty of Letters works in close cooperation with other components of the university, especially with the Faculty of Integrated Human Studies, both in terms of education and research. The Center for Eurasian Cultural Studies (Haneda Memorial Hall) is attached to the graduate school.

Because of the nature of the fields it covers, the Faculty is one of the most internationally-oriented components in the University. Studies of foreign cultures are pursued in many departments and involve a number of international scholars, while the departments devoted to the study of Eastern cultures in particular attract numerous students from abroad.

Most of the lectures are conducted in Japanese, except for those given by non-Japanese teachers, but texts are invariably studied in their original languages, and proficiency in foreign languages is one of the requirements for students in all fields.

The College of Letters (Bunka Daigaku) of Kyoto Imperial University, the predecessor of our institution, was founded in September 1906, consisting of only three departments: philosophy, history, and literature. 110 years later, at the beginning of the 21^st century, we have six divisions (Philology and Literature, Philosophy, History, Behavioral Studies, Contemporary Culture, and the Joint Degree Master of Arts Programme ㏌ Transcultural Studies), and these six divisions host more than 30 departments. In addition to philosophy, history, and philology, we also explore wide-ranging disciplines which are not conventionally included in the humanities domain, such as sociology, history of science, and psychology.

We are proud to be traditional, original, and innovative at the same time. Our most recent enterprise is the Joint Degree Master of Arts Programme ㏌ Transcultural Studies, the newest master’s degree programme launched in 2017. The programme is offered in collaboration with Heidelberg University, Germany’s oldest university, and Kyoto University, in which students spend one year in Kyoto and another in Heidelberg, and submit a single master’s thesis to receive a Master of Arts degree awarded jointly by both universities upon completion. The aim of the programme is to invite students to address the regional and global issues posed by globalization.

Our alumni have made a significant contribution to academic research. Yet humanities studies also open many opportunities outside of the academic profession. A large number of alumni have been leaders in the journalism, publication, and education sectors, and recently many have succeeded in a wide range of careers in the public sector and other industries.

Faculty members pursue their own research, while teaching students based on the cardinal idea of liberal arts education, the “cultivation of humanity through education”. “Globalize your university” is the slogan seen everywhere these days, but, as a world-class leading research institution of the humanities in Japan, we believe that we should continue to make a great and original contribution to international academia, based on our experience, history, and philosophy fostered in the ancient city of Kyoto. We hope many of you will share our philosophy, and work and study with us. We are looking forward to seeing you in Kyoto.

April 2018

Dean of the Faculty of Letters / Graduate School of Letters

Takashi Minamikawa

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