Acknowledgments
As a graduate student sitting in one of Sven Osterkamp’s seminars on historical Japanese linguistics at Ruhr University Bochum, my curiosity was piqued upon hearing the term hentai kanbun for the first time in 2011. I was aware of kanbun, and hentai was certainly also a term you just happen to know as a student of Japanology, but the combination of these two words made little sense to me at that point. I naively raised my hand and asked, “What is hentai kanbun?” Little did I know that this question would occupy me for the next eight years, resulting in a master’s thesis on the writing style of the Kojiki and subsequently a doctoral dissertation with a broader textual focus. It is this dissertation from which the present study has emerged.
I was very fortunate to receive overwhelmingly kind-hearted assistance and encouraging words from a great number of people and it is long overdue to thank them here. First and foremost, it is Sven Osterkamp who not only has the knowledge to reply to my questions on even the most obscure side-notes of historical Japanese linguistics with perfectly satisfying answers of impressive detail, but who also carries such an inspiring academic passion that the time I spent writing my dissertation was filled with utmost joy and excitement. The influence of his thoughts and ideas can be seen on virtually every single page of this book. I feel truly privileged that he agreed to act as the supervisor for my doctoral dissertation. Without him I would still be clueless about so-called hentai kanbun.
Likewise, I want to thank my second supervisor, Christian Schwermann, who has provided me with countless insights into the grammar of Old Chinese. Further sinological inquiries were directed to Haeree Park and Lena Liefke, who also competently assisted me. In the final phase of writing this book, I had the honor of meeting Tanaka Sōta
A decisive period during the writing of my doctoral thesis was my stay at the University of Tsukuba as a research student from March 2017 to February 2018, which was made possible due to a scholarship kindly funded by The Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO). My supervisor there was Ikeda Jun
For the publication, an earlier draft of the study received two anonymous reviews in extensive detail from the series editors (succeeded by additional comments from Ross King), to whom I feel greatly indebted for their thought-provoking words. The structure of the study in particular has significantly profited from these reviews.
Moreover, I want to thank (in alphabetical order) Honda Keisuke
Lastly, it appears mandatory to remind the reader that all remaining mistakes are exclusively due to my own shortcomings.