Making one's way through the dense jungle of Old Japanese poetry and prose can be a daunting and discouraging task because of the complex writing systems used during the Asuka (550–710 CE) and Nara (7
Although long out of date, Bernard Karlgren’s (1957) remains the most convenient work for looking up Middle Chinese (ca. A.D. 600) and Old Chinese (before 200 B.C.) reconstructions of all graphs that
Schuessler (emeritus, Wartburg College, Iowa) provides information on the origin of Old Chinese words, including possible word family relationships within Chinese and outside contacts. His focus on wo
