Letters/Humanities
Faculty of Lettershumanities is to inquire into cultural
frameworks that mankind has created, andponder their meanings by going back to theirroots. What is a human being? How has
mankind shaped its long history? How havehumans exercised their imaginative abilities
to create literature and arts? What really are
human cognitive mechanisms and languages,
so essential for human cultures? How has
mankind created its societies and its various
related spaces? Questions such as these arehumanities.
In recent years, the world is undergoing

The Faculty has one department (Department
research divisions, which are further divided
undergraduate course, students take a wideyear, they move on to study their major
subjects. There is an outstanding student-toteacher ratio at the Faculty; the number ofstudents in each undergraduate level isapproximately 120, and 60 faculty members
are assigned to teach them.

Graduate School ofHumanities
Masterʼs and 3 years for Doctoral) of theGraduate School is designed to be consistentand systematic to enable its students morewell as to achieve innovative results in theirin both the Masterʼs and Doctoral Degree
Programs to cultivate students who areof the humanities and returning the research
results to the society.
The Graduate School consists of two
departments: Human Cultural Studies andHuman Social Dynamics. Human CulturalStudies focuses on its principles, by studying
the classical literature related to humans andsocieties. This department aims to endow
students with the ability to investigate theLetters/Humanities

The Faculty of Letters explores the diﬀerent

the IT revolution. However, it is during times
like this when the Faculty must stand by its
main theme of “humanities” to ceaselessly
explore the fundamentals of humans and tobe engaged in the creation of new values
toward the next century.

contemporarysociety. Human Social
Dynamics focuses on the development ofstudentsʼ abilities for the dynamic analysis ofsocieties and cultures. This process will
enable students to understand and analyze
the formation of new social norms andcultures.
Human Cultural Studies encompasses two
divisions: Philosophy and Literature. Human
Social Dynamics consists of three divisions:
History, Cognitive Studies and Socio-CulturalStudies. Each of the divisions is divided into
multiple areas of research and education.
Through this system, students can conduct
more detailed research into their areas ofexpertise.

FURUICHI Akira

Gabriel Nicklin

Associate Professor
Japanese History

International Student
United Kingdom

Kobe has a unique place within Japan, witnessing a great deal of political and cultural changeover the centuries. Despite Kobe being a city steeped in ancient Japanese customs and traditions,
it has nevertheless been accepting of foreign civilizations and their cultural influences. Kobe’s
unique marine location as well as its proximity to other important Japanese cities saw it becomea preferred destination for foreign traders in the 19th century and which continues to this day.
Many students who study humanities research specific materials such as literature andancient history and Kobe’s early access to global communities as well as the easy access it
enjoys to important domestic historical sites makes it an exciting research environment.

I am a member of the Kobe Oxford Japanese Studies Programme, an educational initiative
launched this year in which the twelve students of Japanese in their second year at Oxford
University spend two semesters studying at Kobe University. We take intensive language
classes every morning, and since we are members of the Faculty of Letters, enjoy further
seminars in the afternoon on topics of our interest.
offered for our social and academic welfare by the scholars and staff of Kobe University has
our studies, but above all, it has been a great pleasure to be a member of such a lively
student body with an active interest in intercultural communication, as well as to work
alongside some of the top academics in Japan.

students from the University of Oxford in the Fall of 2012 as part of an exchange agreement.
overseas among Japanese university students, is also flourishing at Kobe University.

Doctoral Program (three years) andMasterʼs Program (two years)

Undergraduate Program
Department

Divisions
Philosophy
Literature

Humanities

History
Cognitive Studies
Social Culture

7

Address: 1-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501 Japan

Tel. +81(78) 881-1212

Areas

Departments

Divisions•Philosophy•Japanese Language and Literature•Chinese Language and Literature•British and American Literature•German Literature•French Literature•Japanese History•Asian History•European and American History•Psychology•Linguistics•Art Theory•Sociology•Art History•Geography

Human CulturalStudies

Human SocialDynamics

Philosophy
Literature

History
Cognitive StudiesSocio-CulturalStudies

E-mail: kouhou@lit.kobe-u.ac.jp http://www.lit.kobe-u.ac.jp/english/index.html

Areas•Philosophy•Ethics•Japanese Language and Literature•Chinese and Korean Literature•British and American Literature•European Literature•Japanese History•Asian History•European and American History•Psychology•Linguistics•Art Theory•Sociology•Art History•Geography•Cultural Resources8