Eminent Japanese philology expert at the College de France, Jean-Noël Robert gave a masterful inaugural lecture in 2012, as reproduced here. This reflection is of great interest in discovering the Buddhist sources that underpin the discourse of Kawabata, when he received his Nobel Prize in 1968. From the examination of these sources (and their impact in the text Kawabata) Robert JN comes to define the relationship between the Japanese language and Chinese classic, and more broadly between the Japanese language and Chinese culture. He said Kawabata is the last 'big' who testified that relationship here named 'hieroglossia'. This reflection therefore offers a dense content, scholar and safer. All lovers of Japan will find here a very rewarding substance.
