Pre-modern Japanese texts are written in two overlapping traditions. Kanbun is Literary Sinitic (Classical Chinese) read and annotated in Japanese; kobun is the archaic grammar of native Japanese prose. Together they unlock the bulk of Japan's literary, legal, Buddhist, and Confucian corpus.

You don't need Classical Chinese to start kanbun — Japanese readers developed kundoku (訓読), a system of annotations and reading conventions that lets you approach these texts through Japanese. Kobun likewise can be approached with a solid modern Japanese foundation, a grammar reference, and patience.

This page collects the best resources for English and Japanese readers starting from scratch.

Prerequisite note

For kanbun: reading ability in modern Japanese is strongly recommended before attempting kundoku texts. A working knowledge of kanji will carry you far.

For kobun: modern Japanese literacy is effectively required. The grammar diverges significantly but shares its bones.

If you are a complete beginner to Japanese, start there first. Learning modern Japanese is, frankly, the moral thing to do. Once you have it, you will find it almost entirely useless for reading anything worth reading.

What are these traditions?

Kanbun 漢文

かんぶん

Literary Sinitic texts read using kundoku annotations — returning marks (返り点), glosses, and conjugation endings that let a Japanese reader parse Classical Chin*ese word order and grammar. Used in government documents, Buddhist texts, Confucian classics, and much of the official written culture of pre-modern Japan.

Kobun 古文

こぶん / ふるぶみ

The archaic grammatical register of native Japanese, used in poetry, diaries, tales, and essays from the Nara through Edo periods. Verb endings, auxiliary verbs, and particles all differ substantially from modern Japanese. Essential for reading the Man'yōshū, Genji Monogatari, Makura no Sōshi, and similar works.

Kanbun resources · 漢文

English — Start here

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An Introduction to Kambun
S. Crawcour · 1965
The classic English-language introduction. Covers kundoku conventions, returning marks, and the mechanics of reading Literary Sinitic as a Japanese text. Concise and practical — the right place to start.
Start here →
Japanese Morphography: Deconstructing Hentai Kanbun
G. Schreiber · 2022
A modern linguistic analysis of hentai kanbun — the hybrid Sino-Japanese writing that sits between pure kanbun and native Japanese prose. (Yes, that is the real title. No, it is not what you think. Or maybe it is — variant writing can be pretty freaky.) More advanced; useful once you have the basics under control.
Advanced

Japanese — 国語教育 tradition

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新・漢文の基本ノート
日栄社編集所 · 1998
A standard high-school level kanbun workbook from the kokugo tradition. Covers returning marks, glosses, and common sentence patterns with exercises. Good for systematic drill if you prefer structured Japanese-medium study.
Start here →
漢文基本語辞典
天野成之 · 1999
A dictionary of core kanbun vocabulary and set expressions. Invaluable as a reference once you start reading actual texts and encounter the recurring formulaic language of classical prose.
Reference

Kobun resources · 古文

English — Modern linguistic description

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Overview of Classical Japanese
M. Zisk · 2022
A recent, accessible overview taking a non-kokugo linguistic approach. A good first stop for English readers before committing to a full grammar reference.
Start here →
A Reference Grammar of Classical Japanese Prose
A. Vovin · 2003
Comprehensive descriptive grammar from a modern linguistic standpoint, not filtered through kokugo pedagogy. The most rigorous English-language reference available. Use as a desk reference alongside actual texts.
Reference

English — Kokugō pedagogy tradition

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Classical Japanese: A Grammar
H. Shirane · 2005
The standard English-language grammar in the kokugo tradition, with extensive literary examples. More accessible than Vovin for readers coming from Japanese literature rather than linguistics. A practical starting point.
Start here

Japanese — In-depth grammars

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古代日本語文法
小田勝 · 2007
A detailed grammar of Old Japanese in Japanese, covering morphology and syntax with rigorous analysis. For readers comfortable in Japanese who want depth beyond high-school level coverage.
Advanced →
実例詳解古典文法総覧
小田勝 · 2015
A comprehensive survey of classical grammar with extensive real-text examples. Particularly useful for understanding how grammatical rules play out across the actual literary corpus.
Reference

Tools & Projects

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Kanji Restoration
Community tooling for restoring kanji in pre-modern Japanese texts — useful for working with historical documents where characters have been degraded, simplified, or lost. Open source.
github.com/epistularum/kanji-restoration

Questions, corrections, and discussion of kanbun and kobun texts —
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Also consider joining the SEAL CEAL server for broader Classical East Asian Languages discussion.

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