By David Yamaguchi
The North American Post
![anoop17-nobuko-headshot2-BEST-DSC02706-2-PS-ADJ | Seattle’s Japanese Community News – North American Post](https://i0.wp.com/napost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/anoop17-nobuko-headshot2-BEST-DSC02706-2-PS-ADJ.jpg?resize=264%2C300&ssl=1)
JUNE PhD recipient Nobuko Horikawa was chosen to receive the UW Graduate School’s 2023 Distinguished Dissertation Award (category: Humanities and Fine Arts) for her dissertation, “The Sinitic Poetry of the Zen Abbess Taisei Shōan (1668-1712).” The award includes a $1,000 honorarium. Additionally, her dissertation is being submitted as the UW’s nomination for the Council of Graduate Schools/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award.
The Sinitic in the title refers to the 1000-year period across which Japanese scholars wrote entirely in Chinese kanji characters. The writings of women during this era in this style have largely been ignored. ProQuest is a company that provides information services for libraries, including access to dissertations, theses, and newspapers (including this newspaper).
Horikawa is presently busy teaching a summer intensive Japanese class.
![japanese-sinitic-writing-loc-screencap-PS-ADJ | Seattle’s Japanese Community News – North American Post](https://i0.wp.com/napost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/japanese-sinitic-writing-loc-screencap-PS-ADJ.jpg?resize=465%2C658&ssl=1)