It is only when people become aware of their existence as members of society that they become capable of reflecting on such matters as anger and sadness. Society is a meshwork of individual wills, which find expression in word and deed, and it is when words fail that force comes to be justified. The interrelated development of language and power within a society exerts a decisive influence upon its culture, and it is in the exploration of the limits of each of these entities using demonstrative and creative approaches that the scientific relevance of the combined study of language and culture becomes evident.

The department of language studies was established to develop the study of language and culture, or philology in a broad and modern sense, in close connection with the various disciplines of a social sciences university, as well as to contribute to the overall improvement of language education here. The publication of the journal of the department, Cultura Philologica, is in keeping with these purposes. For the time being it will be an annual publication. In the future its coverage may be expected to widen with the further cooperation of people both inside and outside the university, as already suggested by the balance in the critical reviews in this issue and by the articles outside the fields of language and literature.

In closing, we would like to express our profound gratitude to our colleagues for their unfailing support and understanding since the establishment of the department.

(The editorial postscript to the first issue of Cultura Philologica, 1964)