Dr. Saki Kikuchi

• 2009-2014 B.A. History with focus Assyriology at Universität Tsukuba, Japan
• 2011-2012 Study visit at Freie Universität Berlin
• 2014-2016 M.A. History with focus Assyriology at Universität Tsukuba, Japan
• 2016–2023 PhD studies in Assyriology at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• 2/2023 PhD at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg on Mesopotamische Hemerologien und deren gesellschaftliche Bedeutung
• 4/2022-7/2023 Academic Researcher at the department for Ancient Near East Studies, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
• 8/2023–11/2023 Research visit at Yale University for the Collaborative Research Centre 'Cultures of Vigilance'
• Since 8/2023 Academic Researcher at the CRC 'Cultures of Vigilance'

Scholarships

• 2009–2011 Japan Student Services Organization
• 2019 Travelling Expense Scholarship of the Graduiertenakademie, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• 2016–2020 Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), Research Scholarship: Promotionen in Deutschland
• 2019–2022 Japan Student Services Organization, Graduate Scholarship for Degree Seeking Students
• 2019–2022 Überbrückungsbeihilfe of the Philosophischen Fakultät, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

Memberships

• Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft (DOG)
• The Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan (Nippon Oriento Gakkai)
• The International Association for Assyriology (IAA)

Monograph

• 2024: Saki Kikuchi, Mesopotamische Hemerologien und ihre gesellschaftliche Bedeutung, dubsar 32, Münster: Zaphon.

Edited Volumes

• in preparation: Saki Kikuchi, Mary Frazer, Aino Hätinen (eds.), The Materiality of Mesopotamian Divination, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, Leuven: Peeters.

Articles

• accepted for publishing: Saki Kikuchi, Mary Frazer, Aino Hätinen, “Divination in Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia”, Altorientalische Forschungen.
• accepted for publishing: Saki Kikuchi, Alexander Edomonds, “'In a favourable month, on an auspicious day': calendendrical notion and the question of temporal favorability in Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions”, Melammu Workshops and Monographs, Münster: Zaphon.
• accepted for publishing: Saki Kikuchi, Marie Young, “Ein hyperarchaisierendes Syllabar A und die Schreibtradition im ersten Jahrtausend v. Chr.”, Orientalia 94/2.
• 2027: Saki Kikuchi, “What to Watch: Limits and Choices of Stargazers in the Seventh-Century BC Assyrian Empire”, in: A. Meiser und Röder, B. (eds.), Constellation of Vigilance beyond the Human. Animals, Environment and Technology. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter.
• 2026: Saki Kikuchi, “The Field of History in 2025, Retrospect and Prospect: West Asia and North Africa (Ancient Near East)”,Shigaku Zasshi 135/5, pp. 289–292 (in Japanese).
• 2026: Saki Kikuchi, “A Study on the Independence and Assimilation of the Egyptian Community in Assur during the 7thCentury BC”, in: Y. Watai, Aoshima, C. und Karahashi, F. (Hrsg.), States and Societies of the Ancient Western Asia: Historical and Archaeological Approaches to People's Life and Culture, Tokyo: Keiso Shobo, pp. 83–95 (in Japanese).
• 2025: Saki Kikuchi, “The List of Lucky Days in the Neo-Assyrian period (2): Remarks on variations”, N.A.B.U. 2025/129, pp. 219–220.
• 2025: Saki Kikuchi, “The List of Lucky Days in the Neo-Assyrian period (1): Corrections and additions”, N.A.B.U. 2025/128, pp. 213–218.
• 2025: Saki Kikuchi, Beatrice Baragli, “Hermeneutic Strategies of Mesopotamian Scholars”, Journal of the American Oriental Society 145/1, pp. 155–172.
• 2024: Saki Kikuchi, “Personal Hygiene or Cultic Purity? Analysis of Cleansing Acts in Hemerologies of the First Millennium BC”,Kaskal Nouva Serie 1, pp. 147–157.
• 2023: Saki Kikuchi, “Nr. 30. VAT 10756” (Textbearbeitung), in: S. Maul und Manasterska, S. (Hrsg.), Schreiberübungen aus neuassyrischer Zeit. Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts 15, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 103–108.
• 2019: Saki Kikuchi, “Hemerologies and their Transmission in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Case of Hemerologies for the Seventh Month”, Kaskal 16, pp. 431–452.
• 2015: Saki Kikuchi, “Ritual ‘If a Person’s Body Keeps Faltering like a Sick Person’ and ‘Ištar’s Descent into the Netherworld’: Use of Mythological Knowledge in a Ritual”, Bulletin of the Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan 58/1, pp. 15–29 (in Japanese).

Conference Report

• 2026: Reading the Sky: Divination, Hermeneutics, and Documentation in Ancient Mesooptamia, In: Mitteilungen des Sonderforschungsbereichs 1369 Vigilanzkulturen 1 (2026), pp. 38–39.