Rethinking the Boundaries Between Religion and Culture in Premodern Japan: Religious Practitioners, Aristocrats, and the Transformation of Japanese Literatures (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign )

The University of Illinois Department of Religion and Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures will host a major international symposium, “Rethinking the Boundaries Between Religion and Culture in Premodern Japan: Religious Practitioners, Aristocrats, and the Transformation of Japanese Literatures,” which is to be held March
18-19, 2010, at the Levis Center at the University of Illinois, and will features a series of Japanese and American scholars of Premodern Japanese Religion, Literature, and History. The Keynote Speakers will be Susan Blakeley Klein (University of California, Irvine) and Nemoto Seiji (University of Tsukuba), eminent scholars in the study of Buddhist arts and Buddhist history, respectively. Other scholars who will present papers include Professors Terry Kawashima (Wesleyan University), Asuka Sango (Carleton College), Uejima Susumu (Kyoto Prefectural University), Kawasaki Tsuyoshi (Shujitsu University, and Chikamoto Kensuke (University of Tsukuba). The schedule is below,
followed by the list of major sponsors.
 
The symposium will address an important problem in the study of the relationship between religion--especially Buddhism-- and culture: how did those in non-western and pre-modern societies more generally understand the relationship between religiosity and cultural practice? For example, in premodern Japan, how did religious belief and ritual influence the reformulation or creation of various forms of art and literature? This event brings together leading Japanese and American scholars of Japanese literature, history and religion for the first time to examine and resolve these questions in a two-day symposium.
 
Thank you,
 
Brian Ruppert
Head
Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
 
 
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PARTICIPATION: Those who would like to attend need to register for the event (attendance is free). Please e-mail Hyungju Hur at hur@illinois.edu to register. Also, a block of rooms for anyone interested in registering for the event is being held in the Illini Union Hotel for the nights of March 17 and 18; attendees will pay for their own rooms, and will need to call the Illini Union Hotel Desk Illini Union 1401 West Green Street Urbana, Illinois 61801 (217-333-3030; http://union.illinois.edu/services/hotel/Default.aspx) by FEBRUARY 15 and confirm that they plan to stay March 17 and/or 18
for the “Premodern Japan Symposium.”
 
 
" Rethinking the Boundaries Between Religion and Culture in Premodern Japan: Religious Practitioners, Aristocrats, and the Transformation of Japanese Literatures "
 
Schedule
 
Thursday, March 18, 2010
 
10:00-11:45 AM
Welcoming Remarks: Brian Ruppert, EALC (and Doug Kibbee?)
 
Public Viewing and Discussion (Levis, 3rd Floor): Documentary: “Kōfukuji and Kasuga Taisha: Rites of Kami-Buddha Amalgamation and the People Who Support Them” (2009).
 
Discussants: Ronald Toby, University of Illinois, and William Londo, Michigan State University.
 
Noon-1:15 PM
Lunch Break
 
1:30 PM-3:15 PM
Keynote Addresses (Levis, 3rd Floor):
 
Susan Blakeley Klein, University of California at Irvine: “Dancing the Dharma: Noh, Religion, and Politics in Medieval Japan”
 
Nemoto Seiji, University of Tsukuba, “The View from the Nihon ryōi ki: The Development and Transmission of Nara Buddhism: (奈良仏教の 継承と展開―『日本霊異記』の視点から―)”
 
3:30-5:00 PM
 
Session 1 (Levis, 3rd Floor):
 
Chikamoto Kensuke, University of Tsukuba: “Saigyō and the In: On the Religious Policies of the Cloistered Sovereign and the Writing Practices of ‘Holy Men’” (院の宗教施策と聖の文筆活動―鳥羽院と西行を視座
として―)
 
Brian Ruppert, University of Illinois: “Sacred Works (Shōgyō), Medieval Buddhism, and Écriture Culture (Bunpitsu Bunka)”
 
Discussant: Asuka Sango, Carleton College
 
 
Friday, March 19, 2010
10 AM-Noon
Session 2 (Levis, 3rd Floor):
 
Kawasaki Tsuyoshi, Shujitsu University: “On the Formation and Development of Kumano Belief: The Shintōshū and its Environs” (熊野信仰の形成と展開―『神道集』とその周辺―)
 
Terry Kawashima, Wesleyan University: Multiplicity and Movement: Power and Geography in Shintōshū’s (『神道集』) Suwa Shrine Narratives”
 
Discussant: Robert Tierney, University of Illinois
 
Noon-1:00
Lunch Break
 
1:15-2:45 PM
Session 3 (Levis, 3rd Floor):
 
Asuka Sango, Carleton College: “When Ritual Fails: the Schedule Conflict between the Emperor’s and the Retired Emperor’s Buddhist Rituals in the Late Heian Period”
 
Uejima Susumu, Kyoto Prefectural University: “Mythology and the Creation of Medieval Sovereignty” (中世王権の創出と神話)
 
Discussant: Ronald Toby, University of Illinois.
 
3: 00-5:15 PM
Session 4 (Levis, 3rd Floor):
 
Ma Yao, Ph.D. candidate, University of Tsukuba: “Mountain Belief in the Era of Cloistered Sovereign Shirakawa: On Ōe no Masafusa’s Works”
(白河院政期の山岳信仰―大江匡房の著作を通して ―) 　　
 
Funagi Azusa, Ph.D. candidate, University of Tsukuba: “Konjaku monogatarishū as Pioneering ‘Cloistered Sovereigns Era Literature’ ”
(院政期文芸としての『今昔物語集』―先駆性の観 点から―)
 
Yeonjoo Park, Ph.D. candidate, University of Illinois: "Buddhist Construction of Kami- Buddha Discourse in Early Medieval Japan: Thinking through the Symbolism of Kami in Keiranshūyōshū"
 
Discussant: Chikamoto Kensuke.
Discussant: Alexander Mayer.
 
 
Major Sponsors: The Collaborative Research Group "Studies of Temple Literature Related to Religious Policies of the Cloistered Sovereigns Era: Crossdisciplinary Investigations of the Toba to Go-Toba Reigns" (Representative: Kensuke Chikamoto) (Scientific Grant for Basic Research (B)), The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, The University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, School of Literatures, Cultures & Languages, the Department of Religion and the Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures as well as Tsukuba University Inter Faculty Education & Research Initiative (IFERI).