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CSJR Newsletter The SOAS Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions September, 2001 no. 4 SOAS ì˙ñ{è@ã≥≥å§ãÜ ÉZÉìÉ^Å[ åˆïÒ http://www.soas.ac.uk/Centres/JapaneseReligions/ Executive: Professor Brian Bocking (Centre chair), [email protected]; ; Dr Lucia Dolce, [email protected] ; Dr John Breen, [email protected] Associate members: Dr. Matsuoka Hideaki, [email protected] ; Yukiko Nishimura, [email protected] ; Anna Schegoleva (Centre assistant), [email protected] From the Centre chair A warm welcome to issue four of the Newsletter of the Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions. Last year’s regular seminar series from January to May began with a CSJR newsletter talk by Charles Rowe on _moto and the new religions of Japan. Subsequently Wim Boot of Leiden spoke on Confucian thought, Koji Mizoguchi (UCL) on prehistoric mortuary practices and Yukiko Shirahara (SOAS) on the sixteen arhats in Japanese art. Mary Picone (Paris) discussed her ongoing research on the ‘menacing foetus’, John Breen (SOAS) brought us up to date on Yasukuni shrine studies and Massimo Raveri (Venice) expatiated on living mummies and ‘the search for the perfect body’. We would like to offer a very warm welcome to Dr Matsuoka Hideaki, the recipient of this year’s CSJR postdoctoral Fellowship, to the new holder of the CSJR Research studentship, Yukiko Nishimura, and to our academic visitor Prof. Ikemi Choryu whose arrival in March 2001 was heralded in the last issue of the CSJR Newsletter. In the following pages you will find brief self-introductions from each of these scholars. Former Chair of the Centre John Breen left for Japan in July as planned, returning briefly to London to host the Kagura performance at SOAS on September 3. The performance was preceded by a lecture by Irit Averbuch of Tel Aviv University, organised by Lucia Dolce. Readers of this Newsletter will no doubt be aware that a major Shinto symposium was held at the British Museum from September 6th – 8th to mark the exhibition at the British Museum entitled Shint_: The Sacred Art of Ancient Japan. More recently, Gaynor Sekimori, CSJR Postdoctoral Research Fellow 2000-2001 who is moving on to a post at Tokyo University, organised the Shinbutsu Sh_g_ Symposium, a two-day international workshop (September 20th – 21st at SOAS) dealing with the relationship between Kami and Buddhas. Reports on these events as well as reflections by Gaynor on her productive year as CSJR Fellow at SOAS are included later in this Newsletter. Finally, a word on the MA program in Japanese Religions sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions at SOAS, directed by Lucia Dolce and now in its successful third year. Three students from last year’s intake have already completed, and we are expecting seven new entrants this year. Increasing interest in the serious study of Japanese religions by significant numbers of very able postgraduate students is an excellent indicator of the intrinsic value and the continuing vitality of CSJR. All of us at the Centre look forward to a new year of interesting activities; thank you for your continuing support for the Centre and we hope to see you regularly at CSJR seminars and other events. Prof. Brian Bocking ii SCJR newsletter no.4 CSJR Seminars Thursdays, 5:00 -6:30 pm Room 336, SOAS main building, Russell Square October 11 Matsuoka Hideaki (CSJR) Beyond Diaspora: Japanese New Religions in Brazil October 25 Cynthea Bogel (University of Washington/SISJAC) Material and Immaterial Functions of Image in Ninth Century Japanese Esotericism November 15 Ian Astley (University of Edinburgh) Ancestors, Predecessors and Successors: Some Issues of Lineage in Shingon Buddhism November 2 9 Bernhard Scheid (Austrian Academy of Sciences) What's wrong with “Shint_”? December 12 Tadeusz Skorupski Joint JRC-CSJR seminar (SOAS) (Note: Wednesday, room G52) Obsequies and Ancestral Worship in Japanese Buddhism from the Perspective of Indian Buddhism December 20 Sueki Fumihiko (Tokyo University) 19th Century Europe’s Encounter with Japanese Buddhism For further information on the seminars, contact Anna Schegoleva on [email protected] (tel. 020-7898-4760) or see the Centre website: http://www.soas.ac.uk/Centres/JapaneseReligions/ iii CSJR newsletter Japanese Religions Forum The Forum, which meets on Thursday evenings between CSJR seminars in term time, brings together post-graduate students, MA and PhD, working on Japanese religions from all academic departments at SOAS. The Forum aims to encourage a multidisciplinary approach to the study of Japanese religions. Forum activities may include PhD student presentations; videos/films related to Japanese religions; presentations by representatives of Japanese religions in the UK; visits to the British Museum’s collection of art and artefacts related to Japanese religions Time: 5:00 - 6:30 p.m., Thursday Place: Room 336 (3rd floor, SOAS main building, Russell Square) November 1 Group visit to the British Museum to view Shint_: The Sacred Art of Ancient Japan all undergraduate and postgraduate students of Japanese religions welcome December 6 John LoBreglio (PhD Candidate, University of California at Santa Barbara / Kyoto University) The Essence of S_t_ Zen For updates on the Japanese Religions Forum programme, please check the CSJR notice board on the East Asia floor of the SOAS main building (opposite room 365) or contact Anna Schegoleva directly on [email protected] iv SCJR newsletter no.4 Academic Profiles From Professor Ikemi Choryu, Academic visitor at the CSJR I came to England in April 2001 to spend a year as CSJR academic visitor, making use of research leave on offer at my own Bukky_ University in Kyoto. Dr John Breen kindly arranged for me to spend time here at SOAS. I am professor of the History of Japanese Mediaeval Thought, and my current research topic is ‘An investigation of the History of the Mentality behind Japanese Mediaeval Tales: the Self and Society, Sin and Shame’. In recent years, treatment of the history of Japanese mediaeval thought and religion from a politico-historical standpoint has formed the mainstream. The mutual exchange we see now between established theory and new-found theory appears, at first sight, to constitute a lively argument, but in reality the situation is one of deadlock. Though I rate the importance of a politico-historical standpoint on the history of thought very highly, this particular problematic now dominates the field and there is a danger that the thoughts and passions of the general, nameless populace are discarded. My own research involves an attempt to clarify the mentality of the masses through an analysis of medieval tales and other forms of literature. It was my awareness of the gap between the general direction of the academic world and the present state of research on the one hand and my own aspirations on the other that led to my decision to come to Britain. In my view, SOAS was the ideal place from which to look again at Japan from the outside. I am now deeply immersed in research. Ikemi Choryu PhD From Dr Hideaki Matsuoka, recipient of the 2001 CSJR Postdoctoral Fellowship I am very pleased to be chosen as the CSJR postdoctoral fellow at SOAS for 2001- 2002. I would like to introduce my research briefly. In December 2000, I took a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley with my dissertation entitled Blemish on Our Spirits: How Brazilians Believe in a Japanese New Religion Called The Church of World Messianity. It may sound strange to most readers, but Japanese religion in general has over one million followers in Brazil and over ninety percent of them are Brazilians. In this dissertation, I analysed why and how a Japanese new religion has crossed “ethnic barriers.” In doing so, I also elucidated the position of Messianity in the Brazilian religious arena. My next in-depth project is to explore the historical transformation of three- dimensional representations of heaven and hell in Japanese religiosity, which will integrate the various aspects of my research since I started studying Japanese religion. While at SOAS, I would like to organise a symposium on religious landscape and/or space. My other research interests include; Japanese modernisation and the transformation of religions, the historical approach to the development of ideas and methods in anthropology and religious studies, and the Jazz Café Jazz Kissa as a public space in the 1960s. [email protected] v CSJR newsletter From Nishimura Yukiko, the holder of the 2001 CSJR PhD studentship I am grateful to the CSJR for giving me this opportunity to continue my research at SOAS with the CSJR studentship. My research will be on the cult of Kannon (Skr. Avalokiteshvara) in Japan. This benevolent deity in Buddhism occupies a distinctive position in Japanese religion, taking a variety of forms and functions reflecting different social and religious needs. Japanese people have called this deity with familiarity and affection “Kannon sama”; Kannon sama often appears in Japanese folk-tales and children’s stories. The cult of Kannon constitutes diverse ways to worship this deity including the pilgrimage to thirty-three Kannon, already popular in western Japan in the Heian period. A variety of art has also been inspired by the cult of this deity; the colossal eleven-headed Kannon in Hase-dera and the ferocious horse-headed Kannon in J_ruri-dera are examples. I think that these artefacts are also important in any discussion of the cult since they highlight, for example, influences from continental countries and the Japanised elements and the religious needs of certain groups of people in certain periods. For example, Kannon was worshipped as a deity for protection of the nation in the Nara period, and my research will also explore the iconography, styles, and especially the function of those artefacts.

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