VOLUME 4, SPRING 2019 Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University VOLUME 4, SPRING 2019 The Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University (JAH-Q) is a peer-reviewed journal published by Kyushu University, School of Letters, Graduate School of Humanities, Faculty of Humanities 九州大学文学部 大学院人文科学府 大学院人文科学研究院. Copyright © 2019 Kyushu university Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University Editorial Board Information about the journal and submissions editor Cynthea J. Bogel (Kyushu University) The Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University (JAH-Q) is a non-subscription publication available Managing editor online and in print: as PDFs indexed by article on Tomoyuki Kubo (Kyushu University) the Kyushu University Library website at https:// www.lib.kyushu-u.ac.jp/publications_kyushu/jahq; ConsuLting EDITORS as a single-volume PDF at http://www2.lit.kyushu-u. Ellen Van Goethem (Kyushu University) ac.jp/en/impjh/jahq/; and as a free printed volume Ashton Lazarus (Kyushu University) for contributors, libraries, and individuals (based on availability). advisory MeMbers Karl Friday (Saitama University) We consider for publication research articles, state- Seinosuke Ide (Kyushu University) of-the-field essays, and short reports on conferences Fabio Rambelli (University of California, Santa Barbara) and other events related to Asian humanities subjects James Robson (Harvard University) (broadly defined). We also seek articles or reports for Yasutoshi Sakaue (Kyushu University) the themed section, “Kyushu and Asia,” and reviews Tansen Sen (NYU Shanghai) (book, exhibition, film) for the “Review” section. Takeshi Shizunaga (Kyushu University) Melanie Trede (Heidelberg University) If you would like your book to be reviewed or have Catherine Vance Yeh (Boston University) questions, contact [email protected]. Potential contributors should send an e-mail to the editor after referring to the Submission Guidelines: http://www2.lit.kyushu-u.ac.jp/en/impjh/ Contents VOLUME 4, SPRING 2019 KAREN M. GERHART BOOK REVIEW BY ABIGAIL I. MACBAIN Akahashi Nariko (1306–1365): A Force to Be Reckoned Dorothy C. Wong. Buddhist Pilgrim-Monks as Agents With 1 of Cultural and Artistic Transmission: The International Buddhist Art Style in East Asia, ca 645–770. National WILLIAM MATSUDA University of Singapore Press, 2018. .89 Poets on the Periphery: Kūkai’s Vision of Frontier Governance . .21 BOOK REVIEW BY YOKO HSUEH SHIRAI Bryan Lowe. Ritualized Writing: Buddhist Practice and JEREMY WOOLSEY Scriptural Cultures in Ancient Japan University of Artist as Disciple: Miyajima Tatsuo and Hawai‘i Press (Kuroda Institute), 2017.. .95 Sōka Gakkai . .39 Research Note Review JEFFREY KOTYK EXHIBITION REVIEW BY CHELSEA FOXWELL Research Note on Brahmanical Deities in Mikkyō The Currency of “Tradition” in Recent Exhibitions of Astrological Art . 101 Contemporary Japanese Art . 57 Kyushu and Asia BOOK REVIEW BY REBECCA JENNISON Justin Jesty. Art and Engagement in Early Postwar SUSUMU IGATA Japan. Cornell University Press, 2018. Demon Roof Tiles: A Study of the Dazaifu Type Namiko Kunimoto. The Stakes of Exposure: Anxious Onigawara Style I-A . .109 Bodies in Postwar Japanese Art. University of Minne- sota Press, 2017.. .77 BOOK REVIEW BY OLE BRUUN Hong-key Yoon, ed. P’ungsu: A Study of Geomancy in Korea. SUNY Press, 2018. .85 Article Contributors and Summaries Akahashi Nariko (1306—1365): A Force to Be a strong-willed woman who had a close relationship Reckoned With with and powerful influence over her husband, and was a fierce protector of her children and their politi- KAREN M. GERHART cal and social interests. UNIVERSITY oF PITTSBURGH proFessor, HISTORY oF ART and arChiteCTURE Poets on the Periphery: Kūkai’s Vision of Frontier Governance Akahashi Nariko (1306–1365) was the primary wife of WILLIAM MATSUDA the first Ashikaga shogun Takauji (1305–1358) and the mother of his heir and six other children. Her natal SICHUAN UNIVERSITY family, the Akahashi Hōjō, were descendants of the assoCIATE PROFessor oF Japanese Language Taira clan who had served for over a century as regents and LITERATURE of the military government in Kamakura and later as its de facto rulers. But even with this notable pedigree, In the early ninth century, Japan’s northeastern fron- Nariko has garnered little scholarly attention: she tier remained contested territory. Although the region seldom rates more than a footnote in studies about her was nominally incorporated into the Japanese state famous husband, no monograph or article about her as Mutsu Province, the indigenous Emishi repeatedly has been written in English, and there exists only one frustrated Japanese attempts to dominate the region. publication about her life in Japanese. While scholars The numerous military campaigns undertaken during have written much about the military and political the late eighth century yielded dubious results. Fur- machinations involving the Ashikaga shoguns in the thermore, a failed coup d’état in 810, otherwise known fourteenth century, few have written about their wives as the Kusuko Incident, compounded the imperial and mothers. Seeking to develop a fuller understand- court’s difficulties. In response to these challenges to ing of Akahashi Nariko, this essay offers a picture of court authority, the thoroughly sinophilic Emperor IV Saga reinforced the ritsuryō system of governance, REVIEW including a renewed emphasis on monjō keikoku (statecraft through writing) as a political technology The Currency of “Tradition” in Recent and justification for literary production. This article Exhibitions of Contemporary Japanese Art presents and analyzes two epistle-poems written by EXHIBITION REVIEW BY CHELSEA FOXWELL Kūkai to Ono no Minemori and Ōtomo no Kunimichi UNIVERSITY oF ChiCAGO on the eve of their respective postings to governor- assoCIATE PROFessor, DEPARTMent oF ART ships in the northeastern borderlands. These texts history demonstrate how Kūkai creatively appropriated conti- nental literary and historical source materials to situate Minemori and Kunimichi’s assignment to the frontier within the framework of monjō keikoku thought. Justin Jesty. Art and Engagement in Early Postwar Japan. Cornell University Press, 2018. Namiko Kunimoto. The Stakes of Exposure: Artist as Disciple: Miyajima Tatsuo and Sōka Anxious Bodies in Postwar Japanese Art. Gakkai University of Minnesota Press, 2017. JEREMY WOOLSEY BOOK REVIEW BY REBECCA JENNISON TOKYO UNIVERSITY oF the ARTS KYOTO SEIKa UNIVERSITY Ma CANDIDATE, GRADUATE sCHOOL oF gLobaL PROFessor oF LITERATURE and gender arts studies Miyajima Tatsuo is a globally recognized artist known for his immersive installations of LED counters. His Hong-key Yoon, ed. P’ungsu: A Study of work emphasizes the cyclical nature of time and is Geomancy in Korea. SUNY Press, 2018. often described as “Buddhist,” but without reference to BOOK REVIEW BY OLE BRUUN the specific type of Buddhism that informs Miyajima’s ROSKiLde UNIVERSITY production. This article looks closely at Miyajima’s PROFessor oF INTERNATIONAL DEVELopMent profound affiliation with the Buddhist religious orga- studies nization Sōka Gakkai and references the artist Joseph Kosuth’s understanding of conceptual art to analyze Miyajima’s work. It argues that Miyajima’s produc- tion represents a form of religious practice rooted in Dorothy C. Wong. Buddhist Pilgrim- Nichiren Buddhism and the cultivation of an “insepa- Monks as Agents of Cultural and Artistic rable bond” (shiteifuni) with Sōka Gakkai’s third pres- Transmission: The International Buddhist ident, now honorary president, Ikeda Daisaku. The Art Style in East Asia, ca. 645–770. National article aims to counter the dominance of seculariza- University of Singapore Press, 2018. tion narratives in contemporary art that frame the use BOOK REVIEW BY ABIGAIL I. MACBAIN of religious themes and motifs as a matter of individ- CoLuMBIA UNIVERSITY ual interest and expression, rather than organizational PHD CANDIDATE, DEPARTMent oF EAST ASIAN affiliation and collective practice. Languages & CuLtures SPRING 2019 JOURNAL OF ASIAN HUMANITIES AT KYUSHU UNIVERSITY V Bryan Lowe. Ritualized Writing: Buddhist Practice and Scriptural Cultures in Ancient Japan. University of Hawai‘i Press (Kuroda Institute), 2017. BOOK REVIEW BY YOKO HSUEH SHIRAI INDEPENDENT sChoLar RESEARCH NOTE Research Note on Brahmanical Deities in Mikkyō Astrological Art JEFFREY KOTYK MCMASTER UNIVERSITY POSTDOCTORAL FeLLoW, DEPARTMent oF reLigious studies KYUSHU AND ASIA Demon Roof Tiles: A Study of the Dazaifu Type Onigawara Style I-A SUSUMU IGATA CURATOR, KYUSHU HISTORICaL MUSEUM This article takes up a distinctive regional type of Japanese roof tile known as the onigawara, or “demon tile,” embellished with the face or form of an ogre. Featured is the first onigawara to represent only the face of a demon, a type made in Dazaifu, northwest Kyushu, where a regional government office was located from the end of the seventh century through the Nara (710–784) and Heian (794–1185) periods. The highly skilled modeling of the demon’s exaggerated features, gaping mouth, and bared teeth combine with a clever design of these elements on a distinctive tile contour that melds function with form. The design and modeling of these tiles differs both from continental examples and contemporaneous works made in the Nara capital. Prominently placed on the roofs of Dazaifu’s most important buildings, eighth-century Dazaifu onigawara embody the character of the place and