Japan, ostensibly one of the least religious countries in the world, had its political order upended by the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai. That is THE story about Friday's epochal shift in Japanese politics (thread follows):
10.10.2025 18:55 — 👍 174 🔁 65 💬 5 📌 16
Zen Time
Out now! If you ever wondered about Dogen's cryptic text in time and how it related to what Zen monks actually did in their monasteries-or how to read Dogen not as pre-Heideggerian, here's the book for you. @studyoftime.bsky.social
sunypress.edu/Books/Z/Zen-...
01.09.2025 12:34 — 👍 17 🔁 6 💬 2 📌 1
Forms & Function: The Splendors of Global Book Making
Highlighting the diversity of global book making traditions using examples from the Princeton University Library, this exhibition focuses on the continuous transmission and exchange of formal aspects ...
Hardly on here anymore, but if anyone is near Princeton and interested in book history, you MUST check out the absolutely amazing new exhibition Forms & Function: The Splendors of Global Book Making curated by Martin Heijdra at Firestone Library through 12/7 📖📜 library.princeton.edu/formsandfunc...
10.09.2025 01:16 — 👍 28 🔁 10 💬 0 📌 1
Karma as active resistance
Karma is one of the most well-known concepts associated with Buddhism in the West. In many Asian countries where Buddhism has shaped the social and cultural landscape for more than...
Jin Park's Karma as Active Resistance in @immanentframe.bsky.social 's series Karmic Historiography:
tif.ssrc.org/2025/08/20/k...
"To conceive of karma as active resistance, then, is to cultivate awareness and agency in ways that challenge both structural and internalized forms of domination."
26.08.2025 14:26 — 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
New issue of the Journal of Japanese Studies is out! Highlights include articles on kanpu masatsu, war photography, empire paranoia, Italian-Japanese children's lit, Seidensticker’s style, and a bonus piece on Black Rain and ritual. Don’t miss it!
04.08.2025 19:14 — 👍 40 🔁 18 💬 1 📌 1
NIRC
The Japanese Journal of Religious Studies @jjrs-nirc.bsky.social ✨50th anniv issue✨ abt past, present, & future of 🇯🇵 religious studies is out!
🙏Paul Swanson, Hayashi Makoto, Kawahashi Noriko, Keller Kimbrough, Emi Foulk Bushelle, @orionklautau.bsky.social @jolyonbt.bsky.social @aikerots.bsky.social
30.07.2025 03:57 — 👍 36 🔁 18 💬 2 📌 2
Dogen’s Last Text: An Evolution or a Radical Change?
Join this Tricycle Premium event on May 6 at 2 p.m. ET with Dr. Steven Heine on Zen master Dogen’s last text, the “12 Fascicles Collection.”
Join Zen scholar Dr. Steven Heine on May 6 at 2 p.m. ET for a deep dive into what is believed to be Dogen’s final, unfinished work—the “12 Fascicles Collection.” What do these late teachings tell us about Dogen’s view on zazen versus karma?
Learn more and sign up today!
17.04.2025 14:13 — 👍 8 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
NIRC
The most recent issue of the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies (JJRS) @jjrs-nirc.bsky.social is now available!
A special issue edited by Michael Como & Haruo Shirane at @columbiauniversity.bsky.social on the broad themes of "Borders, Performance, Deities."
nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/journal/6/is...
03.04.2025 04:14 — 👍 18 🔁 9 💬 1 📌 0
New job:
Postdoctoral Fellowship in Japanese Buddhism
University of California - Berkeley
www.h-net.org/jobs/job_displa...
02.04.2025 23:26 — 👍 2 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 1
Illustrated Lotus sutra. Half of an image on the right shows demons squatting by a tree, followed by Chinese text. The next image has a person being bound for punishment with a magistrate seated above him. Another man appears to have broken free, and the deity Kannon, who saved him, hovers above. This is followed by more text and half of an image of warfare.
Three images of manifestations of Kannon with short bits of Chinese text between each one.
I got to see this #ManuscriptMonday illustrated 13th-century copy of the Lotus Sutra in person last week. It's based on a 1208 Chinese printed edition, showing that book technologies don't just shift from manuscript to print but go the other way too. #MedievalSky www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
31.03.2025 11:23 — 👍 30 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 0
Plain Chinese calligraphy, preserved on a song dynasty manuscript signed 1254.
A very rare Song dynasty #manuscript up for auction this week. A parting poem to a Zen student written by Chan Master Xutang Zhiyu 虛堂智愚 (1185-1269), signed and dated 1254. This is exactly the kind of poem and manuscript I studied at length in my book “The Poetry Demon.”
25.03.2025 00:33 — 👍 41 🔁 11 💬 1 📌 1
We are hosting a book talk on March 22 10:30am~noon (JST) for our recent publication The New Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions. The lecture will be in Japanese, but Q&A in English is welcomed.
The event is online and registration is required. You can register at the link below or the QR code.
16.03.2025 00:54 — 👍 6 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 1
Panel abstract for panel on Thursday at 7 PM in Room B230 (Level 2, Convention Center. Panel title=So You Want to Make a Temple: A Transhistorical Look at Craft and Community in Japan. Abstract reads: "This panel explores the relationship between craft and community in premodern Japan through an examination of illustrated religious narratives, technical guides, and the archeological traces of large-scale construction projects. We look at the building of temples (and shrines) from a transdisciplinary and transhistorical perspective, covering from economic networks and religious expansion to new models of resilience and authority. Bryan Lowe (Religion) reveals how the eighth-century shift from tiled to thatched roofs in provincial temples allowed village collectives to bypass the court’s control over skilled labor and resources, both accelerating the spread of Buddhism to the provinces and complicating center-periphery relationships. Ariel Stilerman (Literature) discusses how medieval tales on the miraculous origins of temples and shrines used depictions of technology and of the social life of crafting communities to reshape the place of temples in society in the aftermath of natural disasters. Nicolle Bertozzi (History) investigates how the introduction of bidding systems to early modern temple construction projects elevated chief carpenters to positions of social and economic prominence within crafting communities, while transforming the way technical knowledge was transmitted and shaped by contemporary ideologies. Together, these presentations offer a compelling picture of how cultural artifacts and construction practices can reflect and reshape communal identities, religious practices, relationships of power, and economic development."
Paper abstract for paper on Thursday at 7 PM in Room B230 (Level 2, Convention Center. Paper title=Do-It-Yourself Temple Construction and the Spread of Buddhism in Eighth-Century Japan. Abstract reads: From the late eighth century, a new type of temple began to appear in the Japanese countryside: modest structures built using local architectural techniques. These village temples (sonraku jiin) lacked the roof tiles, pagodas, and other complex features of earlier monasteries, whose construction required advanced engineering skills. My paper will compare these late eighth- and early ninth-century village temples with earlier, more sophisticated provincial monasteries. Due to their simpler construction, village temples could be erected by provincial communities without relying on the court’s specialized craft technologies. Although Buddhism had been present in the provinces for about a century before the rise of village temples, the provincial gentry and the court controlled monastic patronage from the late seventh to early eighth centuries. The construction of earlier temples demanded significant technical knowledge, which allowed local elites to dominate provincial patronage. My paper argues that while access to advanced craft technologies initially facilitated the spread of Buddhism, temple construction became more independent from state officials and local elites over time. Provincial communities built places of worship with do-it-yourself architectural methods that did not require the same level of engineering expertise as earlier monasteries. In this way, I show how village communities’ use of local craft technologies in temple construction facilitated the spread of Buddhism in Japan. My presentation challenges standard scholarly narratives that date the popularization of Buddhism to the twelfth century. Instead, I introduce archaeological evidence to demonstrate that Buddhism spread to provincial villages four centuries earlier than commonly believed.
Off to the Association for Asian Studies's annual conference tomorrow. Please consider checking out our panel "So You Want to Make a Temple: A Transhistorical Look at Craft and Community in Japan." I'll be presenting on how accessible technologies enabled Buddhism's spread in the 8th-9th centuries.
12.03.2025 03:20 — 👍 15 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 1
2024年度大須文庫調査研究報告会
令和六年度人文学研究科研究プロジェクト「真福寺大須文庫のアーカイヴ創成プロジェクト―今後の宗教遺産テクスト学の発展に向け―」
2025年3月28日（⾦）13:30〜17:30
名古屋大学 文系総合館７階 カンファレンスホール
事前申込不要
主催：名古屋大学人文学研究科附属人類文化遺産テクスト学研究センター
共催：名古屋大学最先端国際研究ユニット「文化遺産と交流史のアジア共創研究ユニット」
問い合わせ：guo.jianing.n3@f.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp
開会挨拶：
周藤芳幸（名古屋大学人文学研究科長）
第一部：文庫整理の歴史と課題
「文政文庫から黒板目録へ」鳥居和之（大須文庫長）
「名古屋大学による調査の成果と課題」三好俊徳（仏教大学）
「コロナ禍以降の大須文庫調査の現状」郭佳寧（名古屋大学）
第二部：真福寺善本叢刊第３期『神道篇別巻』刊行記念報告
「大須文庫所蔵神道関連聖教の調査と復元ー八十通印信・『諸大事』を中心に」大東敬明（國學院大學）
「中世神道研究史上における真福寺（大須観音）神道文献の重要性」伊藤聡（茨城大学）
全体討論
2024年度大須文庫調査研究報告会
2025年3月28日（⾦）13:30〜17:30
名古屋大学 文系総合館７階 カンファレンスホール
事前申込不要
第一部：文庫整理の歴史と課題
「文政文庫から黒板目録へ」鳥居和之（大須文庫長）
「名古屋大学による調査の成果と課題」三好俊徳（仏教大学）
「コロナ禍以降の大須文庫調査の現状」郭佳寧（名古屋大学）
第二部：真福寺善本叢刊第３期『神道篇別巻』刊行記念報告
「大須文庫所蔵神道関連聖教の調査と復元ー八十通印信・『諸大事』を中心に」大東敬明（國學院大學）
「中世神道研究史上における真福寺（大須観音）神道文献の重要性」伊藤聡（茨城大学）
12.03.2025 08:52 — 👍 5 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 1
NIRC
We are excited to announce the publication of a special issue ": Searching for Legitimacy: Tenrikyo, Omoto, and 'Marginalized' Religions of Modern Japan." The complete issue as well as individual articles can be accessed free of charge on our website.
06.03.2025 02:17 — 👍 8 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0
Poster for Etoki storytelling event with images of three monks at top.
Cool event at Columbia on the picture-preaching tradition in Japan on March 11. ealac.columbia.edu/event/etoki-...
05.03.2025 21:49 — 👍 7 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
CALL FOR PAPERS for NEW #AAR SEMINAR, "Buddhism and Caste" (PLEASE SHARE WIDELY)
DUE MARCH 3 via #AAR PAPERS system
@adeanamcn.bsky.social and I are pleased to announce the first paper call for our new 5-year seminar at the American Academy of Religion. Details here: papers.aarweb.org/group/15085
31.01.2025 22:12 — 👍 14 🔁 10 💬 0 📌 2
正倉院展用語解説 ｜ The Exhibition of Shōsō-in Treasures Glossary
正倉院展用語解説では正倉院宝物にもちいられた材質や技法、関連する事項などを調べることができます。
Just discovered this wonderful, relatively new resource: a glossary of Shōsōin terms with explanations and English translations of terms related to the treasures, materials, craft techniques, and more.
shosointen-glossary.narahaku.go.jp
31.01.2025 13:10 — 👍 19 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
got this in my mailbox last night. happy dance. now I'm a published author!
26.01.2025 16:22 — 👍 54 🔁 8 💬 7 📌 2
Historian of emotions, still much attached to all things medieval--art, literature, feelings, charters... Recent books on anger, love, and old age. Now writing a novel about my family, from the Pale of Settlement to now.
CONNECTING THE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL.
Working on Hokusai publication. Postdoctoral Fellow, East Asian Art History, University of Zurich. Japanese arts, prints and digital humanities specialist.
The Immanent Frame publishes interdisciplinary perspectives on religion, secularism, and the public sphere. It was founded in October 2007 in conjunction with the Social Science Research Council’s program @religionssrc.bsky.social.
Offering BA Major, BA Minor, AA Degree, and lots of interesting courses. Located on the unceded territories of the Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Tsawwassen, & Musqueam Peoples.
See https://tenuretracker.info/ for the most complete & worldwide overview of open postdoc, tenure track, (junior) professor, and lecturer positions.
Visit the site to search for specific positions and subscribe to email notifications
Academic books, journals and news from the Asian Studies department at De Gruyter Brill @degruyterbrill.bsky.social. Posts by our editors.
The Buddhist Digital Resource Center preserves Buddhist literature for the world. Using state-of-the art technology, BDRC is the leading digital archive of Buddhist texts, working with local partners to provide free access for the global community. bdrc.io
The H-Net Job Guide is proud to be one of the leading sources of position announcements in the fields of the Humanities and Social Sciences • https://www.h-net.org/jobs/home.php
A scholarly peer-reviewed, open access, online publication covering all aspects of Buddhist Studies
https://thecjbs.org/
https://cjbuddhist.wordpress.com/
Bathed in the boundless light of Great Compassion, may we work together to reduce suffering. Namo Amida Butsu.
Professor of Buddhist Studies. Author of Yasodhara and the Buddha (2021) and The Gathering (2023). Karate enthusiast. Goofy and serious and a Gemini.
Associate Professor of East Asian Studies at the University of Leeds. PI of the Hematopolitics Project (hematopolitics.org; @hematopolitics.bsky.social).
Asst. Prof, Villanova U, Theology and Religious Studies - Chinese Religions, Chinese Catholicism, Interreligious and International Relations, Confucian-Catholic Studies, Buddhist-Catholic Studies
Postdoc @erc-tibschol.bsky.social in the Austrian Academy of Sciences
Former Postdoc @uoft.bsky.social
PhD @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social
Co-Editor: @thecjbs.bsky.social
A historian of Ganden Monastery & the early Geluk tradition in Tibet
An EU_H2020 funded project exploring the formative phase of the Tibetan scholastic tradition (11th-13th c). Posts reflect only the views of the project owner. https://www.oeaw.ac.at/projects/tibschol/project
Humanities & Sinology & Buddhist Studies at UChicago (but really mainly Zen & eco-humanities these days) (and mandolin)
The Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies (Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde), University of Vienna.
Believer | Happy husband and dad | Associate Professor of History & Director of African Studies, University of Washington | Chosen Peoples (Duke UP), Bounds of Blackness (Cornell UP)
UW bio: https://history.washington.edu/people/christopher-tounsel
