Dana Mirsalis

Poster for upcoming virtual bookshop. Text: THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF JAPANESE RELIGIONS PRESENTS SHUGENDŌ AND TIME: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF DEWA SANZAN A VIRTUAL BOOK TALK W/ DR. SHAYNE DAHL, UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY IN THIS TALK, DR. DAHL DISCUSSES KEY THEMES IN HIS FORTHCOMING BOOK, THE SECRET WORLD OF SHUGENDŌ: SACRED MOUNTAINS AND THE SEARCH FOR MEANING IN POST-DISASTER JAPAN (2025, UNC PRESS). DAHL MAKES THE CASE FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO STUDYING CONTEMPORARY SHUGENDŌ AND JAPANESE RELIGIONS MORE BROADLY. DR, DAHL ALSO FOCUSES ON THE THEORETICAL SALIENCE OF TIME AS EXPRESSED THROUGH HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN LOCAL TOURISM AND MOUNTAIN ASCETIC TRAINING PROGRAMS, DURING ANNUAL MOUNTAIN ENTRY RITUALS, AND IN EXISTENTIAL REFLECTION FACILITATED BY THE CULTURE AND PRACTICE OF SHUGENDŌ IN THE POST-DISASTER PERIOD. DAHL ARGUES THAT SACRED MOUNTAINS SUCH AS DEWA SANZAN EMBODY SPATIOTEMPORAL ALTERITY WITHIN CAPITALIST MODERNITY AS THEY PROVIDE PEOPLE LIVING IN AN ANXIOUS PRESENT WITH A SPACE TO REFLECT ON AND RECONNECT WITH THE PAST, TO REJUVENATE THEIR OVERWORKED LIVES IN THE PRESENT, AND PRAY FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR JAPAN. TUE. NOV. 11 6 PM U.S. PACIFIC TIME 9 PM U.S. EASTERN TIME // WED. NOV. 12 3 AM CENTRAL EUROPEAN TIME 10 AM JAPAN TIME

SSJR is running another book talk! Please join us in two weeks for @sdahl.bsky.social's talk. Register here: furman.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Miranda Pollock! For some reason she doesn't seem to have a faculty page on our uni website yet (???), but here's her academia.edu page: pacificu.academia.edu/MirandaPollock

THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF JAPANESE RELIGIONS PRESENTS ANOTHER SHŌTOKU: HISTORY AND MYTHMAKING IN MODERN JAPANESE RELIGION A VIRTUAL BOOK TALK W/ DR. ORION KLAUTAU HOSTED BY DR. OR PORATH, TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY This lecture examines the enduring fascination with the "true" image of Shōtoku Taishi (574-622) in twentieth-century Japan. By tracing the emergence of alternative historical narratives around him, it reveals how Shōtoku has been recast as both a symbol of religious and political importance and a romanticized figure endowed with supernatural power. The talk further explores how modern reinterpretations-spanning from the early twentieth century to the present-have woven together elements of occultism, mythology, and pseudo-history, forging new forms of storytelling that often blur the line between fact and fantasy. Engaging with a range of scholarly works and popular media, this presentation illustrates how these "alternative histories" have been crafted to appeal to both intellectual audiences and the broader public, reshaping Shōtoku's legacy and his role in the Japanese cultural imagination. THU. JUNE 19 9AM JAPAN TIME 2AM CENTRAL EUROPEAN SUMMER TIME WED. JUNE 18 8PM U.S. EASTERN 5PM U.S. PACIFIC ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Orion Klautau is Associate Professor at the Department of Japanese Religion and Intellectual History, Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, Tohoku University. His work focuses on the development of Japanese Buddhism in the modern period, with special emphasis on historiographical issues. Besides a number of articles in both English and Japanese, he is author of Kindai Nihon shisō toshite no bukkyō shigaku (Buddhist historiography as modern Japanese thought, Hōzōkan, 2012), and Kakusareta Shōtoku Taishi: Kingendai Nihon no gishi to okaruto bunka (Shōtoku Taishi Veiled: Alternative Histories and Occulture in Modern Japan, Chikuma Shobō, 2024).

SSJR is running its first virtual book talk next week! @orionklautau.bsky.social will lecturing on the enduring fascination with Shōtoku Taishi in 20th century Japan. Please join us! You can register for the Zoom webinar here: bit.ly/4mtw3qJ

Oh, this is neat! Did you find that folks mostly went for the movies or did a lot of folks go for the games?

One of my students suggested that HBO should do a prestige historical drama about the Dōkyō Incident, which I have been thinking about non-stop ever since.

I split them into small groups based on shared themes to do their analysis together before we came back to talk about the larger trends we were noticing in the media we selected. (The big one was overrepresentation of the samurai, surprising no one.)

I had them pick something, they had to write a short statement to submit to me, and then put together a slide about it in our shared slide deck. They brainstormed some questions for analyzing historical depictions at the beginning of the week, and...

I don't have the skills to make it through the game, but I do really enjoy how hyped my students get to explain how what they learned in class is appearing in the games they've playing (and send me screenshots for future lectures!).

Oh, he didn't talk about the Portuguese at all, fascinating! He mostly wound up talking about how much Yoshiaki wound up being cast as much more of a mastermind pulling the strings, and why they might have made that choice narratively.

Students presented analysis of media they picked at the end of the week, and one decided to do a deep dive into AC:S, since he'd just finished it! Wound up being a nice full circle moment. (He really liked the game, although had a lot to say about the Ashikaga shogun's depiction.)

Commentary | Kimberly Hassel, Akil Fletcher, and John G. Russell, Stranger Than Fiction?: Yasuke and the Assassin’s Creed: Shadows Controversy — Critical Asian Studies Introduction “Nothing is true; everything is permitted.” — Assassin’s maxim, Assassin’s Creed On May 15th, 2024, video game publisher Ubisoft released the trailer for the anticipated next in...

My pre-modern Japanese history (up to 1868) class did our last week on modern depictions of pre-modern Japan and we read this the first day of the week: criticalasianstudies.org/commentary/2...
It taught really well and got them thinking about how we assess historical depictions.

Excellent essay (begins on p. 25)

Yes. It means they're much more likely to read it. (I know this because I have a syllabus Easter Egg--it's like double the completion rate on semesters where I give them hard copies.)

Yes, this is the issue I ran into! There ARE two DVD releases that have subtitles--one of them there are like 5 copies catalogued in the world but the other seems possible to get with enough foresight (if you can do a class screening day--it unfortunately doesn't work for our class schedules).

Worth noting that Red Detachment of Women is on YouTube subtitled in its entirety!

*if you can get--we're doing good with typing today.

If fiction is okay, if you can The Legend of the Red Lantern on DVD, one of my colleagues really enjoyed teaching that. I couldn't get it, so I used The Red Detachment of Women (we watched the movie and then watched clips of the ballet in class) and my students really enjoyed analyzing that!

Are you looking for documentaries specifically or are primary source fiction films also up for grabs?

Photo of the front cover of The New Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions.

Photo of the first page of my chapter, entitled "Gender."

Forgot to post over here, but my copy of The New Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions arrived! I have a short piece about gender and fieldwork included.

Huge, huge congratulations, Dr. Ugoretz!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Thanks for all your work scanning and archiving all of these! They're a huge boon whenever I'm searching for primary sources to assign. I've used this booklet in my modern Japanese history class twice now and my students have had a lot of fun analyzing it.

This print serves as a parodic rendering of the Kanjin jukkai zu (Ten Realms Mandala), a graphic text that extols the teachings of Buddhism, visible within the abdomen of a geisha-like woman, with the kanji character for "heart" in the center. The Ten Realms illustration functions here to reflect the new, modern world of Meiji-era Japan, in which the upper realms depict those who commit good deeds and the lower realms, evil. The text in the upper left explains the importance of treating all living things, even insects, with the same respect as is given to humans, and without losing one's sense of compassion. The text and image combined present a perspective of re-evaluating even Buddhist teachings within the context of modern society. Title: Fubu no on o shiru zu Date: 1880 Collection: UCSF Japanese Woodblock Print Collection Owning Institution: UC San Francisco, Library, Special Collections Source: Calisphere Date of access: December 5 2024 15:37 Permalink: https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/hb2r29p0bv/

Fascinating online (and physical) exhibit on "how women and their families experienced pregnancy and childbirth in early modern Japan," with many amazing images like this one, a parodic rendering of the Buddhist Ten Realms Mandala placed within the womb. www.nichibun.ac.jp/online/ucsf_...

Okay, that's enough from me for now--back to lesson planning and grading. どうぞ宜しくお願い致します。(12/12)

Most of my time the past few years has been tied up in establishing new preps. I adore teaching, to be clear, and my students are stellar, but I'm excited to maybe not spend every spare moment writing lectures next (academic) year. (11/12)

Other stuff: I'm the current secretary/treasurer for the Society for the Study of Japanese Religions: www.ssjrweb.org
If you'll be at AAR, please consider coming to our sponsored panel on Saturday at 3 pm! (10/12)

There's also always my dissertation (available on a ProQuest near you). I have a few other projects in the pipeline, so please stay tuned! (9/12)

The New Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions For nearly two decades, the Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions has served as a valuable resource for students and scholars of religion in Japan. This exciting update expands the audience to include…

I also have a (very short) piece about gender and fieldwork forthcoming in the New Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions: uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/the-ne... (8/12)

If you want a little taste of this, check out my recent article on menstrual pollution: nccisjpnew.wixsite.com/nccisjp/%E8%... (7/12)

In summer 2023, I also gave an invited lecture for the National Female Priests Association! Basically, I get to see all the gaps between what shrines and their priests are SUPPOSED to be doing vs. what they are ACTUALLY doing in practice (and this is a big chunk of my research). (6/12)

I use mixed methods, aka I use archival work, ethnographic fieldwork, and interviews. I've been doing fieldwork in shrines for more than 13 years now, and have formally interviewed ~50 priests (in addition to speaking informally to dozens more). (5/12)