Religion and Spirituality in Japanese Literature
Western Washington University
October 10 - 11, 2014
Friday, October 108:10 a.m. – 8:25 a.m.Viking Union 565
Welcome remarks8:30 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.Viking Union 565
Panel #1 Early Intersections of Religious and Literary Discourse: The Case of Buddhism in Three Texts of the Classical and Medieval Periods.Moderator: Dylan McGee (Nagoya University)
Panelists:Stephen Miller (University of Massachusetts-Amherst)Literary Buddhism and the One-Hundred-Waka-Sequence: Jakuzen’s Hōmon hyakushu
Nicolette Lee (University of Southern California)Million Dollar Question: Does the Woman’s Body Matter? An Examination of Female Salvation in The Tale of the Heike
Sachi Schmidt-Hori (Furman University)|Tangled in Ambiguity: Gender, Sexuality and Identity of a Buddhist Acolyte in a Medieval Chigo Tale, Ashibiki
10:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.Viking Union 565
Panel #2: Parodies of the Afterlife, Salvation and Intertextuality: Literary Negotiations in the Realm of the Spiritual in Edo JapanModerator: Stephen Miller (University of Massachusetts-Amherst)
Panelists:Motoi Katsumata (Meisei University/Harvard University)Zen and Filial Piety: From Medieval to Early Modern
Dylan McGee (Nagoya University)Two Views of Saikaku in the Underworld
Jyana Browne (University of Washington)The Path to Rebirth in Chikamatsu’s Love Suicide Plays
Olivia Yumi Nakaema (University of Osaka/University of São Paulo)The Reception of Japanese Literature by the Jesuits in Japan: An Analysis of the Amakusaban Heike Monogatari
11:50 a.m. – 12:50 p.m.Room TBA
Lunch12:50 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.Viking Union 565
Panel #3: From Engagement to Representation: The Discontinuous Continuity of Religious Elements in LiteraturePanel organized by Sarah Clayton (University of Washington); view the panel abstract.
Moderator: Sachi Schmidt-Hori (Furman University)
Panelists:Bonnie McClure (University of Washington)Buddhist Verses in Renga and the Performance of Impermanence
Kaori Igarashi (University of Washington)The King of Hell as Sympathetic Figure
Sarah Clayton (University of Washington)Ishikawa Jun’s Ironic Iconography
2:20 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.Viking Union 565
Panel #4: Religious Practice, Social Critique and Artistic Spirituality in Early Twentieth Century BundanModerator: Jennifer Scott (Shujitsu University)
Panelists:Michiko Yusa (Western Washington University)Hiratsuka Raichō (and Natsume Sōseki): Zen Practice, Western Philosophy and Social Activism Woven Together
Joan Ericson (Colorado College)Synthetic Spirituality in Early 20th Century Japanese Children’s Literature
Orna Shaughnessy (University of Denver)Nagai Kafū’s Artistic Spirituality: From Language to Music
3:45 p.m. – 4:05 p.m.Room TBA
Coffee break4:05 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.Viking Union 565
Panel #5: Renditions of Christianity in Modern Japanese LiteratureModerator: Orna Shaughnessy (University of Denver)
Panelists:Pau Pitarch Fernandez (Columbia University)A Superfool constantly Dreaming of the Future: Christ as Poet in Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s Saihō no hito (1927)
Yukiko Shigeto (Whitman College)Shiina Rinzō: Conversion, Faith and Humor
Maeri Megumi (University of Texas-Austin)Christianity and Modern Japanese Literature
5:35 p.m. – 6:35 p.m.Viking Union 565
Feature Panel:「近代精神における宗教と芸術の関係」Panelists:Miyasaka Satoru (Ferris University, President of the International Society for Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s Studies)
Tsuboi Hideto (International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto)
Eiji Sekine (Purdue University)
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.Old Main Solarium
Reception8:30 p.m. – 9:15 p.m.Old Main Theater
Taiko Performance: Okinawa Kenjinkai Taiko GroupSaturday, October 118:30 a.m. – 10:20 a.m.SMATE, Room 130
Panel #6: Demonology, Divination and Supernatural AbductionsModerator: Pau Pitarch Fernandez (Columbia University)
Panelists:Diego Cucinelli (Tuscia University)Ghosts from the Past: The Fortune of Hyaku monogatari in Post-Meiji Japan
Peter Bernard (Harvard University)Toward a Phenomenology of Supernatural Abduction: Izumi Kyōka and the Creation of a Mystical Subject in Modern Japanese Literature
Maryellen Toman Mori (Independent scholar)Kamikakushi 神隠し: An Artist’s Salvation?
Jennifer Scott (Shujitsu University)Furui Yoshikichi’s Hijiri: Spiritual Traditions Engulfed by Modernity
10:25 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.SMATE, Room 130
Panel #7: Metaphorical Representations of the SacredModerator: Yukiko Shigeto (Whitman College)
Panelists:Yongfei Yi (The Ohio State University)Local Festivals and Exotic Customs: Nishikawa Mitsuru and Gaichi Bungakuin Taiwan
Tomoyo Inui (Josai International University)Failure of Goddesses: The Discourses on the Culture of Female Shaman (Miko no bunka) in Contemporary Japan
Thomas Garcin (IETT, Lyon 3)Temple, Ritual, Tomb: Representations of the Sacred and Stereotypes in Yūkoku by Mishima Yukio
Miyoshi Ihara (Josai International University)Sata Ineko’s Kaze ni najinda uta: Maria of Yamiiti
12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.Room TBA
Lunch1:15 p.m. – 3:05 p.m.SMATE, Room 130
Panel #8: Spirituality and the Other in Postwar and Contemporary Japanese NarrativePanel organized by Eiji Sekine (Purdue University); view the panel abstract.
Moderator: Joan Ericson (Colorado College)
Panelists:Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase (Vassar College)Mothers with Demon Masks in Yamagishi Ryōko’s shōjo manga
Yoshiko Matsuura (Poole Gakuin University/Hakuho Women’s College)Unaccomplished Desire for Japanese Aesthetics in Tachihara Masaaki’s Novels
Yuko Ogawa (Purdue University)Spiritual Recovery in Yoshimoto Banana’s Amrita
Eiji Sekine (Purdue University)Yasuoka Shōtarō and M/Other
3:10 p.m. – 4:35 p.m.SMATE, Room 130
Panel #9: Revising Yogācāra: Rendition and Interpretation of Yuishiki in Modern Japanese Literary DiscoursesPanel organized by Ikuho Amano (University of Nebraska-Lincoln; view the panel abstract.
Moderator: Davinder Bhowmik (University of Washington)
Panelists:Yoshihiro Yasuhara (Carnegie Mellon University)Mystical Experiences as Literary Locus in Ishikawa Jun’s Fiction in 1930s-1950s
Christopher Rich (Eastern Kentucky University)Resignation, Teinen and Yuishikiron in Mori Ōgai’s Writings
Ikuho Amano (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)Yuishiki and Holistic Visions of the World in Mishima’s The Sea of Fertility
4:35 p.m. – 4:55 p.m.Room TBA
Coffee break4:55 p.m. – 6:40 p.m.SMATE, Room 130
Panel #10: Narratives of HealingModerator: Ikuho Amano (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
Panelists:Takushi Odagiri (Duke University)Cinema’s Biopraxis: Koreeda Hirokazu and Kawase Naomi after 2011
Chiaki Takagi (University of North Carolina-Greensboro)Why All God’s Children Dance: Religion, Spirituality and Healing in Murakami’s After the Quake
Lisette Gebhardt (Goethe University-Frankfurt)Ghosts, Spirituality and Healing in Post-Fukushima Literature
Ben Whaley (University of British Columbia)Reading the Holocaust through the Diary of a Shōjo: Anne Frank in Japan’s Educational manga
7:00 p.m.Library Reading Room
Dinner BanquetKeynote address by Professor Miyasaka Satoru (Ferris University, President of the International Society for Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s Studies)「近代日本文学における宗教及びスピリチュアリティ」
Welcome remarks8:30 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.Viking Union 565
Panel #1 Early Intersections of Religious and Literary Discourse: The Case of Buddhism in Three Texts of the Classical and Medieval Periods.Moderator: Dylan McGee (Nagoya University)
Panelists:Stephen Miller (University of Massachusetts-Amherst)Literary Buddhism and the One-Hundred-Waka-Sequence: Jakuzen’s Hōmon hyakushu
Nicolette Lee (University of Southern California)Million Dollar Question: Does the Woman’s Body Matter? An Examination of Female Salvation in The Tale of the Heike
Sachi Schmidt-Hori (Furman University)|Tangled in Ambiguity: Gender, Sexuality and Identity of a Buddhist Acolyte in a Medieval Chigo Tale, Ashibiki
10:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.Viking Union 565
Panel #2: Parodies of the Afterlife, Salvation and Intertextuality: Literary Negotiations in the Realm of the Spiritual in Edo JapanModerator: Stephen Miller (University of Massachusetts-Amherst)
Panelists:Motoi Katsumata (Meisei University/Harvard University)Zen and Filial Piety: From Medieval to Early Modern
Dylan McGee (Nagoya University)Two Views of Saikaku in the Underworld
Jyana Browne (University of Washington)The Path to Rebirth in Chikamatsu’s Love Suicide Plays
Olivia Yumi Nakaema (University of Osaka/University of São Paulo)The Reception of Japanese Literature by the Jesuits in Japan: An Analysis of the Amakusaban Heike Monogatari
11:50 a.m. – 12:50 p.m.Room TBA
Lunch12:50 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.Viking Union 565
Panel #3: From Engagement to Representation: The Discontinuous Continuity of Religious Elements in LiteraturePanel organized by Sarah Clayton (University of Washington); view the panel abstract.
Moderator: Sachi Schmidt-Hori (Furman University)
Panelists:Bonnie McClure (University of Washington)Buddhist Verses in Renga and the Performance of Impermanence
Kaori Igarashi (University of Washington)The King of Hell as Sympathetic Figure
Sarah Clayton (University of Washington)Ishikawa Jun’s Ironic Iconography
2:20 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.Viking Union 565
Panel #4: Religious Practice, Social Critique and Artistic Spirituality in Early Twentieth Century BundanModerator: Jennifer Scott (Shujitsu University)
Panelists:Michiko Yusa (Western Washington University)Hiratsuka Raichō (and Natsume Sōseki): Zen Practice, Western Philosophy and Social Activism Woven Together
Joan Ericson (Colorado College)Synthetic Spirituality in Early 20th Century Japanese Children’s Literature
Orna Shaughnessy (University of Denver)Nagai Kafū’s Artistic Spirituality: From Language to Music
3:45 p.m. – 4:05 p.m.Room TBA
Coffee break4:05 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.Viking Union 565
Panel #5: Renditions of Christianity in Modern Japanese LiteratureModerator: Orna Shaughnessy (University of Denver)
Panelists:Pau Pitarch Fernandez (Columbia University)A Superfool constantly Dreaming of the Future: Christ as Poet in Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s Saihō no hito (1927)
Yukiko Shigeto (Whitman College)Shiina Rinzō: Conversion, Faith and Humor
Maeri Megumi (University of Texas-Austin)Christianity and Modern Japanese Literature
5:35 p.m. – 6:35 p.m.Viking Union 565
Feature Panel:「近代精神における宗教と芸術の関係」Panelists:Miyasaka Satoru (Ferris University, President of the International Society for Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s Studies)
Tsuboi Hideto (International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto)
Eiji Sekine (Purdue University)
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.Old Main Solarium
Reception8:30 p.m. – 9:15 p.m.Old Main Theater
Taiko Performance: Okinawa Kenjinkai Taiko GroupSaturday, October 118:30 a.m. – 10:20 a.m.SMATE, Room 130
Panel #6: Demonology, Divination and Supernatural AbductionsModerator: Pau Pitarch Fernandez (Columbia University)
Panelists:Diego Cucinelli (Tuscia University)Ghosts from the Past: The Fortune of Hyaku monogatari in Post-Meiji Japan
Peter Bernard (Harvard University)Toward a Phenomenology of Supernatural Abduction: Izumi Kyōka and the Creation of a Mystical Subject in Modern Japanese Literature
Maryellen Toman Mori (Independent scholar)Kamikakushi 神隠し: An Artist’s Salvation?
Jennifer Scott (Shujitsu University)Furui Yoshikichi’s Hijiri: Spiritual Traditions Engulfed by Modernity
10:25 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.SMATE, Room 130
Panel #7: Metaphorical Representations of the SacredModerator: Yukiko Shigeto (Whitman College)
Panelists:Yongfei Yi (The Ohio State University)Local Festivals and Exotic Customs: Nishikawa Mitsuru and Gaichi Bungakuin Taiwan
Tomoyo Inui (Josai International University)Failure of Goddesses: The Discourses on the Culture of Female Shaman (Miko no bunka) in Contemporary Japan
Thomas Garcin (IETT, Lyon 3)Temple, Ritual, Tomb: Representations of the Sacred and Stereotypes in Yūkoku by Mishima Yukio
Miyoshi Ihara (Josai International University)Sata Ineko’s Kaze ni najinda uta: Maria of Yamiiti
12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.Room TBA
Lunch1:15 p.m. – 3:05 p.m.SMATE, Room 130
Panel #8: Spirituality and the Other in Postwar and Contemporary Japanese NarrativePanel organized by Eiji Sekine (Purdue University); view the panel abstract.
Moderator: Joan Ericson (Colorado College)
Panelists:Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase (Vassar College)Mothers with Demon Masks in Yamagishi Ryōko’s shōjo manga
Yoshiko Matsuura (Poole Gakuin University/Hakuho Women’s College)Unaccomplished Desire for Japanese Aesthetics in Tachihara Masaaki’s Novels
Yuko Ogawa (Purdue University)Spiritual Recovery in Yoshimoto Banana’s Amrita
Eiji Sekine (Purdue University)Yasuoka Shōtarō and M/Other
3:10 p.m. – 4:35 p.m.SMATE, Room 130
Panel #9: Revising Yogācāra: Rendition and Interpretation of Yuishiki in Modern Japanese Literary DiscoursesPanel organized by Ikuho Amano (University of Nebraska-Lincoln; view the panel abstract.
Moderator: Davinder Bhowmik (University of Washington)
Panelists:Yoshihiro Yasuhara (Carnegie Mellon University)Mystical Experiences as Literary Locus in Ishikawa Jun’s Fiction in 1930s-1950s
Christopher Rich (Eastern Kentucky University)Resignation, Teinen and Yuishikiron in Mori Ōgai’s Writings
Ikuho Amano (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)Yuishiki and Holistic Visions of the World in Mishima’s The Sea of Fertility
4:35 p.m. – 4:55 p.m.Room TBA
Coffee break4:55 p.m. – 6:40 p.m.SMATE, Room 130
Panel #10: Narratives of HealingModerator: Ikuho Amano (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
Panelists:Takushi Odagiri (Duke University)Cinema’s Biopraxis: Koreeda Hirokazu and Kawase Naomi after 2011
Chiaki Takagi (University of North Carolina-Greensboro)Why All God’s Children Dance: Religion, Spirituality and Healing in Murakami’s After the Quake
Lisette Gebhardt (Goethe University-Frankfurt)Ghosts, Spirituality and Healing in Post-Fukushima Literature
Ben Whaley (University of British Columbia)Reading the Holocaust through the Diary of a Shōjo: Anne Frank in Japan’s Educational manga
7:00 p.m.Library Reading Room
Dinner BanquetKeynote address by Professor Miyasaka Satoru (Ferris University, President of the International Society for Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s Studies)「近代日本文学における宗教及びスピリチュアリティ」