Keynote Lectures

Pathway to the Tohoku University Botanical Garden  (photo: S. Kiyama)　

Keynote Lecture 1: Telling a Distant World: Methodological Reflections on Writing the History of Japanese Literature for Italian Readers

Date: March 17th (Tue.) 9:00 - 9:45 

　Prof. Carolina Negri (Japanese classical literature), associate professor at Ca' Foscari University of Venice. 

　Profile

　Abstract: 

What does it mean to narrate a “distant world”? And how does one write the history of a literary tradition that is distant not only geographically and linguistically, but also conceptually and historiographically? This keynote reflects on the methodological challenges behind the recent publication of Storia della letteratura giapponese. Dalle origini all’Ottocento (History of Japanese literature. From the Origins to Nineteenth Century, 2025). Conceived in response to both academic and cultural transformations — including the rapid expansion of Japanese literary translations in Italy and the need to rethink outdated reference works — the project became an opportunity to question how literary history itself is constructed, transmitted, and translated across cultures. The talk addresses several key methodological issues: collaborative authorship and its implications; the formation and revision of the canon; the integration of heterogeneous genres; and the dynamic relationship between literary production and historical context. Particular attention is devoted to the selection and the meaning of “classics,” the centrality of poetry within Japanese premodern literature, and the inclusion of Sino-Japanese texts, often marginalized in Western literary histories. At the same time, writing such a history requires confronting a deeper challenge: translating not only language, but literary categories. Terms such as monogatari (tales) and nikki (diaries) resist simple equivalence with Western genre classifications, revealing how historiographical frameworks shape — and sometimes distort — our understanding of literary traditions. Rather than offering a definitive synthesis, this keynote proposes literary history as a dialogic and interpretive practice. Cross-cultural historiography, I argue, is not a matter of bridging a fixed gap between worlds, but an ongoing negotiation — one that continuously reshapes both the object of study and the standpoint from which it is observed. By reflecting on this experience, the talk invites early-career scholars to reconsider literary history not as a neutral reconstruction of the past, but as a critical and creative act of mediation.   

Keynote Lecture 2:   Artistic Representations in Sites of Buddhist Practice: Considering the Religious Role of Art

Prof. Emer. Ryusaku Nagaoka 長岡龍作 (Japanese art history), specially-appointed professor of GPJS, Tohoku University

Profile

Interview

Abstract: 

This presentation examines the functions that art fulfills within the sphere of religious practice. In order to consider premodern Japanese religious art, it is essential to understand and take into account the ways of thinking held by people of the past. Accordingly, the presentation first traces back to China to clarify what Buddhist seekers aspired to attain. At this point, the key concept is “mountains and waters” (shanshui). In China, “mountains and waters” held significant meaning as sites of Buddhist practice. In contrast, in Japan the important keyword is reigen (numinous efficacy). Reigen refers to the wondrous signs manifested to human beings by buddhas and deities from the unseen realm. In cases of numinous efficacy within Buddhism, not only Buddhist images but also the land itself played an essential role. Taking Japanese Kannon sacred sites as an example, the presentation considers the mechanism through which numinous efficacy occurs. Finally, it examines the role that art plays in practices aimed at rebirth in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. Here, attention is given to how gardens and folding screens—often celebrated as representative forms of Japanese culture—also fulfilled religious functions.

Phoenix Hall of Byodo-in Temple (平等院鳳凰堂) in Kyoto (photo: R. Nagaoka)