Event—International Symposium on Religious Performance, City and Country in East Asia, October 9-10, 2013, University of Illinois

The University of Illinois will host an international symposium, Religious Performance, City and Country in East Asia, October 9-10, 2013, at Levis Center of the Urbana-Champaign Campus.
For details concerning the event, including registration and schedule, see below.

This conference brings together leading scholars in the field from North America and Japan for a two-day symposium, October 9-10, 2013 (Levis Center),
to examine the relationship between metropole and rural religious performance by drawing a set of clear lines of liturgical practice in the East Asia case,
with special reference to Japan. The keynote speakers will be Professors Matsuo K¨­ichi, National Museum of Japanese History, and Haruo Shirane, Columbia University.
First, we pay attention to the position of medieval Japanese religious performance vis-¨¤-vis continental East Asia. What were the ritual and cultural flows that
informed the development of medieval Japanese Buddhist and other religious performance (Kami worship, Shugend¨­ [mountain asceticism])? Second, we consider the
character and movement of a series of religious performances in the Japanese isles. What were the producers and audiences of these performances? How, moreover,
were these performative modes translated between groups in the metrapole and countryside? Third, how did performance genres such as divine dance (kagura), visual
didactic performance (etoki), and biwa lute playing influence religious performance and reception through their mixture of multiple media? Finally, how did the
mobility of performers and media influence the development of religious performance? That is, how did the travel of the monk Ennin to China influence his production
of sh¨­my¨­ chanting in Japan? What does archeological study tell us about the movement of Pure Land Buddhist performative practices? How did performances of Kumano
believers and Shugend¨­ practitioners transmit or otherwise transform their practices in currents between metropole and mountainside? Furthermore, how were textual-
performative practices related to temple arts and ritual transmission in the city and country?

Registration is free but required (contact ruppertshogyo@gmail.com) since there is limited seating. Booklets with the full lectures by participants, including translations into Japanese and English, will be provided to all registrants at the event; discussants, with the exception of Professor Matsuo, will comment in English,
and discussion will be in both English and Japanese. Japanese participants will present in Japanese.

Religious Performance, City and Country in East Asia Schedule

Wednesday, October 9, 2013
9:00-11:45 AM Public Screening and Discussion of the Documentary ¡°Divine Dancing (Kagura) to The Chaotic Deities of Hiba¡±
Public Screening and Discussion (Levis): ¡°Divine Dancing (Kagura) to The Chaotic Deities of Hiba: Faith and Countryside¡± (2012).
Discussants: Matsuo K¨­ichi, Director, Ronald Toby (University of Illinois), and David Plath (University of Illinois)

10:35 Intermission

10:50-Noon
Biwa and Etoki: Performance and Lecture
Biwa Lute and Visual-Didactic Preaching Performance:
Bakawa Tooru, Buddhist monk

Hisano Toshihiko: ¡°Visual-Didactic Preaching: Its History and Social Milieux¡±
Discussant: Elizabeth Oyler (UI, EALC), Megan McLaughlin (UI, History)

1:30 PM-3:15 PM: Keynote Addresses (Levis):
Matsuo K¨­ichi (N. Museum of J. History): ¡°Japanese Buddhist Rites and Performance: Transmission and History¡±
Haruo Shirane (Columbia U.): ¡° Japanese Performing Arts, Demons, and The Pacification of Angry Spirits¡±

3:30-5:30 PM: Session 1 (Levis): ¡°Japanese Buddhism in East Asia: Research History and Contemporary Issues¡±
Arami Hiroshi (Hiroshima U.) ¡°Religious Ritual and Literature in 9th-10th century East Asia¡±
Uejima Susumu (Kyoto Prefectural University) ¡°Re-visioning ¡®Japanese Buddhism¡¯ in East Asian Buddhist History¡±
David Quinter (U. Alberta) ¡°Eison¡¯s (1201-1290) Prince Sh¨­toku (ca. 574-ca. 622) Images: Visually Performative Prayer, East Asian Kingship, and the Construction of Japanese Precepts Tradition¡±

Discussant: Alexander Mayer (UI, Religion), Robert Tierney (UI, EALC, CWL), Anne Burkus-Chasson (UI, Art History)

Thursday, October 10, 2013
9:30 ¨C 11:50 AM: Session 2 (Levis): ¡°Early and Medieval Religious Ritual and Performance: Between City and Country¡±
Abe Yasuro (Nagoya U.): ¡°Medieval Religious Ritual, Text, and the Performance of the Senses¡±
Muraki Jir¨­ (N. Museum of J. History) ¡°Archaeological Study of Pure Land Buddhism in City and Countryside¡±
Elizabeth Oyler (UI) : ¡°The Phantom Capital in the Noh Plays Nue and Yorimasa¡±
Chikamoto Kensuke (Tsukuba U.) ¡°Religious Policies and Temple Arts in the Late Ancient Period¡±

Discussant: Brian Ruppert and Rodney Wilson (UI)

1:15-3:15 PM: Session 3 (Levis): ¡°Combinatory Religious Performance¡±
Furukawa Motoya (Kanagawa Prefectural Museum): ¡°Kumano Belief in Eastern Japan¡±
Kawasaki Takeshi (Sh¨±jitsu U.) ¡°Shugend¨­ and Local Culture¡±
Ikumi Kaminishi (Tufts U.) ¡°The Butsumy¨­-e ceremony: a means for pacifying hell in Kitano Tenjin emaki¡±
Dait¨­ Takaaki (Kokugakuin U.) ¡°The ¡®Shint¨­¡¯ Nakatomi Purification Performance in Medieval Buddhist Temples¡±

Discussant: Heather Blair (U. Indiana)

3: 30-5:30 PM: Session 4 (Levis): ¡°Medieval Religion and Culture¡±
Brian Ruppert (UI) ¡° Sacred works (Sh¨­gy¨­) and Religious Performance in Late Medieval Japan: The Monk Ch¨­¡¯is Networks and Ninnaji Liturgical Practice¡±
Michael Jamentz (Kyoto U.) ¡°S¨­sh¨­¡¯s copy of the ¡®Bodhisattva Fugen Liturgy¡¯ and the Medieval Buddhist Audience¡±
Abe Mika (Wako U.) ¡°The Cleveland/Chicago Y¨±z¨± Nenbutsu Engi scrolls and Pure Land Buddhist Textual Performance¡±

Discussant: Elizabeth Oyler (UI)