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.
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 Kōichi, National Museum of Japanese
History, and Haruo Shirane, Columbia University. First, we pay attention to the position of medieval Japanese
religious performance vis-à-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, Shugendō
[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) and visual didactic performance (etoki) 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? For example, how did the travel of
a figure like the monk Ennin to China influence his production of shōmyō 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 Shugendō 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, are planned for
distribution 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 (Levis)
Etoki Performance and Keynote Address 1
Introductory Remarks: Yoshida Masaharu, Consul General of Japan; Abbas Benmamoun, Director, School of
Languages, Cultures, & Linguistics; David Price, Head, Department of Religion; Gary Xu, Head,
Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures
9:15: Visual-Didactic Preaching Performance:
Bagawa Tōru, Buddhist monk: “The Episode ‘Sacred Teachings in the Entrails of Honkōbō’ (本向房腹籠もりの
聖教) in the Illustrated Biography of Master Rennyo”
Hisano Toshihiko (Tōyō U.): “The Formation and Activity of Etoki (Narrating Pictures), using the examples of the
Etoki at Karukayadō on Kōyasan and at Saikōji in Nagano”
Discussant: Elizabeth Oyler (UI, EALC), Megan McLaughlin (UI, History)
10:50: Intermission
11-Noon: Keynote Address 1:
Haruo Shirane (Columbia U.): “Japanese Performing Arts, Demons, and The Pacification of Angry Spirits”
NOON-1:00 PM Lunch for Speakers at Timpone’s Restaurant.
1:15 PM-3:15: Session 1 (Levis): “Early and Medieval Religious Ritual and Performance: Between
City and Country”
Abe Yasurō (Nagoya U.) “The Mushiboshi-hō’e at Jōhana Betsu-in: An Unveiling Assembly as Urban
Buddhist Ritual and Its Performance Arts”
Muraki Jirō (N. Museum of J. History) “Sutra Mounds and Stone Stupas: Creating Sacred Ground in Medieval
Society”
Elizabeth Oyler (UI): “The Apparitional Capital in the Noh Plays Nue and Yorimasa”
Chikamoto Kensuke (Tsukuba U.) “Religious Policies and Temple Arts in the Late Ancient Period”
Discussants: Brian Ruppert and Roderick Wilson (UI)
3:15 Intermission
3:30-5:30 PM: Session 2 (Levis): “Japanese Buddhism in East Asia: Research History and Contemporary Issues”
Arami Hiroshi (Hiroshima U.) “The Ten Kings Worship and Prosperous Rituals in China During 9th and 10th century”
Uejima Susumu (Kyoto Prefectural University) “Re-visioning ‘Japanese Buddhism’ in East Asian Buddhist History”
David Quinter (U. Alberta) “Eison and Visual-Liturgical Performance of the Shōtoku Taishi Cult: Localizing and
Delocalizing”
Discussant: Alexander Mayer (UI, Religion), Robert Tierney (UI, EALC, CWL), Anne Burkus-Chasson (UI, Art
History)
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Keynote Address 2 and Documentary Screening (Levis):
9:30 – 10:30 Keynote Address 2:
Matsuo Kōichi (N. Museum of J. History): “Temple Rituals and Performance, from Ancient to Medieval Times:
The Embellishment of Religious Celebrations and Its Transformation”
10:30 Intermission
10:45-11:50 Screening of Abridged Version (Levis): “Divine Dancing (Kagura) to The Chaotic Deities of Hiba:
Faith and Countryside” (2012).
Discussant: David Plath (University of Illinois)
Noon-1:10PM Lunch on-site.
1:15-3:15 PM: Session 3 (Levis): “Combinatory Religious Performance”
Furukawa Motoya (Kanagawa Prefectural Museum): “Kumano Belief in Eastern Japan”
Kawasaki Tsuyoshi (Shūjitsu U.) “A Reconstruction of Temporal Space of Sacred Mountains:
The Emergence of the Minōdera Engi and Its Aftermath”
Ikumi Kaminishi (Tufts U.) “Michizane and the Buddhas’ Names: Reading the Kitano Tenjin Engi Emaki though the
Ritual of Butumyō-e”
Abe Mika (Showa Women’s U.) “The Festive Yūzū Dainenbutsu and the Nō Hyakuman : Rituals, Picture
Scrolls, and Performance Celebrating the Virtue of the August Reign”
Discussant: Heather Blair (U. Indiana)
3: 15-5:15 PM: Session 4 (Levis): “Medieval Religion and Culture”
Daitō Takaaki (Kokugakuin U.) “Rituals of the Kami and Buddhist Deities, Focusing on the Rite of
Chanting Jinmyochō（Lists of Kami）in Yamato Province”
Brian Ruppert (UI) “Sacred works (Shōgyō) and Religious Performance in Late Medieval Japan: The Monk
Chō’is Networks and Ninnaji Liturgical Practice”
Michael Jamentz (Kyoto U.) “Penitence in Poetry: A Buddhist Justification of a Literary Art as Seen in a Mid13th Fugen Kōshiki”
Discussant: Elizabeth Oyler (UI)
This symposium is part of “Exchanges and Regional Activities of East Asian Religions” (「東アジアの宗教をめ
ぐる交流と地域的展開」) and “Changes and Exchange in East Asian Religions” (「東アジアの宗教をめぐる交
流と変容」), collaborative research groups which have been funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology. The event is also prominently sponsored by the University of Illinois School of
Language, Culture, and Linguistics, the National Museum of Japanese History, Nagoya University, the University of
Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Department of
Religion, Program in Medieval Studies, and Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies.