 2015 - 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 0687-4410-01 | Kami, Buddha & What's in Between: Japanese Religions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| FACULTY OF HUMANITIES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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University credit hours: 4.0
Course description
Kami, Buddha, and What's Between Them: Major
Topics in the Study of Japanese Religions
The seminar will offer a broad view of a variety of research topics in
Japanese Religions, with an emphasis on their combinatory nature and on
their historical context. Among the issues to be discussed: *"Shinto" and
"Buddhism": problems of definitions and anachronisms in the study of
Japanese religions. * Kami, Buddha, Gongen? The concept of divinity
and the hierarchical pantheon in the combinatory tradition of medieval
Japan. * The status of myth in Japanese religions: national vs. local myths.
* Issues of state and religion, their reciprocal relationships and the
institutional history of Japanese religions through the prism of kami-
Buddha relationship. * The centrality of ritual and magic in Japanese
traditions: on ritual masters and their power. * Sacred spaces in Japanese
religions: pilgrimages, mandalization of mountains and lands, and the
influence of the Shugendo tradition on Japanese sacred geography.
* Aesthetics as religious and ritual power in Japanese religious traditions.
* Religious poetry between Kami and Buddha. * Invention of tradition or
preservation of tradition? Traditional Japanese religions' struggles in the
modern age.
Topics in the Study of Japanese Religions
The seminar will offer a broad view of a variety of research topics in
Japanese Religions, with an emphasis on their combinatory nature and on
their historical context. Among the issues to be discussed: *"Shinto" and
"Buddhism": problems of definitions and anachronisms in the study of
Japanese religions. * Kami, Buddha, Gongen? The concept of divinity
and the hierarchical pantheon in the combinatory tradition of medieval
Japan. * The status of myth in Japanese religions: national vs. local myths.
* Issues of state and religion, their reciprocal relationships and the
institutional history of Japanese religions through the prism of kami-
Buddha relationship. * The centrality of ritual and magic in Japanese
traditions: on ritual masters and their power. * Sacred spaces in Japanese
religions: pilgrimages, mandalization of mountains and lands, and the
influence of the Shugendo tradition on Japanese sacred geography.
* Aesthetics as religious and ritual power in Japanese religious traditions.
* Religious poetry between Kami and Buddha. * Invention of tradition or
preservation of tradition? Traditional Japanese religions' struggles in the
modern age.