2022 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Exploration, Memory, and Imagination: Modernity and the Knowledge of India in Japanese Buddhism
| Project/Area Number |
22F32004
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
西村 明 東京大学, 大学院人文社会系研究科(文学部), 准教授 (00381145)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
STORTINI PARIDE 東京大学, 人文社会系研究科, 外国人特別研究員
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| Project Period (FY) |
2022-11-16 – 2025-03-31
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| Keywords | Modern Japanese Buddhism / transnational networks / migration / Indo-Japanese relations / religious visual culture / pilgrimage / religion and media |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The research funds allowed me to do archival and fieldwork for my research in the areas of Fukuoka and Shimabara. I collected materials on the Tennyoto memorial and the Buddhist priest who built it in the Meiji period, Hirota Gonsho. The research in Shimabara has provided me with important sources, especially photos of Hirota’s pilgrimage to India and of the rituals he performed for Japanese women who had migrated there, and I could extensively document the temple itself, which is material evidence of the donations of such women. I also expanded my knowledge of the trade networks between Shimabara and the Indian Ocean through a visit to the Kuchinotsu Archive and Museum.
In Fukuoka, I collaborated with the curators of the Fukuoka Asian Arts Museum to copy materials from their Kuroda Collection on popular Indian art and on Japanese matchbox labels produced in the Meiji and Taisho periods for the Indian market. This collection opens a window on the circulation of visual culture between India and Japan. Finally, I visited the Seimeikaikan Museum in Fukuoka, to gather information on their collection of religious art produced by the India-inspired artist Sugimoto Tetsuro.
I used part of the research funds to purchase books that I use in my book publication, and others that I have used for a chapter contribution to an edited volume on media and modern Buddhism. The research funds also covered the cost for the translation of this chapter into Japanese. The book will be published with Hozokan in September 2023.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
My research on Shimabara is proceeding according to my plan, and I could enrich what I planned to find through meetings with local researchers and through the exploration of the Kuchinotsu Museum which went also beyond what I planned.
The research in Fukuoka was an addition after learning of the Kuroda collection at an exhibition at the Ancient Orient Museum of Tokyo. This topic has no research on it, and will further enrich my book. This represent a positive development of my stay in Japan, and of the additional research lines that this has opened to me.
Also the research on Sugimoto Tetsuro’s paintings at the Seimeikaikan Museum is the result of a previous research trip I did in November to an exhibition in Shiga Prefecture, and of the establishment of networks with Sugimoto’s family and with the museums that have his paintings.
The purchase of books and translation payment has allowed me to contribute to a volume, my first publication in Japanese, which was completed by the end of Reiwa 4. This publication has also strengthened my collaboration with Japanese scholars.
I modified one of the travels initially planned in my application, the one in Morioka to collect sources at the temple of Shimaji Daito. After consulting with Japanese researchers, I learnt that the temple does not have further documents, and I have decided to replace this trip with one to Shinshuji temple, Nagano, where instead I can collect further sources on another important but understudied priest-scholar who explored India: Fujii Sensho.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
I plan to keep pursuing research on the Shimabara memorial by contacting a scholar in Nagoya and visiting Nagoya to search for a document that was missing from the temple. This will be done in June, together with attending an important symposium at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.
After searching the Kuroda collection at the Fukuoka Asian Arts Museum, I contacted a company in Kobe that has produced matches for India since the Meiji period, and plan to explore their archives in May 2023.
In May 2023, I will visit the Shinshuji temple in Nagano Prefecture to collect materials on Fujii Sensho. I will also take the chance to attend an exhibition on Nousu Kosetsu, an artist who played an important role in the Indo-Japanese religious and artistic relations of the Taisho and Showa periods. The exhibition also happened together with the use of decorations and clothes inspired by Indian aesthetics and designed by Nousu for the Hanamatsuri parade. The study of Indian aesthetics at Hanamatsuri festivals in the Taisho and early Showa period will form part of my future book publication.
Finally, I will visit Yakushiji Temple in Nara for the festival dedicated to Xuanzang, and further expand my contacts and interviews with the temple’s priests and lay supporters.
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