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The Tale Of The Tokugawa Artifacts: Japanese Funerary Lanterns At The Penn Museum, Yoko Nishimura May 2019

The Tale Of The Tokugawa Artifacts: Japanese Funerary Lanterns At The Penn Museum, Yoko Nishimura

East Asian Studies Faculty Publications

That previously stood at the back of the quiet inner courtyard of the Penn Museum waited many years for its significance to be rediscovered. It is one of the Tokugawa lanterns that long illuminated the shogunate family’s grand mausoleums during the Edo period (1603–1868 CE) in the Zōjōji temple in Tokyo, Japan. Photographs taken around 1930 show the lanterns flanking the Museum entrance in the Stoner Courtyard. The prominent placement of these objects suggests that, in those days, the Museum acknowledged the significance of the lanterns. One of the lanterns was subsequently moved to Museum storage after suffering damage from …


Mother Of God, Mother Of Christianity: The Development Of The Marian Tradition In Early Modern Japan, Alaina Keller Apr 2019

Mother Of God, Mother Of Christianity: The Development Of The Marian Tradition In Early Modern Japan, Alaina Keller

Student Publications

The Christian figure of the Virgin Mary, first introduced as Jesus’ mother in the Bible, has since been repeatedly reinterpreted in various roles and imagery through her incorporation into different cultures. This project analyses the historical adoption and adaptation of Mary among Christian converts in Japan, from the arrival of Jesuit missionaries in 1549 to the end of the Tokugawa era in the nineteenth century. An examination of doctrinal prayers, the rosary, and Marian iconography within Japan illustrates Mary’s role as the Mother of God and compassionate intercessor for early Japanese Christians. Moreover, their affinity for Mary enabled Christianity to …