Japanese Studies Commons^™

'Land Of Kami, Land Of The Dead': Paligenesis And The Aesthetics Of Religious Revisionism In Kobayashi Yoshinori's 'On Yasukuni', James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

In 2005, Japanese manga artist and conservative provocateur Kobayashi Yoshinori published a graphic work entitled Shin gōmanizumu sengen special: Yasukuniron (Neo-Gōmanism Manifesto Special: On Yasukuni), which tackles the much-debated ‘problem’ of Yasukuni Shrine, the militaristic religious complex that has become a lightning-rod for debates regarding Japanese historical memory – especially with regard to the military expansionism in East Asia that led to the Asia-Pacific War (1931–45). Frequently overlooked in discussions of Yasukuni, however, are a number of complex issues related to its religious doctrines – in particular, the interpretation of Shinto presented at Yasukuni and the dominant ideology of Japan’s …

Awakening Between Science, Art & Ethics: Variations On Japanese Buddhist Modernism, 1890–1945, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

The half-century between the publication of the Imperial Rescript on Education (kyōiku chokugo 教育勅語, 1890) and the bombing of Pearl Harbor (1941) was one of tremendous institutional and intellectual tumult in the world of Japanese Buddhism. Buddhist sects and scholars were not immune to the changing political and cultural winds. While it is true that by the late 1930s, the majority of Buddhist leaders and institutions had capitulated to the status quo, preaching, in the words of Joseph Kitagawa “the virtues of peace, harmony, and loyalty to the throne,” the previous decades show anything but a continuous progression towards …

The Lotus Sutra, James Mark Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Ikkyū, James Mark Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Gyōgi Bosatsu, James Mark Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Musō Soseki, James Mark Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

KūKai, Founder Of Japanese Shingon Buddhism: Portraits Of His Life, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

2003 dissertation, UW-Madison, Buddhist Studies. A study of the life of the Kūkai (774-822), known posthumously by the honorific title Kōbō Daishi (Great Teacher who Propagated the Dharma). Kūkai is best known as the founder of Japanese Shingon Tantric Buddhism. The study is based primarily on writings attributed to him and his immediate followers and secondarily on early legends (those apparently dating from the Heian period) as identified by modern researchers. These writings show that Kūkai was involved in a variety of social activities. In some instances I have attempted to understand the socio-political intention of Kūkai’s biographers, his followers …

The Christian Thought Of Doctor Toyohiko Kagawa And His Social Works And Movements, Eiichi Iimura

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The world recognizes Toyohiko Kagawa as the St. Francis of Japan. His heart is one of pure love like that of St. Francis, but his battle has not been carried on by means of the sermon in a religious denomination. With a heart of love Kagawa has stood in the streets and would save the lives of the people. This is because he was born in 20th century Japan and not in Italy of the Middle Ages.

Fifteen hundred years after the fall of ancient Rome the world once more is about to undergo a mighty change. At this time …