Japanese Studies Commons^™

Beyond The Battle: Historical, Religio-Philosophical, And Literary Depths Of Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This paper argues that Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is not merely an animated cinematic phenomenon but a multifaceted narrative that intricately weaves together diverse elements of Japanese cultural heritage. It offers a unique lens through which to examine some of the complexities of Japan's sociocultural and philosophical landscapes and conversely, the impact of these on the film. It makes this argument in three sections: (1) The Importance of the Historical Setting in Demon Slayer, (2) Shintō, Buddhism, and Confucianism in Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, and (3) Relations to Antecedent Representations of Dreaming in Japanese Literature and Anime.

This article was …

Gomyō And Kūkai In Early-Heian Intra-Buddhist Conversations, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This paper is about the relationship between the famous Japanese esoteric Buddhist Kūkai and the less-famous Gomyō, who you've probably never heard of but maybe should have. My paper responds to the work of two recent scholars, Fujii Jun, who says that Kūkai was a Sanron (Japanese Mādhyamika) priest, and Matsumoto Gyoyu, who speculates about the origins of and thinking behind certain passages in Kūkai's Jūjūshinron. The paper points to the intellectual significance for Kūkai of his close relationship with Gomyō and other Yogācāra scholars of his day, and how this is reflected in the Jūjūshinron and Kūkai's thought broadly. …

Review Of Seeing Like The Buddha. Enlightenment Through Film By Francisca Cho, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

Korean Contributions To Japanese Buddhism, Ronald S. Green, Chanju Mun

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

Indian Foundations And Chinese Developments Of The Buddha Dharma, Ronald S. Green, Chanju Mun

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

Teaching Zen's Ten Oxherding Pictures Through Leonard Cohen's "Ballad Of The Absent Mare", Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

The Shingon Ajikan, Meditation On The Syllable ‘A’: An Analysis Of Components And Development, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This paper examines what has been described as the most basic and essential element of Kūkai’s (774-835) religio-philosophical system (Yamasaki 1988:190), meditation on the Sanskrit syllable ‘A’. According to Shingon Buddhist tradition, Kūkai introduced the meditation on the syllable ‘A’ (hereafter referred to as the Ajikan) into Japan in the early 9th century, at the time he transmitted the Shingon Dharma to that country from China. Materials clearly showing the origin and development of the Ajikan before Kūkai’s time have either not been discovered or have not been analyzed in relationship to the Ajikan. Indeed, some researchers have argued that …

Review Of A Cultural History Of Japanese Buddhism By Brian Ruppert And William E. Deal, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

A Review Of Critical Buddhism: Engaging With Modern Japanese Buddhist Thought, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

Haruki Murakami And Religion: The Nature Of Religion In 1q84 And Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgrimage, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This course focuses on underlying religious and philosophical assumptions in the most recent works of Haruki Murakami (1949-), 1Q84 in three volumes and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. Murakami is the most popular and widely read novelist in Japan today and a major literary figure worldwide. He cites as his two sources for inspiration in writing 1Q84 George Orwell and the AUM religious cult, responsible for bombing Tokyo subways with sarin gas in the 1990s.

KūKai's Epitaph For Master Huiguo: An Introduction And Translation, Ronald S. Green, Chanju Mun

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

Modern Japanese Literature And Visual Culture: Constructions Of Religious And Historical Identity, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This course is a survey of modern Japanese literature and visual culture since the Meiji Restoration (1868). It focuses on constructions of identities within historical contexts. Our objective is to analyze ways in which writers and artists have positioned their subjects and re-imagined culture to create particular portrayals. The class examines a selection of shōsetsu (the Japanese novel) of Natsume Soseki, Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, Murakami Haruki, and Ogawa Yōko, films of Miyazaki Hayao, and important anime. The course promotes critical methodologies and interdisciplinary or comparative studies, combining, for example, literature with film, visual culture, gender studies, cultural history, Buddhist …

Farming Satori: Zen And The Naturalist Farmer Fukuoka Masanobu, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This paper looks at how Masanobu Fukuoka adopts Chan Buddhist philosophy in relation to his Zen natural farming method. To understand this, it examines the development in Chinese Buddhism that allowed and required Buddhist to farm, defining farming as Buddhist practice.The paper is organized as follows: I. Seeds in the Mahāyāna; II. Roots in Chan monastic regulations; III. Farming satori, Fukuoka’s writing on awakening.

Review Of 1918 Shikoku Pilgrimage Of Takamure Itsue Translated By Susan Tennant, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This book is a collection of 105 short reflections and poems by Takamure Itsue (1894–1964) on her travels to and around Shikoku in 1918, when she was twenty-three years old. Each piece was published individually during her pilgrimage as a serial column in a Kyushu newspaper. They were compiled after her death and published as Musume Junreiki (1979). Although best known as a historian and feminist concerned with the education of women, she also wrote Gohenro (1938) and Henro to jinsei (1939), two additional books about her 1918 Shikoku pilgrimage.

Shōnen Nyorai: How Tezuka Osamu Reimaged Buddha For Shōnen Manga, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This paper examines Tezuka Osamu’s (1928-89) retelling of the biography of the Buddha to appeal to readers of the shōnen genre of manga. Tezuka is a well-known Japanese manga writer and artist, cartoonist, animator, film producer, and activist. In 1972, he began a series of manga adventures in Japan titled Buddha (ブッダ). The series ran to 14 editions in that country, ending in 1983. Subsequently, it was translated and reproduced in eight editions worldwide. This critically acclaimed series, which won the Eisner Award in 2004 and 2005 and Harvey Awards the same years, is considered the last great work in …

Review Of Japanese Mythology In Film: A Semiotic Approach To Reading Japanese Film And Anime By Yoshiko Okuyama, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

Review Of Making Pilgrimages, Meaning And Practice In Shikoku By Ian Reader, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

Ian Reader offers a unique and valuable contribution to the academic study of the Shikoku hachijūhakkasho, a pilgrimage to eighty-eight sacred places of Shikoku in honor of the Japanese Buddhist saint Kōbō Daishi (774-835).

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 …