There’s a Japanese film industry, and then there’s ‘Japanese Cinema’ – a construct we imagine and create through the stories we tell about it. In the past, ‘Japanese Cinema’ has been imagined in the West as a story of auteurs (Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kurosawa), esoteric national styles (Ozu’s tatami-inspired low- level frame), and bizarre genres (Pink ei…[Read more]

Syllabus for Japanese Mythology Spring 2021

The essay is the first of a projected series of essays collectively entitled ‘The Uesugi: a study of a Japanese warrior family’s political and military involvement in eastern Japan, 1252-1455’. It examines the Uesugi family’s early history from around the time of its establishment to early 1336, the year war broke out between the Ashikaga and the…[Read more]

The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will finally come into force after the 50th country (Honduras) ratified it over the weekend. The treaty will make the development, testing, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons illegal for those countries that have signed it. This is an extraordinary achievement for those who have suffered the…[Read more]

My contribution to the Immanent Frame project on “Pandemic, Religion, and Public Life.” It’s a story on disease, divine protection, and penance ritual. What can early Japanese Buddhism teach us about our present moment?

This is a story of the possibilities created by connection but also of the inherent fragility of movement within a network. It uses a case study of roads in ancient Japan (defined as late seventh through early ninth centuries) to show how networks not only amplify interaction but also isolation. This article explores the religious implications of…[Read more]

Syllabus for a graduate reading course on secondary scholarship on Japanese Buddhism

Syllabus for graduate seminar on premodern Japanese Buddhist texts from fall of 2019