Dear colleagues,
The speaker for the July meeting of the Kyoto Asian
Studies Group is Heather
Blair, who will present “Mere Mummery or Real
Religion? A Noblewoman’s
Religiosity in the ‘World of the Shining Prince.’”
(see abstract below).
The lecture will be held on Monday, July 8th
from
6:30-8:30 in Room 212 of the Fusokan on the Doshisha
University
Campus (see link below for access information).
Abstract:
Mere Mummery
or Real Religion? A Noblewoman’s Religiosity
in the ‘World of the Shining
Prince’
In his 1964
classic, _The World of the Shining Prince_, Ivan
Morris characterized much of
the religious culture of Heian-period
aristocrats as “mere mummery” and
superstition. This talk begins by
re-visiting influential twentieth-century
models of Heian religiosity,
including Morris’s, and examining their ongoing
influence. Working from the
premise that aristocrats used ritual action and the
rhetoric of piety to
construct and navigate their world, this talk aims to
reassess Heian
religiosity through a consideration of the career of Minamoto no
Reishi
(1040-1114). Though she is virtually unknown today, Reishi was a grand
lady
in her own right. Born into an eminent family, she played the roles of
mother
and wife to Fujiwara regents and foster-mother to an empress. It is
possible
to piece together a mosaic-style representation of Reishi’s
religious
undertakings, as well as their role in shaping her social
reputation, by
reading votive texts she commissioned from male literati and
combing through
the diaries of her male family members. At the same time,
this exercise raises
questions about how we construe religion, the role of
gender categories in
Heian society and contemporary research, and the
boundaries between reportage
and the telling of tales.
Heather
Blair
is assistant professor of East Asian religions in the Department of
Religious
Studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN, and a
postdoctoral researcher
with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
at Kyoto University during
2012-13.
Sponsored by the Kyoto
Consortium
for Japanese Studies. For access information see:
http://www.doshisha.ac.jp/english/access/ima_campus.html
Please
refrain from bringing food or drinks into the meeting room.
Contact:
Hillary Pedersen, hillyped@yahoo.com
