PMJS Publication Announcement: August 2025
Abigail MacBain
Dear colleagues,
Below please find our monthly bulletin compiling information on publications by and recommendations from PMJS members. All details below were submitted through the PMJS Publication Announcements online form.
Publication type: Book
Title: Splendours of Japan: Highlights from the Bodleian Library
Author: Bodleian Library
Affiliation: Oxford University
Summary: The Bodleian Library houses one of the oldest institutional collections of Japanese rare books and manuscripts in Europe, dating back to the first half of the seventeenth century.
This illustrated collection of essays written by leading scholars and experts offers a glimpse into its rich and multifaceted history, celebrating four hundred years of collecting. In Splendours of Japan, readers will learn about early encounters between England and Japan, explaining how Japanese books and manuscripts arrived in England from the archipelago in the seventeenth century. In addition, other contributions include an examination of hand-brushed poetry anthologies, which arrived at the Bodleian at the turn of the century; the production and use of hand-made paper, color pigments and ink; and an overview of the thriving publishing market in Japan during the early-modern and modern period.
Among the stunning items are exquisitely painted scrolls, manuscripts of Noh plays, the oldest trade agreement between England and Japan, and early printed books. Essay authors: A. Bianchi, P. Kornicki, M. McCormick, E. Kamens, L. Moretti, K. Triplett, M. Stiglitz.
Release Date: July 2025
Website: https://bodleianshop.co.uk/products/splendours-of-japan
ISBN: 9781851245901
Contact:
Publication type: Book
Title: Kojiki: Fully Revised Edition: Records of Ancient Matters (Revised and with a New Foreword)
Author: O no Yasumaro, B.H. Chamberlain, Matthieu Felt
Affiliation: University of Florida, Assistant Professor (Matthieu Felt)
Summary: The fully revised edition restores Chamberlain’s Meiji-era Kojiki translation to form so that it can stand alongside the numerous excellent Kojiki translations that have followed it. We’ve modernized the romanization, translated Latin passages to English, and restructured the notes into footnote and endnote style, among other changes to promote access and readability.
Chamberlain’s detailed notes, which foreground his reliance on the early modern kokugaku commentarial tradition, continue to distinguish this translation from others into English. We are especially pleased that these notes, along with occasional comments by Nihon shoki translator W.G. Aston, are reproduced in full.
The edition also includes a new foreword discussing the significance of Chamberlain’s translation, which is enormous in hindsight.
We hope this revised edition can complement the existing translations of Kojiki for readers interested in Japanese origins and myths or in Meiji-period scholarship of the Japanese classics.
Release Date: 8/19/2025
Website: https://www.tuttlepublishing.com/japan/kojiki-fully-revised-edition-9784805318331
ISBN: 978-4805318331
Contact: Matthieu Felt; matthi...@gmail.com
Publication type: E-book
Title: Imperial Rule: Essays on Ancient Japan
Author: Ross Bender
Affiliation: Independent Scholar
Summary: The volume begins with the third century and concludes at the end of the ninth. The majority of the pieces center on the Nara and early Heian periods. While I have subtitled the volume “Essays on Ancient Japan,” the chapters are of greatly varied length, with some as short as five pages. About half the material is previously unpublished; the rest comprises revised versions of journal articles or book chapters. Some chapters deal with political history. I discuss the origins and development of female rule in the remarkable series of women sovereigns during the roughly two centuries from Suiko to Shōtoku. Another emphasis is the pattern of development of imperial cities – primary, secondary, and tertiary capitals—in the eighth century. Several chapters cover the turbulent period of the reign of the last female emperor of Nara, Kōken/Shōtoku Tennō, who faced and triumphed over challenges to her rule by three men – Tachibana Naramaro, Fujiwara Nakamaro, and the Buddhist priest Dōkyō.
Release Date: July 2025
Website:https://a.co/d/2wryFyo
Contact:Ross Bender rosslyn...@gmail.com
Publication type: Book
Title: Azuma Old Japanese: A Comparative Grammar and Reconstruction
Author: John Kupchik
Affiliation: Independent Scholar
Summary: New, more affordable paperback edition of the original 2023 hardcover book. This is a comprehensive reference grammar of the Old Japanese dialects spoken in Azuma during the Nara period. It also includes a reconstruction of their phoneme inventories and discussion of historical sound changes from Proto-Japanese.
Release Date: June 30, 2025
Website:https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111078793/html?lang=en
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111078793
Contact:John Kupchik johnk...@gmail.com
Note: 40% off at DeGruyter's website until August 31 with code DGBSUMMER25, with free worldwide shipping.
Publication type:
Title: In the Presence of Gods and Spirits: Hirata Atsutane and his Collaborators
Author: Anne Walthall
Affiliation:University of California, Irvine; professor emeritus
Summary: In the Presence of Gods and Spirits brings to life the early nineteenth century Japanese religious leader and scholar Hirata Atsutane, whose fear of
Russian incursion onto Japan’s soil led him to redefine what it means to be
Japanese. Atsutane advocated the study of the Way of the Gods, common-
ly known as Shinto, to explain what happens to the soul after death and to
cultivate a Japanese identity centered on gods, spirits, and the emperor. His
teachings would later attract thousands of followers and feed the movements that led to the Meiji Restoration. Drawing on the concept of material religion, Walthall demonstrates how Atsutane and his collaborators sought out knowledge of the unseen world and educated others, while seeking to bring themselves closer to the gods and spirits. This work showcases Atsutane and his community’s legacy, which has had a profound influence on Japanese society, religious belief, and culture far beyond his lifetime.
Release Date: August 12, 2025
Website: https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/cc08hj72c
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.14405645
Contact:Anne Walthall walt...@uci.edu
Note: discount code UMWEB30
To recommend a title for the September announcement, please fill out the online form no later than August 30. Submissions can be submitted by authors themselves or by PMJS members who are eager to share other scholars’ recent publications.
For any questions or comments on the submission format, please contact Abigail MacBain (abigail...@ed.ac.uk). Note: Please do not email requesting a publication to be posted; only those submitted through the above form will be listed.