Edinburgh events related to Japanese material culture and religious practice

[Halle O'Neal]

Dear PMJS colleagues,

I am writing to invite you to two online events hosted by Edinburgh on Japanese material culture and religious practice. 

The first is a research lecture presented by Dr Carolyn Wargula on Thursday, Mar 12 from 5:15 pm to 6:30 pm GMT for the History of Art Research Seminar Series entitled "Materialising Rebirth: Funerary Hair Embroideries in Medieval Japan.” The abstract and link to sign up are below:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/history-of-art-research-seminar-series-dr-carolyn-wargula-tickets-1976625948421?aff=oddtdtcreator

How did needlework engage audiences differently by transforming recognisable painted Buddhist images into textured surfaces? This talk addresses this question by discussing the practice of hair and silk embroidery that emerged in twelfth-century Japan. By weaving together analyses of neglected textiles, this talk tells a new story of the affective, aesthetic and religious life of premodern Japan: one where fabrics gave material presence to mourning, needlework enacted Buddhist enlightenment, and vibrant threads resuscitated the presence of female saints like Chūjōhime.

The second is the roundtable "Embodiments in Japanese Buddhism: Gender, Power, and Statuary” organised by Dr Julia Cross and hosted by the Edinburgh Centre for Buddhist Studies on Mar 26, 5:30 PM JST | 8:30 AM GMT | 10:30 AM IDT. The description is attached, and the Zoom link is below:

https://list-waseda-jp.zoom.us/j/92213004334?pwd=b9ntd6SRrDhAFN8ku37ODu5FFCi4b6.1

Meeting ID: 922 1300 4334

Passcode: 867696

Neither event is being recorded. I hope many of you can join us for these two exciting sessions.

All my best,

Halle

-- 

Dr Halle O’Neal (she/her)

Reader in History of Art and Co-Director of Edinburgh Centre for Buddhist Studies

University of Edinburgh

Co-Editor, Buddhist Studies Review 

https://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/profile/dr-halle-oneal

 

Edited Collection: Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose: The Afterlives of Japanese Material Culture, Ars Orientalis 52 (2022) 

https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/ars/issue/204/info/

 

Word Embodied: The Jeweled Pagoda Mandalas in Japanese Buddhist Art (Harvard University Press 2018)

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674983861