‘The Sounds and Colours of Japanese Rites’ McGill October 23-24

[Mikaël Bauer, Prof]

Dear colleagues,

I am happy to announce the program of our 6th annual conference ‘The Sounds and Colours of Japanese Rites’ at the School of Religious Studies (SRS) McGill on October 23-24, organized with the generous support of The Japan Foundation, Numata Canada and McGill. All lectures are public and therefore free to attend. The conference is however in person only. Please feel free to contact me (mikael...@mcgill.ca) if you have any questions.  

Mikael Bauer

Director School of Religious Studies, McGill University

6th annual conference on pre-modern Japanese religions: ‘The Sounds and Colours of Japanese Rites’

The School of Religious Studies, McGill University, October 23-24 2025

With the generous support of The Japan Foundation, BDK Canada and The School of Religious Studies, McGill

Day 1 October 23

8.45 Welcome  (Mikaël Bauer, Director of the School of Religious Studies, McGill)

9.00-9.30 Michiko Urita (Kogakkan)

Soundless Devotion: Kagura Hikyoku at Ise Jingū and Kashikodokoro in Comparative Dialogue with Indian Sonic Philosophy

音なき祈りの深奥――伊勢神宮と賢所における神楽秘曲とインド音響思想との対話

9.30-10.00 Róisín Lacey-McCormac (University of Michigan)

Choreographing Diving Presence: Towards a Practice-based Interpretation of Ritual Processions in Medieval Japan

神々しい存在の演出：中世祭礼行列の実地的考察に向けて

Coffee Break

10.30 - 11.00 Giolai Andrea (Leiden)

The Role of Gagaku in Shrines. Between Auditory Surveillance and the Soundscape of Shinto

神社における雅楽の役割をめぐってー神道の⾳⾵景と聴覚的監視の狭間で

11.30-12.00 Marina Pandolfino ( Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE) – PSL )

Purification Wands, Numbers and Paper Streamers: Yoshida Kanetomo on the Haraigushi 

祓の具、数字、紙垂―吉田兼倶の「祓串」論をめぐって

LUNCH at Senior Common Room 12-13.15

13.15-13.45 Tianran Hang (Columbia University)

Expelling Oni: Ritual and Entertainment in Medieval Shushō-e and Shuni-e

鬼を追うーー中世修正会・修二会の儀礼と芸能をめぐって

13.45-14.15 Tetsuro Shiokawa (Kogakkan)

Emperor Ritual and Ise Jingū Ritual: Focusing on the Rituals of Ancient Shikinen Sengū (the Vicennial Renewal of the Ise Jingū)

天皇祭祀と神宮祭祀―古代における神宮式年遷宮の祭りを題材に―

14.15-14.45 Coffee Break

14.45-15.15 Maria Salvador (Harvard University)

When the Night Breathes:  Nocturnal Processions and the Sensory Ecology of Ritual in Japan and Spain

夜が息づくとき―日本とスペインにおける夜間行列と儀礼の感覚的生態学

15.15-15. 45 Christina Laffin (UBC)

Rites, Colour, and Human Sacrifice: Threads of Premodern, Present, and Future in a Post 3.11 Nō Play

古代と現代をつなぐ新作能沖宮における色、信仰、人柱

Day 2 October 24

8.45 Welcome

9.00-9.30 Chihiro Saka ( Nichibunken)

Dressing Sculptures in Fabric Clothing: Kōryūji’s Prince Shōtoku and Imperial Symbolism

広隆寺の裸形着装聖徳太子像と王権の象徴

9.30-10.00 Abigail MacBain (University of Edinburgh)

Musical Performance in Premodern Japanese Buddhist Ritual

日本仏教儀礼における雅楽と舞楽

10.00-10.30 Coffee

10.30-11.00 Julia Cross (Mount Allison University)

Contextualizing Kisshōten: An Embodiment of Female Sovereignty

吉祥天をめぐって：女性主権の体現として

11.00-11.30 Monika Kiss (ELTE University Budapest)

Enmei and Fugen Enmei in Japanese Written and Visual Sources

平安鎌倉時代の史料やビジュアル資料における延命と普賢延命

11.30-12.00 Bryan Lowe (Princeton University)

A Whole New Sensory World: Buddhism’s Spread to the Japanese Provinces, 650–850 CE

新しい感覚世界：古代における仏教の地方への普及

Lunch 12.00- 13.15

13.15-13.45 Pamela Winfield (Elon University)

From the Misai-e to the Mishuhō: ‘Making Sense’ of the Ritual Structures in Heian Japan

御斎会から御修法へ：平安時代における儀礼構造の「意味」

13. 45- 14.15 Yagi Morris (McGill) 

The Biwa’s Mandalic Miniverse: A Sonic Space of Imperial Legitimation as Constructed in a Medieval Japanese Esoteric Buddhist Text

琵琶の曼荼羅的ミニヴァース―: 中世日本の密教文献における帝権正当化の音の空間

Coffee 14.15-14.45

14.45- 15.15 Haruka Saito (SOAS London)

Tendai Lotus Repentance in the Tōdaiji Nigatsudō Shunie: Chanting and Structure 

東大寺二月堂修二会における法華懺法: 声明と構成

15. 15- 15.45 Alexander Dieplam (McGill University)

Performing memory: an examination of Jōkei’s Kannon kōshiki (1201) 

貞慶の『観音講式』（1201）についてーメモリー研究の視点からー

15.45- 16.00 Concluding Remarks 

17.00 Faculty Club McGill: Dinner for presenters

Mikael Bauer

Director of the School of Religious Studies

Associate Professor of Japanese Religions (Buddhism), School of Religious Studies

Associate Member Department of East Asian Studies

Resources for supporting graduate student well-being:

https://www.mcgill.ca/gps/students/supporting-graduate-student-well-being

McGill University

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514-398-8318

Recent Publications:

Bauer, Mikael. “The sacralization of Sovereignty.” In: Matthew D. McMullen and Jolyon Baraka Thomas  ed. The New Tanzan Guide to Japanese Religions. Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, 2024. 

Bauer, Mikael. “In the Sovereign's Presence. Fujiwara no Nakamaro and the Creation of the History of the Fujiwara House.” In: Steffen Döll and Martin Lehnert ed.  Interactions between Religious and Political Authority: Case Studies from Japan and China, Past and Present.  

ÖSTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN, BEITRÄGE ZUR KULTUR- UND

GEISTESGESCHICHTE ASIENS, nr. 111, 2024.