PMJS Publication Announcement: July 2024
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 chapter
Title: Patrons of Paper and Clay: Methods for Studying Women’s Religiosity in Ancient Japan
Author: Bryan D. Lowe
Affiliation: Princeton University, Assistant Professor
Citation: Lowe, Bryan D. "Patrons of Paper and Clay: Methods for Studying Women’s Religiosity in Ancient Japan" In Female Agency in Manuscript Cultures edited by Eike Grossmann, 19–64. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111382715-002
Summary: This chapter argues that women’s most prominent role in ancient Japanese manuscript cultures was not as authors of texts but as patrons. Women likely commissioned the transcription of tens of thousands of scrolls of Buddhist scripture. They also produced short inscriptions, in colophons and on clay and other materials, that documented their patronage of temples, Buddhist images, and offerings. To recover women’s voices and identify female patrons, scholars need to turn to new sources such as administrative documents, dedicatory colophons, and inscribed excavated objects. After outlining these archives, the chapter surveys prolific female patrons in the Nara capital, who were able to commission entire canons through the scriptoria that they helped manage. It then looks at women who joined collectives to copy sutras and sponsor Buddhist construction projects. The chapter concludes by reflecting on methods for studying non-elite women in provincial villages, who may have composed simple prayers for wealth on pieces of clay pottery.
Release Date: June 2024
Website: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111382715/html
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111382715-002 (open access)
Contact: Bryan Lowe, bdl...@princeton.edu
Publication type: Book
Title: Female Agency in Manuscript Cultures
Author: Eike Grossmann, ed.
Affiliation: Hamburg University, Germany; Prof. Dr.
Summary: Containing Bryan D. Lowe's "Patrons of Paper and Clay: Methods for Studying Women’s Religiosity in Ancient Japan" this volume adresses women's contributions to manuscript cultures and gender perspectives on the production of written artefacts. The papers highlight manuscripts and inscriptions by and for women, their active participation and enabling sponsorship, and their role in the circulation and dissemination of written artefacts. They present case studies from East Asian inscriptions to ancient cuneiform epigraphic, Egyptian graffiti from late antiquity to individual specimen and large-scale collections in medieval Europe, focusing on how women participated in and contributed to those. How did they assert their involvement, their claims and their aspirations? By what rationales and mechanisms were they excluded or their contribution marginalised? How did they react to structures that discriminated against them, eventually circumventing, subverting and transforming them? The present volume sheds light on new findings, gives unique insights and discusses methodological considerations in the budding field of women’s manuscript studies.
Release Date: June 2024
Website: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111382715/html#contents
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111382715 (open access)
Contact: Eike Grossman, eike.gr...@uni-hamburg.de
Publication type: Book
Title: The Same Moon Shines on All: The Lives and Selected Poems of Yanagawa Seigan and Kōran
Author: Jonathan Chaves; Matthew Fraleigh
Affiliation: George Washington University, Professor of Chinese; Brandeis University, Associate Professor of East Asian Literature and Culture
Summary: Yanagawa Seigan (1789–1858) and his wife Kōran (1804–79) were two of the great poets of nineteenth-century Japan. They practiced the art of traditional Sinitic poetry—works written in literary Sinitic, or classical Chinese, a language of enduring importance far beyond China’s borders. Together, they led itinerant lives, traveling around Japan teaching poetry and selling calligraphy. Seigan established Edo-period Japan’s largest poetry society and attained nationwide renown as a literary figure, as well as taking part in stealthy political activities in the years before the Meiji Restoration. Kōran was one of the most accomplished female composers of Sinitic poetry in Japanese history. After her husband’s death, she was arrested and imprisoned for six months as part of a crackdown on political reform. The Same Moon Shines on All explores their world, pairing an in-depth account of their lives and times with an inviting selection of their poetry.
Release Date: June 2024
Website:https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-same-moon-shines-on-all/9780231213714
Contact:fral...@brandeis.edu
Publication type: Article
Title: Court protocol in Nara Japan: an Annotated translation of the Giseiryō and the Ebukuryō
Author: Antonio Manieri, Maria Chiara Migliore
Affiliation: Iuor Naples, Università del Salento
Summary: This article furnishes the analysis and the philological translation for the first time into English of two laws contained in Book 7 of the Yōrōryō (Yōrō Administrative Code, 718), i.e. the Giseiryō 儀制令 (Law on Ceremonies and Regulations) and the Ebukuryō 衣服令 (Law on Robes and Garments). These two laws are pivotal in regulating the court etiquette, not only regarding the behavior but also the appearance of the political elites, as etiquette and attires define the hierarchy and the interpersonal relations between aristocracy, officialdom, and personnel down to the servants. On the one hand, the two laws highlight some basic differences between the Japanese rulers and their Chinese counterparts; on the other hand, the emphasis on ceremonies, regulations, and attires molded the subsequent Heian court society, as can be easily inferred from the significant production of texts emphasizing rituals and etiquette, such as manuals on protocol and precedents and journals written by court officials.
Release Date: 2023
Website:https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/asia-2022-0017/html
Contact: mariachiar...@unisalento.it
Publication type: Article
Title: Kenchi no shōgyō senjutsu to keishō: Shinran to no kankei, Takada monto no nettowaaku to kyōke wo tōshite (「顕智の聖教撰述と継承ー親鸞との関係、高田門徒のネットワークと教化を通して」)
Author: Brian Ruppert
Affiliation: Kanagawa University, Professor
Citation: Imai Masaharu and Hashimoto Junshō, eds., Tōgoku ni iru Shinran: 800 nenme no Jōdo shinshū bunka (『東国にいる親鸞ー800年目の浄土真宗文化』), pp. 295-317.
Language: Japanese
Summary: This study examine the role of Kenchi (1226-1310) in the development of early sacred works (shōgyō) in True Pure Land traditions. Kenchi was the progenitor of the Takada monto lineage, and is known as a disciple of Shinbutsu and Shinran himself. I initially examine his known activity as a disciple of Shinran as well as his ambulant preaching and related production of temple networks. The focus of the second half of the paper is on what the character of his sacred-works copying suggests about his views on scripture and on his innovative use of Shinran's letters as a sacred-works corpus.
Japanese Summary: 拙稿は、浄土真宗の聖教の発展における顕智 (1226-1310)の役割を検討するものである。顕智の直弟子としての活動、そして遊行や寺院ネットワークを踏まえてから彼の聖教書写や編集を考察し、さらに高田門徒に与えた影響についても少し触れたが、特に三河関係の語りに焦点を当てて分析を行った。顕智の聖教書写活動は主に「保存継承」のためだったと述べるが、実は聖教を広める役割も果たした可能性にも注目するべきだと考える。顕智が三つの文献を一抄物群として弟子専空に授けた行為は、親鸞・法然・善導・経典などの撰述を聖教の保存継承だけでなく編集する意図も含まれていると思われる。また顕智が親鸞の五つの消息（手紙）を一括して書写したことは、これらの消息を聖教として扱い、教化関係の意図で残した可能性が高いと考えられる。
Release Date: March 20, 2024
Website: https://jishosha.shop-pro.jp/?pid=180226574
To recommend a title for the August announcement, please fill out the online form no later than July 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).