John C. Weber International Symposium on Japanese Religion and Culture:
Images and Objects in Japanese Buddhist Practice

October 7th, 2010 (Thursday), 6:00 p.m. – 9th (Saturday), 6:00 p.m.

Columbia University
116th street and Broadway
New York, NY, 10027

The Columbia Center for Japanese Religions announces the first annual John C. Weber International Symposium on Japanese Religion and Culture. The 2010 symposium, entitled Images and Objects in Japanese Buddhist Practice, will be held at Columbia University from October 7th to the 9th, 2010. It will begin with a keynote address on the evening of Thursday October 7 by Mimi Yiengpruksawan of Yale University and will be followed by two days of papers and discussion on Friday and Saturday, October 8th and 9th. The symposium will bring together scholars of Japanese Buddhism and Japanese Buddhist art from Japan, Europe, and North America to critically examine the historical use of objects of visual and material culture in Japanese Buddhist practice. Through the presentation and discussion of new scholarly work from diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives, this symposium will explore the relations between images, objects, and ritual in the history of Japanese Buddhism.

Presenters include:

Abe Yasuro, Nagoya University
    「祭儀空間における生身の太子―中世宗教テクストとしての聖徳太子尊像／
     絵伝と礼拝空間―」

Cynthea Bogel, University of Washington
    "Representation, Visual Efficacy, and the Impact of Mikkyô"

Helmut Brinker, Universität Zürich
    "The Iconic Body as Insight into Japanese Buddhist Practice"

Sherry Fowler, University of Kansas
    "Finding the Feminine in the Thirty-Three Kannon"

Samuel Morse, Amherst College
    "Securing a Place: Chindangu in Early Japan"

Nagaoka Ryūsaku, Tōhoku University
    「山水と仏像―仏教的実践の場と表象の機能」　

Nedachi Kensuke, Kyoto University
    「霊木と古材を用いた造仏の意味」

Suzuki Yui, University of Maryland
    "Possessions: Spirits, Objects, and Bodies in Heian Birthing Rituals"

Mimi Hall Yiengpruksawan, Yale University
    "Fire Starter: The Local and Global Implications of Fujiwara no Yukinari’s Devotion to
     Blue Acala"

Yonekura Michio, Sophia University
    「掛幅本高僧絵伝の制作目的について」