Tag Archives: Religious Studies

Beyond Japan Ep. #39: Gagaku: Court Music Through the Ages with Professor Fabio Rambelli

This week Oliver is joined by Professor Fabio Rambelli to discuss gagaku (雅楽), a traditional form of Japanese music which has endured to the modern day largely unchanged for over a thousand years.

Beyond Japan Ep. #34: History & Myth in Ancient Texts with Prof Bryan Lowe

Our third and final Shōtoku interviewee is Bryan Lowe, Assistant Professor of Religion at Princeton University, with whom Oliver will be getting to grips with the tricky task of reading history from mythology in ancient texts such as the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki.

Beyond Japan Ep. #32: Mixed Religions – Buddhism, Shinto & Honji Suijaku (本地垂迹)

Oliver is joined by Marcus Teeuwen, Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Oslo, who explains the changing faiths of Japan in the 7th century through the Buddhist concept of honji suijaku (本地垂迹), a notion which allowed Buddhist monks to explain the gods, or kami, worshipped in Japan at the time as traces of Buddhist deities.

Beyond Japan Ep. #25: Heritage-Making with Professor Aike Rots

Oliver is joined by Aike Rots, Associate Professor of Japan Studies at the University of Oslo, to discuss Heritage-Making in Japan, examining how the process of ‘heritagisation’ can secularise and politicise religious sites, such as Shinto shrines and natural areas of religious significance to Okinawan and Ainu communities, and the role of nationalism within heritage.

Beyond Japan Ep. #20: Buddhism as Lived Religion in Rural Japan with Dr Paulina Kolata

Listen on your favourite podcast platform or stream on YouTube This week we are joined by Dr Paulina Kolata to discuss lived religion in rural Japan, exploring the active role Buddhism and its institutions play in day-to-day life in such issues as rural depopulation. Paulina Kolata obtained her PhD in 2019 from The University ofContinue reading “Beyond Japan Ep. #20: Buddhism as Lived Religion in Rural Japan with Dr Paulina Kolata”