University of Heidelberg

Kami Cults and Notions of Transculturality in Ancient Japan

Research Workshop
Organiser: Project C11
“Religion and Medicine in Premodern East Asia”
Contact: Dr Anna Andreeva

Venue

The Library Room, Karl Jaspers Centre, Voßstraße 2, Bldg. 4400, Heidelberg

Time

9 December, 2011, 14.00-18.00

Outline

This workshop brings together international scholars working on conceptual history of kami cults in ancient and medieval Japan. The speakers will concentrate on a variety of cultic forms and the dynamics of their transculturation that emerged before the 10th century. By doing so, we aim to reconsider the processes of conceptualisation of Japanese deities ‘arriving’ from China and the Korean kingdoms, moving from one ancient polity to another, venerated remotely at court, or pressurised by the transcultural forces of Buddhism. Behind these processes we can discern the impact of constant human migration, ideological, economic and political pressures, conflict, violence and the necessity to reconcile cultural agents and entities belonging to different geographic and socio-political contexts.
The papers will touch upon the impact of politics and processes of transculturation on the veneration of deities in the area of Izumo in the northwest and near Mt Miwa in central Japan, Ise in the east of Honshu and Usa in the west of Kyushu.