Religions and beliefs in Japan
The Interdisciplinary Research Network on Religion and Belief in Japan was founded in June 2024 in recognition of a certain void in collective research on the subject in France, but also of renewed interest in Japanese religions in both France and Japan, in the world of research as well as on the part of students, civil society and political leaders. The aim of this conference is to draw up an overview of current research on Japanese religions and beliefs, with a view to identifying, at the end of our two days, avenues of work for future years.
Program
Thursday, May 22, 2025: Religion through the field
9am Welcome
9:10am Introductory remarks: Jean-Michel Butel
9:15am Inaugural lecture:「日本の宗教学は、今、何を論じているのか」(in Japanese)
Hirafuji Kikuko, Director, Research Center for Japanese Culture, Kokugaku-in University
10:15am Session #1: Confrontations with the political
Discussant: Adam Lyons
What is religion in the West? - A reading of Rapport véridique sur le voyage d'observation à
travers l'Amérique et l'Europe de Kume Kunitake (1878) - Emmanuel Lozerand, IFRAE - INALCO
Questionnements préliminaires sur l'implantation des sanctuaires à Taiwan - Edouard L'Hérisson, IFRAE - INALCO
Sôka Gakkai et Kômeitô: universalism and secularism - Thierry Guthmann, Université de Mie - Faculté des sciences humaines, de droit et d'économie
Enquiring the religious in Japan in times of geopolitical conflict: Japanese Christian Zionism in the face of the Israel-Gaza war - Hugo Trevisan, Centre Maurice Halbwachs - EHESS
A forgotten case study in French Catholic evangelization in Japan (19th-20th centuries): the little-known role of the Soeurs de Saint-Paul de Chartres - Clothilde Fontaine, Master - Université Bordeaux Montaigne
1:30pm Session #2: Materialities
Discussant: Fabienne Duteil-Ogata
Abordering the religious through the object - What ema allow us to say, or to contest - Jean-Michel Butel, IFRAE - INALCO
Popular beliefs and magical practices in 12th-century Hiraizumi - Sania Carbone, IFRAE - INALCO
Kyōdogangu, the toys of Japanese folklore as objects of belief - Hariko no tora and Inu hariko - Laura Ariès, Kyôto University of Foreign Studies
3:15PM Session #3: Living and dead
Discussant: Charlotte Lamotte
The living and the dead: religion and ritual after the Tôhoku disaster in Japan - Rina Kojima & Christine Fassert, LATTS - Université Gustave Eiffel
Kitsune tsuki in Japanese psychiatric hospitals and other forms of possession - Mary Picone, UMR CNRS-EHESS China, Korea, Japan
Urban legends and underground fears - at the heart of new Japanese beliefs - Valérian Pedelahore, IETT - Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3
5pm Session #4: New practices
Discussant: Edouard L'Hérisson
The resurrection of the gods of Mount Ishizuchi - Aurélien Allard, Université de Lille / Université Libre de Bruxelles
Patrimonialization and tourism of the new year rites of the Oga peninsula - Louis Canales, IrAsia - Aix-Marseille Université
The evidence of pilgrimage in Japan: anthropological approach to a contemporary practice of religious tourism - Jason Lelievre, Master - INALCO
Friday, May 23, 2025: Religion through texts
9:30am Session #5: Relectures
Discussant: Matthias Hayek
The Kojiki, an unfulfilled sacralization - François Macé, INALCO
The figure of the primordial god in Yoshida Kanetomo: between exegesis and rewriting of the Nihon shoki - Marina Pandolfino, CRCAO - EPHE
Reception and contextualization of sources: the case of writing in the shugendô - Alexandre Goy
11:15am Session #6: Beliefs in texts
Discussant: Yannick Bardy
How to live? Perspectives on the proper use of time in medieval Japanese Buddhism - Léo Messerschmid, Asien-Orient-Institut, Universität Zürich
The religious practices and beliefs of Fujiwara no Yukinari through his daily notes, the Gonki - Bérangère Hamel, IETT - Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3
Dreams and pragmatic premonitions in the writings of Shôgetsubô Keisei 證月坊慶政 (1189-1268) - Carina Roth, University of Geneva
14H Session #7: Powers and minds
Discussant: Martin Nogueira Ramos
Power and displacement in ancient and medieval Japan - Arnaud Brotons, IrAsia - Aix-Marseille université
The forms of the invisible: Materializing spirits and fate in the early Edo period - Matthias Hayek, CRCAO - EPHE
The popular cult of Tenjin and resentful spirits in Heian-era Japan - Chloé Pokalsky, Master - Aix-Marseille université
Between mountains and oceans: Articulation of the masculine and feminine in the legitimating symbolism of the Taira - Sony Sommovigo, Master - Aix-Marseille université
Study of a contemporary Buddhist movement: Shinnyo-en - Alice Dehon, Master - INALCO