平安神宮と時代祭の歴史
キーワード：平安神宮、復元、神格化、四神相応
2020.01～2023.12.

平安神宮・太宰府天満宮・橿原神宮ーその創立と祭事
キーワード：平安神宮、太宰府天満宮、橿原神宮、四神
2015.05.

日本古代の都市計画についての研究
キーワード：宮都、都市、宮、都
1999.03.

古代木簡についての研究
キーワード：木簡
2012.01.

「四神相応」に関する研究
キーワード：『作庭記』、四神相応、風水
2008.04.

宗教が長岡京遷都に与えた影響に関する研究
キーワード：長岡京、仏教、儒教、道教、陰陽五行
2007.03～2008.03.

長岡京に関する研究
キーワード：宮都、木簡、桓武天皇
1999.03～2008.04.

Heian Jingu and Jidai Matsuri: Changing Meanings and Perceptions from Their Creation to the Present
2024.04～2029.03, 代表者：Ellen Van Goethem.

Cities and Monuments
2023.04～2024.04, 代表者：Timon Screech, 国際日本文化研究センター.

神功皇后とその威光―北部九州における神格化と神社の事例研究
2022.04～2022.10, 代表者：Emily B. Simpson, Dartmouth College, Kakenhi.

Mountains, Religion, and Spirituality: Modern Constructs and Ongoing Reconstructions
2022.04～2024.03, 代表者：Caleb Carter, Kyushu University.

Reiterations of the Past: Reconstructions, Practices, and Places
2019.04～2022.03, 代表者：Ellen Van Goethem, Kyushu University, Kyushu University
Throughout history, “the past” has continuously been reconstructed from the point of view of “the present” and, especially in modern times, people have shown great interest in intentionally engaging with the past in a variety of contexts and through myriad means. This Strategic Partnership seeks to investigate objects, practices, and places that exemplify these interactions with the past in the present. Our starting point is the fact that current views of the past are not merely a simple recreation of the past in forms that are either tangible (buildings, prints, literary works, etc.) or intangible (rituals, ceremonies, space, etc.); instead, they require an active negotiation with the past that is never straightforward or uncomplicated. Through this collaborative project, the Strategic Partnership will explore these complex negotiations (be they social, political, global, regional, communal, etc.) both within and outside Japan.
The project is organized around three interconnected themes that are distributed evenly over a three-year period. Japan scholars will be paired with scholars working on a similar theme in a different geographical region in order to transcend boundaries, both between research fields and countries. Geographically speaking, the research of the participants in our Strategic Partnership covers the tangible and intangible heritage of North- and Meso-America, Europe, and Asia. Our disciplinary breadth extends across the fields of anthropology, archaeology, architecture, art history, cultural studies, history, literature, religious studies, as well as visual and material culture..

Heian Jingu: The Creation of a New Shrine
2017.04～2019.03, 代表者：Ellen Van Goethem, Kyushu University, Kyushu University (Japan).

沖ノ島と世界遺産　－　現代日本での女人禁制を中心に
2016.10～2018.03, 代表者：Ellen Van Goethem, 科研.

歴史的背景から見た複製の可能性　八世紀の薬師寺金堂薬師如来三尊像台座をめぐって
2015.12～2016.03, 代表者：Cynthea J. Bogel, Kyushu University
In this project, Cynthea Bogel, the lead researcher, conducts research on the figures and design motifs on the pedestal of the bronze Medicine Master Buddha at Yakushiji in Nara. My contribution to the project consists of a detailed study of the pedestal’s four mythical beasts symbolizing the four directions..

Ancient Borders and Crossroads: Transmission, Traces, and Omissions
2015.04～2016.03, 代表者：William John Matsuda, Kyushu University, Kyushu University (Japan)
平成２７年度九州大学教育研究プログラム・研究拠点形成プロジェクト（P＆P）
The ubiquity of modern telecommunication, transportation, and trade networks has elided numerous boundaries, resulting in an increasingly seamless and transnational world. The dismantling of these borders obscures the conspicuous role they once played in the political realities and imaginations of ancient societies. On the other hand, new national borders erase the historical and physical memory of ancient crossroads and boundaries, along with the cultures and exchanges engendered by them. Over the past couple of decades, marginalized areas have received greater attention in the humanities, yet they still remain underexplored. “Core” locations, institutions and entities still figure prominently in Japanese Studies. Examples include the Tokyo literary scene, the Kyoto traditional culture and arts scene, Kyoto and Nara religious institutions, and Tokyo-based bureaucracies.
Our joint research will emphasize ancient borders within Japan and among its neighbors, the transmission of information and culture, and the omissions and assimilations that occurred in the process. As four experts from the fields of history, literature, visual culture, and religion, we propose an investigation of boundaries, frontiers, and other liminal spaces in Japan and Japanese Studies, ranging from the physical and material to the conceptual and symbolic. They include borders manifested or interpreted in the center as well as the study of frontiers in situ. .

Site Divination Practices in Premodern East Asia
2015.04～2019.03, 代表者：Ellen Van Goethem, 科研費
Purpose of this research:
- to arrive at a better understanding of ancient site divination practices in East Asia in general and in Japan in particular
- to differentiate between various divinatory models (for tombs, private residences, cities, military camps, etc.)
- to investigate the transmission of theoretical and practical knowledge of site divination both geographically (from China to Korea and Japan) and temporally (ca. 3000 BCE–800 CE)
.

Shijin Sōō 四神相応 in East Asia: An Urban or Private Site Selection Model?
2014.09～2015.03, 代表者：Ellen Van Goethem, Kyushu University, 平成２６年度　九州大学教育研究プログラム・研究拠点形成プロジェクト（P＆P）.

日本古代・中世の敷地選定
2011.04～2014.03, 代表者：Ellen VAN GOETHEM, 九州大学.

主要著書

1.	Pham Le Huy（編）, 日本の都城と東アジア , 2023.04.
2.	Fabio Rambelli, Sato Hiroo, Jason A. Josephson-Storm, Ioannis Gaitanidis, Ellen Van Goethem, Carina Roth, Andrea De Antoni, Rebecca Suter, Mauro Arrighi, Jolyon Baraka Thomas, Andrea Castiglioni , Animated City: Life Force, Guardians, and Contemporary Architecture in Kyoto, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.04, Like practitioners of many other occupations, architects are often asked to justify the meaning behind their creations or are required to envelop their proposals in appealing narratives to attract clients, to promote their projects, or to convince neighbors, city authorities, and competition jurors. In this chapter, I explore the long-held conviction that Kyoto is a city animated by various invisible agencies and how this notion has influenced its architecture between the 1990s and the early 2000s. Inspired by the belief that the city was designed and built in the late eighth century according to the core principles of site divination––popularly known as geomancy or fengshui (風水 Ch. fēng shuǐ, Jp. fūsui)––, it is generally assumed that Kyoto is vitalized by the invisible flow of qi (Ch. qì 氣, Jp. ki 気, “life force” or “cosmic breath”) and protected by the guardians of the four directions. Starting in the 1990s, when a fengshui boom gripped Japan, several architectural projects in Kyoto were conceived, announced, or justified with explicit reference to these practices either because of the architect’s personal beliefs, a particular client’s request, or to convince the general public of the project’s suitability to the city. Be it implicitly or explicitly, from the outset or post hoc, fengshui-derived concepts informed––at least in part and for different reasons––the design of the architectural projects discussed here. Moreover, it will become clear that the three architects behind the projects, Hara Hiroshi 原広司, Isozaki Arata 磯崎新, and Umebayashi Katsu 梅林克, each differ in their level of commitment to fengshui, ranging from a near-total immersion to a more casual engagement with and isolated application of its principles..
3.	Ellen E. M. A. Van Goethem, Ellen Van Goethem, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, "Feng Shui Symbolism in Japan: The Four Divine Beasts" in Florian C. Reiter (ed.), Theory and Reality of Feng Shui in Architecture and Landscape Art (Asien- und Afrika-Studien der Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin) 41, 35-48., 2013.11, This paper presents a discussion of the appearance and context of feng shui symbolism in Japan. Attention is focused on the four divine beasts and their associated symbolism from their initial appearance on the Japanese archipelago until the ninth century and from the mid-nineteenth century until the present day, in an attempt to show how this symbolism became fully assimilated to the point that it appeared in (early) modern times in contexts no longer consciously associated with “original”, foreign practices or was fully absorbed into contexts that are deemed quintessentially Japanese. By doing so, I would like to argue that the four directional animals preserved their role of "multivalent signs", susceptible to many applications, interpretations, meanings and values. As symbols, visual depictions of underlying concepts, the four divine beasts adapted to (or, better still, were appropriated by) changing circumstances and ideologies to appear in new and entirely different contexts..
4.	Ellen Van Goethem, Nagaoka, Japan's Forgotten Capital, Brill, 2008.04.

主要原著論文

1.	エレン・ヴァン＝フーテム (Ellen Van Goethem), 時代祭の起源―禍転じて福となす, 図書, 10月号, 22-24, 2023.10, 時代祭は、明治28年（1895年）からほぼ毎年10月に行われている有名な祭りです。京都の三大祭の一つとしてたちまち有名になった時代祭ですが、その成り立ちは意外にも偶然によるものでした。行列を作ろうという声が上がったのは、他の祭りが「風邪気」という病によって延期になったことがきっかけだったのです。直接の因果関係を論じることはできませんが、この病気が介在しなければ、時代祭は実現しなかった可能性が高いのです。このエッセイでは、最初の時代祭が生まれた背景について説明します。.
2.	Ellen Van Goethem, 宮都の敷地選定と風水, 2023.04.
3.	Ellen Van Goethem, Heian Jingū: Monument or Shinto Shrine?, Journal of Religion in Japan, 10.1163/22118349-00701005, 7, 1, 1-26, 2018.11, [URL], The founding of Heian Jingū in 1895 is usually explained in very simple terms: it was established to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of the move to the Heian capital and was, therefore, dedicated to the city’s founder, Kanmu Tennō. A closer look at the shrine’s founding story, however, reveals a much more complex account that illustrates the fits and starts of State Shintō in the third decade of the Meiji period. By disentangling the standard narrative of Heian Jingū’s founding, this article touches not only on doctrinal issues such as the deification of past emperors, but also on material aspects such as early attempts at reconstructing long-lost structures and the Meiji government’s creation of a set of plans that regulated the appearance of newly erected shrines. Doing so will help explain how the design of this major imperial shrine could deviate so significantly from the stipulated template and be so replete with Chinese influences at a time when the relationship between the two countries was one of outright hostility..
4.	Ellen Van Goethem, Of Trees and Beasts: Site Selection in Premodern East Asia, Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University (JAH-Q), 1, 1-7, 2016.03, This paper focuses on a site selection practice called shijin sōō 四神相応(“correspondence to the four deities”) in Japanese sources. The practice is a subcategory within site divination (Ch. fengshui, Jp. fūsui); the latter encompasses practices and beliefs connected to determining ideal sites to construct graves, found cities, build houses, etc. Among the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese sources that describe this specific divinatory practice of “correspondence to the four deities,” several texts provide a practical—and in most cases fairly easily realizable albeit not always sound—solution to remedy any shortcomings in the surrounding topography. According to these sources, lack of auspiciousness due to missing landscape features could be corrected by planting specific species of trees. In a number of cases, the sources even go so far as to specify the actual number of trees to be planted..
5.	Ellen E. M. A. Van Goethem, “Feng Shui Symbolism in Japan: The Four Divine Beasts” , Asien- und Afrikastudien der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2013.11, This paper presents a discussion of the appearance and context of feng shui symbolism in Japan. Attention is focused on the four divine beasts and their associated symbolism from their initial appearance on the Japanese archipelago until the ninth century and from the mid-nineteenth century until the present day, in an attempt to show how this symbolism became fully assimilated to the point that it appeared in (early) modern times in contexts no longer consciously associated with “original”, foreign practices or was fully absorbed into contexts that are deemed quintessentially Japanese. By doing so, I would like to argue that the four directional animals preserved their role of “multivalent signs”, susceptible to many applications, interpretations, meanings and values. As symbols, visual depictions of underlying concepts, the four divine beasts adapted to (or, better still, were appropriated by) changing circumstances and ideologies to appear in new and entirely different contexts..
6.	Ellen Van Goethem, 歴史資料・資源としての木簡―長岡京の場合―, 交響する古代II　国際的日本古代学の展開　予稿集（明治大学古代学研究所　日本古代学教育・研究センター）, 35-40, 2012.03, 本稿では、多数の木簡の発見が長岡京時代の諸側面に関する我々の理解をいかに深めたか、具体的に示したい。木簡発見以前は長岡京の同時代史料が極めて限られていた。長岡京での初めての発見以来40年、大量の木簡は長岡京のその他の考古資料をも補う貴重な資料となった。.
7.	Ellen Van Goethem, The Four Divine Beasts -- Asuka Through European Eyes, 国際飛鳥学講演会報告書２０１２, 25-32, 2012.11, 本論文では、風水思想における景観上での四方四神の表現方法に関する比較研究の結論を紹介する。集合的には、四方四神が異なる名前で知られており、中国では四靈や四獣、日本では四禽や四神と呼ばれる。また、個別には、四獣は、後方（もしくは北方）の玄武、前方（もしくは南方）の朱雀、左方（もしくは東方の）青龍、右方（もしくは西方）の白虎として知られている。 しかしながら、風水に関する現存する最古の記録では、伝説の四獣のそれぞれに対する地形的な特徴は不明瞭なままである。後に、少なくとも二つの共存する風習が、東アジアにおける風水の中で、発達してきたようである。 一つの風習では、自然地形の存在が強調され、四獣は山などの地形として表現された。これに対し、もう一つの風習では、それぞれの四獣について、異なる自然的・人為的な地形的特徴の存在が必要とされている。本論文では、日本で「四神相応」と呼ばれる、後者の風習に注目する。 .
8.	Ellen Van Goethem, The Four Directional Animals in East Asia: A Comparative Analysis, Asien- und Afrika-Studien der Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin, 38, 201-216, 2011.11, In this paper , I present some tentative conclusions about the comparative research I have been conducting into the way(s) in which the four creatures that each guard one of the (cardinal) directions are represented in the physical landscape within the practice(s) of geophysical divination. In China, in Korea, as well as in Japan, these four directional beasts are identified as the Black Turtle-Snake (玄武) of the back/north , the Vermilion Bird (朱雀) of the front/south, the Azure Dragon (青龍) of the left/east, and the White Tiger (白虎) of the right/west. However, the earliest texts on divination remain vague about the specific landscape features corresponding to each of the four mythical animals. In later times, at least two co-existing traditions seem to have developed within the practice of site divination in East Asia. Following one tradition, emphasis lay on the presence of natural features with all four animals represented in the landscape as mountains. Another tradition, however, required the presence of a different natural or man-made landscape feature for each of the four beasts. This paper focuses on the latter tradition, in Japanese referred to as “shijin sōō 四神相応” (“correspondence to the four deities”). Through an investigation of written sources, this paper will trace the origin and evolution of the observances of shijin sōō, as well as provide a basic analysis of the different textual traditions. Furthermore, this paper will challenge the commonly held view that the practice of shijin sōō was a divination process used to determine the location of capital cities..
9.	Ellen Van Goethem, Pleasing the Four Gods: Shijin sōō (四神相応), Site Selection and Site Adaptation, Cultural Crossroads, Proceedings of the 26th International SAHANZ Conference, CD-rom, 2009.07.
10.	Ellen Van Goethem, Shijin sōō and the Site Selection Process of Chinese-style Capitals in Japan, Conference proceedings CD of the 4th International Conference on Scientific Feng Shui & Built Environment 2009, Sustainability and Operability, CD-rom, 2009.02.
11.	Ellen Van Goethem, The Status of Descendants of the Baekje Kingdom during Emperor Kanmu’s Reign, Korea Journal, 47, 2, 136-159, 2007.07.
12.	Ellen Van Goethem, Influence of Chinese Philosophical Thought on the Construction of Nagaokakyō, Japan's Forgotten Capital, International Conference on East Asian Architectural Culture, Kyoto 2006 – Reassessing East Asia in the Light of Urban and Architectural History, II, 435-444, 2006.12.
13.	Ellen Van Goethem, Tracing Feng Shui in Ancient Japanese Capital Cities – Case-study: Nagaokakyō, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Scientific Feng Shui and Built Environment, 2006.10.
14.	Ellen Van Goethem, The Construction of the Nagaoka Palace and Capital – Mokkan 木簡 as a Historical Source, Nachrichten der Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (NOAG), 76, 179-180, 143-74, 2006.09.

主要総説, 論評, 解説, 書評, 報告書等

1.	Ellen Van Goethem, Kyoto: An Urban History of Japan's Premodern Capital (Matthew Stavros), Monumenta Nipponica, 2017.01.
2.	Ellen Van Goethem, Heian Japan – Centers and Peripheries (Mikael Adolphson, Edward Kamens and Stacie Matsumoto, eds.), Nachrichten der Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (NOAG) 77: 181-182, 252-4, 2007.09.
3.	Ellen Van Goethem, Capital and Countryside in Japan, 300-1180: Japanese Historians Interpreted in English (Joan R. Piggott, ed.), The Journal of Asian Studies 68: 3, 988-90, 2009.07.

主要学会発表等

1.	Ellen Van Goethem, Ruptures and Junctures: Identity Building through Festivals and Parades, 17th European Association for Japanese Studies International Conference, 2023.08.
2.	Ellen Van Goethem, Temple Construction in Eighth-Century Japan: Building for the Buddha or Building for the Sovereign?, 2023.11, At least for eighth-century temple construction in Japan, there is not necessarily a distinction between the people building Buddhist temples and those constructing government buildings, palaces, and capitals. In the talk, I reconstruct the construction worker's livelihoods based on traditional historical records, before moving on to inscribed wooden tablets, a type of sources that has so far been virtually overlooked in conducting research on this topic..
3.	Ellen Van Goethem, Revival and Reconstruction: From Ritual Space to Monument and Back Again, 2023.10, Japan is well known for its long tradition of cyclic rebuilding. The most famous example is arguably the practice at the Ise Grand Shrines, which are currently being rebuilt every 20 years as identical copies of their previous iterations. Perhaps less well known is modern Japan’s enthusiasm about reconstructing long-lost structures, ranging from early twentieth-century reconstructions of medieval castle keeps to a postwar fascination with reconstructing archaeological sites. This talk focuses on the reconstruction efforts surrounding three premodern palatial structures: the Nara, Heian, and Shuri Palaces..
4.	Ellen Van Goethem, Reconstructing a Palace and Building a Shrine: Heian Jingu as a Marker of National and Regional Identity, International Symposium "Emperor and Shrine: Commemoration, Ideology, and Identity", 2019.10.
5.	Ellen Van Goethem, Commemoration and Deification: The Creation of Heian Jingū, UCSB, East Asia Center, 2019.02, The founding of Heian Jingū in 1895 is usually explained in very simple terms; it was established to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of the move to the Heian capital and was, therefore, dedicated to the city’s founder, Kanmu Tennō (r.781–806). Nevertheless, a closer look at this founding story reveals a much more complex narrative that touches not only on material aspects such as the government’s creation of a blueprint for new shrines, but also on doctrinal issues such as the unprecedented deification of past emperors. Moreover, it helps explain how a major imperial shrine (kanpei taisha) in the emerging Japanese nation state could be so replete with Chinese symbolism and why in later years at least one of its designers expressed great disappointment at the end result..
6.	Ellen Van Goethem, Monument, Shrine, Power Spot: Heian Jingū’s Multi-Layered Signification, Columbia University, Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture, 2018.11, In 1895, Heian Jingū was festively inaugurated as a testimony to Kyoto’s bygone days as the nation’s capital. A close look at its founding story reveals a complex narrative that touches not only on doctrinal issues, but also on material aspects. Moreover, it helps explain how a major imperial shrine (kanpei taisha) in the emerging Japanese nation state could be so replete with Chinese symbolism and why in later years at least one of its designers expressed great disappointment at the end result. Finally, it appears that today exactly those China-derived elements play a crucial role in Heian jingū’s popularity..
7.	Ellen Van Goethem, Workshop ‘Cosmos, Ethos, Episteme’, Workshop ‘Cosmos, Ethos, Episteme’, 2018.06.
8.	Ellen Van Goethem, Heian Jingū: A "Traditional" Shrine in a "Foreign" Guise, 15th European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS) International Conference, 2017.08, The founding of Heian jingū in 1895 is usually explained in very simple terms; it was established to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of the move to the Heian capital and was, therefore, dedicated to the city's founder, Emperor Kanmu (r.781-806). A closer look at the shrine's founding story reveals a much more complex narrative that illustrates the fits and starts of State Shinto in the first decades of the Meiji period.As such, this paper touches not only on doctrinal issues such as the deification of past emperors, but also on material aspects such as the Meiji government's creation of a blueprint for newly erected shrines. Moreover, tracing Heian jingū's founding story might help explain how a major imperial shrine (kanpei taisha) can be so replete with Chinese symbolism and why in later years at least one of its designers expressed great disappointment at the end result.The paper will conclude by arguing that exactly these China-derived elements-and their related beliefs and practices-currently form the core of Heian jingū's self-portrayal and play a crucial role in its continued popularity..
9.	Ellen Van Goethem, Guardians of Kyoto: Shinto Shrines as Manifestations of the Directional Deities, Association for Asian Studies, 2017.03, This paper traces the history of five Kyoto shrines to explain how and why they came to be identified with the directional deities. Emphasis is placed on Heian Jingu, the youngest, yet most important shrine in the configuration. Constructed in the late nineteenth century to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of Kyoto’s founding, the shrine itself is replete with references to the four guardian deities of the cardinal directions and therefore also provides an interesting case study of the establishment of a shrine of national importance in the climate of shinbutsu bunri and the process in which the entire shrine set-up, from the actual buildings and decorations to the rituals and the shrine priests, was created..
10.	VAN GOETHEM ELLEN, From Scale Model to Shrine: The Creation of Heian Jingū, Invited lecture at　the Asian Languages & Cultures Department Department, UCLA, 2017.03, The founding of Heian jingū in 1895 is usually explained in very simple terms; it was established to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of the move to the Heian capital and was, therefore, dedicated to the city’s founder, Kanmu Tennō (r.781–806). A closer look at the shrine’s founding story reveals a much more complex narrative that involves not only doctrinal issues such as the deification of past emperors, but also material aspects such as the Meiji government’s creation of a blueprint for newly erected shrines. Moreover, it explains why a major imperial shrine (kanpei taisha) can be so replete with Chinese symbolism..
11.	VAN GOETHEM ELLEN, Animated City: Life Force, Guardians, and Contemporary Architecture in Kyoto, Invisible Empire: Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan, 2017.02, In this presentation I explore the conviction that Kyoto is a city animated by a number of invisible agencies and how this notion has influenced the city’s contemporary architecture. Inspired by the belief that the city was designed and built according to the core principles of site divination (popularly known as fengshui or fūsui), it is generally assumed that Kyoto is vitalized by the invisible flow of qi and protected by the guardians of the four directions. Starting in the 1990s, when a fengshui boom gripped Japan, a number of architectural projects in Kyoto were conceived with explicit reference to fengshui either because of the architect’s personal beliefs, a particular client’s request, or to convince the general public of the project’s suitability to the city..
12.	Ellen E. M. A. Van Goethem, Heian Jingu: Civic Shrine, Exhibition Pavilion, Imperial Shrine?, Workshop: "The Creation of a National Culture in Japan’s Modern Period: Architecture, Art, and Place", 2016.12, The founding of Heian jingū in 1895 is usually explained in very simple terms; it was established to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of the move to the Heian capital and was, therefore, dedicated to the city’s founder, Kanmu Tennō (r.781–806). A closer look at the shrine’s founding story reveals a much more complex narrative that might help explain how a major imperial shrine (kanpeitaisha) can be so replete with Chinese symbolism and why in later years one of its designers expressed great disappointment at the end result..
13.	Ellen E. M. A. Van Goethem, Buildings on the Move: Temple Construction and Capital Relocation in Ancient Japan, MOVING OBJECTS: AUTHORSHIP, OWNERSHIP AND EXPERIENCE IN BUDDHIST MATERIAL CULTURE, 2016.04, This paper examines the interrelationships between temple construction and the establishment of Japan’s Chinese-style capitals between the 7th and 9th centuries..
14.	Ellen E. M. A. Van Goethem, 海外の視点から探る飛鳥・藤原京　～海外の研究者の研究～, 世界に伝えたい「飛鳥・藤原」の魅力, 2016.03, 飛鳥時代と飛鳥・藤原エリアに対する海外の関心についての130年の歴史.
15.	Ellen E. M. A. Van Goethem, Of Trees and Beasts: Site Selection in Premodern East Asia, The Third Conference of East Asian Environmental History (EAEH), 2015.10, Since ancient times people in the Chinese cultural sphere have been looking for ideal sites to construct graves, found cities, build houses, etc. These practices are generally grouped under the broad label of telluric divination or geomancy (Chn. 風水 fengshui). This paper focuses on a subcategory within telluric divination; it concentrates on a practice that received its own label—shijin sōō 四神相応 or “correspondence to the four deities”—in Japan but is in no way unique to the country. In China, Korea, and Japan, a number of written sources dating from the 8th through 19th centuries describe the ideal siting conditions of private residences. What these sources have in common is that a residence needs to be surrounded by specific landscape features, either natural or manmade (a river, an irrigated plain, a road, and a hill), each corresponding to one of the four directional deities (the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger, and the Black Turtle-Snake). Inhabitants of a site that corresponds to these topographical requirements are promised good health and a long life, a successful career, and numerous descendants. Interestingly, several of the written sources describing these ideal siting conditions also provide a practical—and in most cases realizable—solution to remedy any shortcomings in the surrounding topography in the form of substituting missing landscape features with specific (numbers of) trees. This paper will thus compare and contrast a number of these sources to address the underlying philosophy of substituting landscape features for trees as well as issues of knowledge transfer..
16.	Ellen E. M. A. Van Goethem, Foreign Beliefs in ‘Native’ Settings: Fengshui Elements in Shinto Shrines, ICAS (International Convention of Asia Scholars), 2015.07, The earliest evidence of the presence of fengshui-related practices on the Japanese archipelago dates back to nearly two millennia ago. At that time, there was no unified, systematized, or institutionalized indigenous religion. The loose set of native rituals and practices performed at the time is classified by scholars as kami worship and over the centuries that followed it was receptive of a wide variety of rites, symbolism, and beliefs belonging to imported religious traditions including Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity. This process of absorption did not come to a halt when kami-related worship was systematized into what we now call Shinto. Close inspection of Shinto prayers and rites conducted at shrines reveals the pervasive influence of imported elements in this so-called native religion. To illustrate this point, this paper focuses on the famous Daizaifu Tenmangu shrine in Kyushu. Dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), who was deified after his death and is still worshipped as a paragon of refinement and scholarship, the shrine draws thousands of visitors and has been designated an Important Cultural Property. The shrine is thus portrayed as a symbol of Japan(eseness) and its native religion. Scratching the surface, however, it quickly becomes clear that the core of the shrine's most important ritual, the rice-planting festival, and the norito (ritual prayers) recited at the Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine are replete with fengshui-related references..
17.	Ellen E. M. A. Van Goethem, Fengshui Protection: The Four Mythical Beasts and Shinto Shrines, アジア伝統科学国際ワークショップ２０１５　　古今の宇宙観, 2015.06, This paper presents a discussion of the appearance and context of fengshui-related symbolism in Japan. Attention will be focused on the four directional deities (四神) and their associated symbolism from their initial appearance on the Japanese archipelago until the present day, in an attempt to show how this symbolism became fully assimilated to the point that it appeared in (early) modern times in contexts no longer consciously associated with their “original” practices or was fully absorbed into contexts that are deemed quintessentially Japanese. To illustrate this point, this paper will present a case-study of six well-known Shinto shrines, Dazaifu Tenmangū in Dazaifu, and Heian Jingū, Kamigamo jinja, Matsuo taisha, Yasaka jinja, and Jōnangū in Kyoto. By doing so, this paper will argue that the four directional animals preserved their ancient Chinese role of “multivalent signs”, susceptible to many applications, interpretations, meanings and values. As symbols, i.e. visual depictions of underlying concepts, the four divine beasts adapted to (or, better still, were appropriated by) changing circumstances and new ideas to appear in new and entirely different contexts..
18.	Ellen E. M. A. Van Goethem, Written, Used, Discarded, and Unintentionally Preserved: Writings on Wood in Ancient Japan, Hamburg University, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, 2013.11, This paper provides an overview of the discovery, typology, and practical use of kodai mokkan, inscribed wooden tablets that were produced in large numbers between the seventh and tenth centuries in Japan. While a small number of these mokkan had been carefully preserved for centuries in imperial repositories, the vast majority of the tablets was not discovered until recent decades. Excavations of sites mostly related to local or central government facilities, elite residences, and temples have yielded hundreds of thousands of inscribed tablets or shavings (kezurikuzu). As a result, our understanding of various aspects of government, economy, and society in ancient Japan has changed and we have been allowed glimpses of the practical execution of government regulations and of daily life. Mokkan have also contributed to a better understanding of archaeological remains as they occasionally allow for precise dating and identification..
19.	Ellen E. M. A. Van Goethem, Adopting and adapting the paradigm: Gridiron cities in Japan, International Institute for Asian Studies, 2013.11, Using the example of capital cities, this paper will address the issue of cultural borrowing and the subsequent modification of imported ideas in ancient Japan. It is common knowledge that during the early centuries CE the ruling elites of the Japanese archipelago were heavily dependent on Chinese archetypes and prototypes for the formation of the early state. Unquestionably, one of the most visually striking and impressive examples of this process of cultural borrowing was the establishment of large, semi‐permanent urban centers. Laid out on a gridiron pattern with a clearly delineated space reserved for the ruler’s residential quarters as well as for the apparatus of government—itself also mostly newly introduced—these cities symbolized the power of the ruler and the political, social and cultural center of the recently emerged state. In order to explain how the Chinese archetype was adopted and adapted, this paper will briefly trace the evolution of gridiron cities. Then it will address the process of selecting a suitable site for the establishment of these cities. This process is commonly addressed only briefly by referring to lofty ideals and/or to esoteric practices but has received little scholarly attention so far..
20.	Ellen E. M. A. Van Goethem, “Heiankyō: Guardian Deities and Geomantic Theories”, 2013.09, This paper discusses the various geomantic theories that circulate to explain why the site of Heian was chosen by Kanmu tenno for the construction of the new capital. It challenges the commonly-accepted notion that shijin soo as described in "Sakuteiki" (in the east, the direction of the Azure Dragon, there should be flowing water; in the west, the direction of the White Tiger, there should be a broad road; in the south, the direction of the Vermilion Bird, there should be a pond; and in the north, the direction of the Black Turtle-Snake, there should be a mountain) was decisive in this matter..
21.	Ellen Van Goethem, Conceptualizing and Manipulating Nature: Mythical Beasts, Trees, and Auspicious Sites, Association for Asian Studies, 2013.03, References to the mythical beasts guarding the primary directions first entered the Japanese archipelago in the early centuries CE as imagery on the backs of bronze mirrors imported from China. Although practical guidelines on how to divine these guardian deities in the landscape may have been transmitted earlier, the Nihon shoki informs us that the first treatises on telluric divination were officially introduced in the sixth century. By the late seventh and early eighth centuries, we find more evidence that the practice of site divination had taken root in Japan as the four mythical beasts appear on tomb walls, on banners used at court ceremonies, and in written references to the site selection process preceding the relocation of the capital. What remains uncertain, however, is how the presence of these mythical beasts was visually translated in actual site divination processes. By the Heian period, the divinatory techniques started to gain prominence in popular cosmology. Moreover, locally produced texts in which nature is conceptualized and manipulated present an increasingly rigid interpretation of ideal sites that incorporates (esoteric) Buddhist concepts. At this stage, the evaluation of a landscape became codified to the extent that it effected a reimagination of history and selection of earlier sites. This process of reinvention continues to modern times. This presentation thus examines the assimilation, transformation, and increasing orthodoxy of notions of an ideal landscape, including both its underlying systems of thought and its visible features, from the sixth century to the present..
22.	Ellen Van Goethem, 東アジアの四神獣に関する比較研究：宮都・住宅・樹木, 明治大学日本古代学研究所, 2013.02, 本講演では、風水（または堪輿）思想における景観上での四方四神 の表現方法に関する比較研究の結論を紹介する。個別には、四神獣は、東アジア全体において、後方（もしくは北方） の玄武、前方（もしくは南方）の朱雀、左方（もしくは東方）の青龍、右方（もしくは西方）の白虎として知られている。 しかしながら、風水に関する現存する最古の記録では、伝説の四神獣のそれぞれに対応する地形的な特徴は不明瞭なままである。後に、少なくとも二つの共存する風習が、東アジアにおける風水の中で、発達してきたようである。一つの風習では、自然地形の存在が強調され、四神獣は山などの地形として表現された。これに対し、もう一つの風習では、それぞれの四神獣について、異なる自然的・人為的な地形的特徴の存在が必要とされていた。本論文では、日本で「四神相応」と呼ばれる、後者の風習に注目する。 まず、文書資料の調査に基づいて、本講演では、四神相応の思想の起源と発展をさかのぼり、異なる記録に関する基礎分析の結果について報告を行った。そして、その上で、「四神相応が宮都（中国風都城）の位置の決定過程において利用されていた」という一般的な認識に対し、異議を唱えた。.
23.	Ellen Van Goethem, 四神獣ーヨーロッパから見た飛鳥, 明治大学リバティアカデミー、明治大学日本古代学研究所, 2012.11, 本講演では、風水思想における景観上での四方四神の表現方法に関する比較研究の結論を紹介する。集合的には、四方四神が異なる名前で知られており、中国では四靈や四獣、日本では四禽や四神と呼ばれる。また、個別には、四獣は、後方（もしくは北方）の玄武、前方（もしくは南方）の朱雀、左方（もしくは東方の）青龍、右方（もしくは西方）の白虎として知られている。 しかしながら、風水に関する現存する最古の記録では、伝説の四獣のそれぞれに対する地形的な特徴は不明瞭なままである。後に、少なくとも二つの共存する風習が、東アジアにおける風水の中で、発達してきたようである。 一つの風習では、自然地形の存在が強調され、四獣は山などの地形として表現された。これに対し、もう一つの風習では、それぞれの四獣について、異なる自然的・人為的な地形的特徴の存在が必要とされている。本講演では、日本で「四神相応」と呼ばれる、後者の風習に注目する。.
24.	Ellen Van Goethem, Site Divination and the (Re)Creation of Cultural Memory, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Seminar of Sinology, 2012.11, This paper is a preliminary discussion of the shifts in interpretation attached to feng shui and its symbolism. The paper starts with the introduction of feng shui symbolism and written sources to the Japanese archipelago in premodern times, and continues to investigate occurrences of feng shui symbolism in the present day. The paper focuses on the (re-)use and (re-)interpretation of the four divine beasts and discusses the contexts in which they appear, how and by whom they are used and how they are understood. .
25.	Ellen Van Goethem, 歴史資料・資源としての木簡―長岡京の場合, 日本古代学研究所 (明治大学), 2012.03, 本発表では、多数の木簡の発見が長岡京時代の諸側面に関する我々の理解をいかに深めたか、具体的に示す。木簡発見以前は長岡京の同時代史料が極めて限られていた。長岡京での初めての発見以来40年、大量の木簡は長岡京のその他の考古資料をも補う貴重な資料となった。.
26.	Ellen Van Goethem, Planting Trees and Healing Sites: Sakuteiki, Hoki naiden, and Taishiden gyokurinsho, 13th International Conference of the European Association of Japanese Studies, 2011.08.
27.	Ellen Van Goethem, Planting Trees and Healing Sites: Geomantic Thought in China, Korea and Japan, 2011.05.
28.	Ellen Van Goethem, In Search of the "Four Gods" Protecting Capital Cities in Cultural East Asia, Association for Asian Studies & International Convention of Asia Scholars, 2011.04, [URL], Throughout East Asia, great care was taken to select suitable locations for constructing tombs, residences, and cities. A site was considered auspicious if protected by four gods: the Black Turtle-Snake, the Vermilion Bird, the Azure Dragon, and the White Tiger. As in any other polity within the East Asian cultural sphere, geophysical divination thus became an integral part of the site selection process preceding the relocation of capital cities in ancient Japan. Although primary sources provide scant information on the actual landscape features representing these gods, secondary sources generally resort to the term “the four guardian gods are in balance” (shijin sōō) and its interpretation offered in the Sakuteiki, the text on garden aesthetics attributed to Tachibana Toshitsuna (1028–1094). In a section on the planting of trees, the Sakuteiki explains that an auspicious site requires the presence of a mountain, a plain, a river, and a road to the north, south, east, and west, respectively. It is commonly assumed that this way of divining the gods in the landscape was a development unique to Japan. However, having shown in previous research that this “Sakuteiki-model” ultimately derives from Chinese traditions, it is now time to move beyond the Japanese archipelago and present a more in-depth study of the continental sources. Although the principles of what is required from an auspicious site are identical, there are some significant differences with regard to remedying topographical deficiencies in the various texts..
29.	Ellen Van Goethem, Cultural Borrowing and Adaptation in Ancient Japan: Capital Cities, International Symposium on Japanese Studies“Japanese Cultural and Linguistic Identity” , 2011.03, [URL].
30.	Ellen Van Goethem, ベルギーからみた古代日本, 明治大学　日本古代学教育・研究センター　南カリフォルニア大学プログラム特別講義, 2011.01.

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