| CYNTHEA BOGEL | Last modified date：2022.06.22 |
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https://kyushu-u.pure.elsevier.com/en/persons/cynthea-jean-bogel
Reseacher Profiling Tool Kyushu University Pure
https://www.imapkyudai.net/international-research-center-for-the-humanities
International Research Center for the Humanities promotes international research and publications, public lectures, academic exchange and collaboration, domestic collaboration on international topics, and many other activities. .
https://www.imapkyudai.net/
The International Master's Program (IMAP) in Japanese Humanities was founded in 2011 and the accompanying International Doctorate (IDOC) added in 2017. At Kyūdai, the programs are known as Kōjinbungaku 広人文学 (or the “broad study of [Japanese] humanities”). Program faculty specialize in the fields of Japanese history, art history and visual culture, literature, premodern languages, religion, and other facets of the humanities. .
https://kyushu-u.academia.edu/CyntheaBogel
Phone
092-802-5041
Fax
092-802-5041
Academic Degree
Harvard University. Ph.D. 1995 USA, Harvard University. M.A. USA, Smith College. B.A. 1980 USA
Country of degree conferring institution (Overseas)
Yes Bachelor Master Doctor
Field of Specialization
Japanese art history, Japanese and East Asian Buddhist art history and visual culture, Pre-modern Japanese architectural history
Total Priod of education and research career in the foreign country
17years01months
Outline Activities
Bogel’s research interests are diverse. Her research and publications feature the study of ancient religious icons and ritual materials, especially those created during the seventh through tenth century. As Professor of Japanese Art History and Buddhist Visual Cultures in East Asia at Kyūdai, she teaches courses on Japanese religious icons, temples, and shrines; ukiyoe (prints); Japanese painting; material culture and its relevance to the exchange of ideas and people in Asia; gender, race and "difference" in Japanese art history; on site-specific and current-exhibition-specific topics; museum studies and museum practice; contemporary art history; and both premodern and living craft traditions. Field work at historical sites and in museums is an important part of her teaching philosophy.
Bogel's research and publications feature the study of ancient religious icons, most often Buddhist statues and their historical and temple context. She is especially interested in icons that have received attention in art history scholarship but pose unique challenges or suggest to her alternative narratives, including the 9th century Nyoirin Kannon statue at Kanshinji 観心寺如意輪観音 (see article in _Art Bulletin_ 2002), and the 7th to 8th century Yakushiji Main Hall triad 薬師寺金堂薬師三尊像 (see forthcoming article "Cosmoscapes Beneath the Buddha: Upholding the Realm of the Sovereigns on the Pedestal of Yakushiji’s Main Icon" in French, ,” _Revue Perspective– JAPON/JAPAN_ vol. 2020–1). Her first book is about icons and temples associated with the early 9th-c. Esoteric masters Kūkai and Saichō. Discussions of patronage, devotional or ritual elements, historiography, and modes of visual reception that may have formed meanings for ancient icons—as well as our interpretations today—underpin much of her research. Other publications and areas of expertise include Shrine icons, demons and the demonic and converted in ancient Japanese visual culture and ritual sites (current Kaken grant project), Buddhism and Buddhist visual culture in Kyushu (current projects on Dazaifu temples nad shrines and Kunisaki hantō), ukiyoe prints, crafts--especially ceramics and textiles, cultural heritage systems, museum practice, contemporary art--especially that featuring "Buddhist influence" or by Buddist-identifying artists, and Japanese design and contemporary fashion.
Bogel served as Co-chair of the International MA program in Japanese Humanities (IMAP) from 2012–18. She is co-founder of the International Doctorate Program in Japanese Humanities (IDOC). In 2015 Bogel established the _Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University_ (JAH-Q) with Faculty of Humanities Professor Tomoyuki Kubo and the support of Associate Professor Ellen Van Goethem. Bogel served as Editor for the Journal from its inception until 2019, and continues to be lead Editor of the Editors Group. Before assuming her current position at Kyushu University in spring 2012 she taught Japanese and Asian art history for twenty years in the USA including five years at the University of Oregon and 13.5 years at the University of Washington (Seattle), where she received promotion and tenure in 2007. She relocated to Kyūdai in 2012. Bogel was Curator of Asian Art and Ethnology at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) for several years, and has continued as an occasional independent curator, with exhibitions of Meiji decorative arts, Meiji prints, contemporary textiles, and contemporary fashion. Bogel holds MA and PhD degrees from Harvard University in Japanese art history and architectural history and the Buddhist visual cultures of East Asia (PhD 2005).
Bogel's research and publications feature the study of ancient religious icons, most often Buddhist statues and their historical and temple context. She is especially interested in icons that have received attention in art history scholarship but pose unique challenges or suggest to her alternative narratives, including the 9th century Nyoirin Kannon statue at Kanshinji 観心寺如意輪観音 (see article in _Art Bulletin_ 2002), and the 7th to 8th century Yakushiji Main Hall triad 薬師寺金堂薬師三尊像 (see forthcoming article "Cosmoscapes Beneath the Buddha: Upholding the Realm of the Sovereigns on the Pedestal of Yakushiji’s Main Icon" in French, ,” _Revue Perspective– JAPON/JAPAN_ vol. 2020–1). Her first book is about icons and temples associated with the early 9th-c. Esoteric masters Kūkai and Saichō. Discussions of patronage, devotional or ritual elements, historiography, and modes of visual reception that may have formed meanings for ancient icons—as well as our interpretations today—underpin much of her research. Other publications and areas of expertise include Shrine icons, demons and the demonic and converted in ancient Japanese visual culture and ritual sites (current Kaken grant project), Buddhism and Buddhist visual culture in Kyushu (current projects on Dazaifu temples nad shrines and Kunisaki hantō), ukiyoe prints, crafts--especially ceramics and textiles, cultural heritage systems, museum practice, contemporary art--especially that featuring "Buddhist influence" or by Buddist-identifying artists, and Japanese design and contemporary fashion.
Bogel served as Co-chair of the International MA program in Japanese Humanities (IMAP) from 2012–18. She is co-founder of the International Doctorate Program in Japanese Humanities (IDOC). In 2015 Bogel established the _Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University_ (JAH-Q) with Faculty of Humanities Professor Tomoyuki Kubo and the support of Associate Professor Ellen Van Goethem. Bogel served as Editor for the Journal from its inception until 2019, and continues to be lead Editor of the Editors Group. Before assuming her current position at Kyushu University in spring 2012 she taught Japanese and Asian art history for twenty years in the USA including five years at the University of Oregon and 13.5 years at the University of Washington (Seattle), where she received promotion and tenure in 2007. She relocated to Kyūdai in 2012. Bogel was Curator of Asian Art and Ethnology at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) for several years, and has continued as an occasional independent curator, with exhibitions of Meiji decorative arts, Meiji prints, contemporary textiles, and contemporary fashion. Bogel holds MA and PhD degrees from Harvard University in Japanese art history and architectural history and the Buddhist visual cultures of East Asia (PhD 2005).
Research
Research Interests
Membership in Academic Society
- “Talismans and Talisman Culture in Vietnam, Korea and Japan,”
keyword : talisman, evil, ritual,
2019.11～2022.11. - JSPS (Kaken) Grant, Kiban B category. Primary Investigator. 5-year project.
The Representation of Wrath and Evil: Conceptions of the World and Expressions of the Wicked and the Converted in Ancient Japan
keyword : Japanese art history, Japanese visual culture, Buddhist Studies, East Asian Cultural Exchange, Buddhist Visual Culture, Yakushiji temple, Yakushiji, Buddhist icon, Emperor Tenmu, Nara period
2018.04～2022.03. - JSPS (Kaken) Grant, Kiban C category. Research Collaborator of Principal Investigator. Yamamoto Satomi.
Research on the Genesis and Realization of "Sacrality" (reisei) in the Buddhist Arts of Medieval Japan
keyword : Japanese art history, Japanese visual culture, Buddhist Studies, East Asian Cultural Exchange, Buddhist Visual Culture, Yakushiji temple, Yakushiji, Buddhist icon, Emperor Tenmu, Nara period
2018.04～2022.03. - Kyushu University QR Jump Research initiative, New Research category grant
Asian Cosmologies (世界観) in Flux: Changing Concepts and Representation in Tenmu’s Japan
keyword : Japanese art history, Japanese visual culture, Buddhist Studies, East Asian Cultural Exchange, Buddhist Visual Culture, Yakushiji temple, Yakushiji, Buddhist icon, Emperor Tenmu, Nara period
2017.04～2018.03. - Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Ailsa Mellon Bruce Visiting Senior Fellow, Summer 2017.
Detailed study of the Yakushiji temple history in Fujiwara and Nara, the icons made for the main hall at each temple, and the surviving Yakushiji triad
keyword : Yakushiji temple, Yakushiji, Buddhist icon, Emperor Tenmu, Empress Jito, Nara period
2017.06～2017.08. - Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Ailsa Mellon Bruce Visiting Senior Fellow, Spring 2016.
The research features the central Buddha in Yakushiji, Nara, an early-eighth-century temple
keyword : Yakushiji temple, Yakushiji, Buddhist icon, Emperor Tenmu, Nara period
2016.05～2016.07. - Kyushu University Short-term International Research Exchange Program, Second Round
Thangka Conservation and Preservation Center of Bhutan and The Royal University of Bhutan
keyword : Japanese art history, Japanese visual culture, Buddhist Studies, East Asian Cultural Exchange, Buddhist Visual Culture
2015.11～2015.12. - Kyushu University Interdisciplinary Programs in Education and projects in Research Development (P&P), “Ancient Borders and Crossroads: Transmission, Traces, and Omission” Research member (Primary Investigator: Dr. William John Matsuda)
keyword : Japanese art history, Japanese visual culture, Buddhist Studies, East Asian Cultural Exchange, Buddhist Visual Culture
2015.04～2016.03. - Kyushu University Interdisciplinary Programs in Education and projects in Research Development (P&P), “A New Proposal for the Eighth-Century Yakushiji Buddha Pedestal: A Copy of the Original and Its Historical Context”
keyword : Japanese art history, Japanese visual culture, Buddhist Studies, East Asian Cultural Exchange, Buddhist Visual Culture
2015.04～2016.03. - JSPS (Kaken) Grant, Kiban C category. Primary Investigator. Four-year grant.
Unexplored Avenues: The Esoteric and the Sacred in the Buddhist Arts and Temples of the Nara Period
keyword : Japanese art history, Japanese visual culture, Buddhist Studies, East Asian Cultural Exchange, Buddhist Visual Culture
2014.04～2017.03. - Kyushu University Interdisciplinary Programs in Education and Projects in Research Development (P&P) Grant
Fundamental Research Relating to Early Esoteric Buddhist Visual Culture
keyword : Japanese art history, Japanese visual culture, Buddhist Studies, East Asian Cultural Exchange, Buddhist Visual Culture
2014.04～2015.03. - JSPS (Kaken) Grant for Start-Up Research,
Ancient Japanese Esoteric Visual Culture, Icons, and Temples
keyword : Japanese art history, Japanese visual culture, Buddhist Studies, East Asian Cultural Exchange, Buddhist Visual Culture
2012.09～2014.03.
- Transnational contemporary Japanese artists
- Development of website on radical female artist Tomiyama Taeko富山妙子 (1921–2021) https://tomiyamataeko.org/
- COLLABORATIVE ONLINE ART EXHIBITION: Japanese and Korean Art Relationships
Kyushu University Graduate School of Humanities, International Research Center for the Humanities (Fukuoka) and Ehwa Womans University (Seoul).
An online exhibition of relationships between Korean and Japanese premodern art featuring specific periods or types of painting, ceramics, and Buddhist visual culture will be created in a collaboration between Kyushu University Graduate School of Humanities, International Research Center for the Humanities (Fukuoka) and Ehwa Womans University (Seoul). The website is viewable until January, 2023. . We will utilize images available on Japanese and Korean museum websites. - This cluster project investigates the religious, historical, material, practical, and iconographic dimensions of talismans/amulets in contemporary contexts in Vietnam, Korea, and Japan, with particular attention to talismans that share Buddhist and non-Buddhist functions, including those from Daoist, shaman, Shinto or other religious traditions.
- This interdisciplinary research-hub project explores the circulation of material objects and performance cultures throughout Asia. Material objects and structures will include buildings, statues, paintings, and crafts; performance cultures will include theatrical genres, musical styles, and embodied practices in a variety of spatial and temporal contexts. We will bring together top researchers from around the world with different academic backgrounds, including art historians, literary scholars, musicologists, performance studies scholars, ritual practitioners, and historians. As an English-language graduate program comprised of five non-Japanese but Japanese-fluent faculty members researching in Japan fields, we IMAP and IDOC faculty (International MA Program in Japanese Humanities, International Doctorate in Japanese Humanities) will strive to pair our knowledge with that of Japanese and non-Japanese colleagues within Kyudai and globally. The project will encourage a holistic rethinking of Asian humanities, resulting in the formulation of new research trajectories and related publications that move beyond national and disciplinary borders. It will introduce Japanese and non-Japanese Kyudai faculty to a global audience.
In the first year we will build a research network through the following endeavors:
• Host two international pre-conferences at two venues, National University of Singapore and Kyudai. Top researchers from Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, Europe, and the US will be invited to present papers. A balance of emerging younger voices in each field and established senior scholars will be achieved.
• Collect and edit the most suitable papers from the two pre-conferences to be published in a special issue of The Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University (JAH-Q), a peer-reviewed (査読) English-language international journal of the Faculty of Humanities.
In the second year we will hold a major international symposium in September 2019. As with the pre-conferences, several papers will be published in JAH-Q. Additionally, we will collect a group of thematically coherent papers for an essays volume to be published by an international publisher.
Books
| 1. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, Editor, Editor, Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University (JAH-Q), vol. 7 (March 2022), Kyushu University, 2022.03, [URL]. |
| 2. | Keizaburo Mizuno (Original in Japanese), Cynthea Bogel (annotated translation), Traversing the Ancient Temples of Nara and Kyoto, Iwanami junia shinsho, 水野敬三郎 『奈良•京都の古寺めぐり―仏像の見かた』 岩波ジュニア新書 no. 89, 1985 (41st reprint 第41刷改版発行, 2012). ], 2023.12. |
| 3. | Cynthea Bogel, Representing the Realm: Cosmoscapes of Rule and Religion at the Eighth-Century Yakushiji in Nara, 2025.08. |
| 4. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, Editor, Co-Editor, Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University (JAH-Q), vol. 5 (March 2020), Kyushu University, 2020.03. |
| 5. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, Editor, Editor, Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University (JAH-Q), vol. 4 (March 2019), Kyushu University, 2019.03. |
| 6. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, "Buddhist Aesthetics," in Oxford Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, volume 2, ed. ed. Michael Kelly, Oxford University Press, 48-57, 2014.06. |
| 7. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, “Esoteric Art, East Asia,” article in the Encyclopedia of Buddhism, ed. Robert E. Buswell, Jr., Macmillan Reference USA, 252–57, 2004.01. |
| 8. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, "Situating Moving Objects: A Sino-Japanese Catalogue of Imported Items, 800 CE to the Present," Chapter Six in "What’s the Use of Art?: Asian Visual and Material Culture in Context," ed. Morgan Pitelka and Jan Mrazek, University of Hawai'i Press, 142-176, 2008.12. |
| 9. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, “The Tōji Lecture Hall Statue Mandala and the Choreography of Mikkyō,” in Japan, vol. 3, Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia, ed. Robert Payne, Brill, https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004184916.i-1200.364, 936–981, 2011.05. |
| 10. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, With a Single Glance: Buddhist Icon and Early Mikkyō Vision, University of Washington, 2009.08, With a Single Glance considers the visual culture of the Japanese esoteric Buddhist tradition, Mikkyo, at the time of its introduction to Japan early in the ninth century. Bogel examines the visual components of Mikkyo through a huge range of sources on art and imagery, philosophy and critical theory, religious studies, cognitive science, cultural analysis, and ritual theory. She presents a framework for understanding the sectarian construction of Japanese Esoteric Buddhist art and doctrine and, for the first time, explores the cultural sources and representational practices that define Mikkyo visual culture. Recipient of a Getty Foundation publication subvention award and a Metropolitan Center for the Study of Far Eastern Art publication subvention award; recipient of an Association of American University Presses (AAUP), Design award. |
| 11. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, Volume Special Editor and Editor, Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University (JAH-Q), vol. 1, Kyushu University, vol. 1, 2016.03, A double-blind peer-reviewed journal. 61 pages. |
| 12. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, Editor, Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University (JAH-Q), vol. 2, Kyushu University, vol. 2, 2017.03, A double-blind peer-reviewed journal. 150 pages. |
| 13. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, Editor, Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University (JAH-Q), vol. 3, Kyushu University, vol. 3, 2018.03, A double-blind peer-reviewed journal. 160 pages. |
Reports
Papers
| 1. | Cynthea Bogel, “Smoking Out the Demons: Viewing and Expulsion in a Contemporary Japanese Fire Ritual for Religious, 2022.12. |
| 2. | Mertz, Mechtild, Tazuru Suyako, Itō Shirō, and Cynthea Bogel, “A Group of Twelfth-Century Japanese Kami Statues and Considerations of Material Intentionality: Collaborative Research Among Wood Scientists and Art Historians.”, Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University (JAH-Q), vol. 7, 122-158, 2022.03. |
| 3. | Cynthea Bogel, Rebecca Jennison, “Transnational Dialogues and Contemporary Art in Japan: Missing Pieces.”, Chapter 28 in Ajaya Kumar Sahoo, Ed., Routledge Handbook of Asian Transnationalism, 2022.08, [URL]. |
| 4. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, Contemplations and Imagery: Issues Relevant to Ancient Japanese Buddhist Icons, Ritual Practice, and Cultural Contexts, Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies, 191–222, 2010.09. |
| 5. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, The Objects of Transmission and the Subjects of History: Kūkai’s Shōrai mokuroku, Bulletin of the Research Institute of Esoteric Buddhist Culture (Mikkyō Bunka Kenkyūsho Kiyō), 2, 67–99, 2004.10. |
| 6. | Cynthea Jean Bogel, Canonizing Kannon The ninth-century Esoteric Buddhist Altar at Kanshinji, Art Bulletin, 84, 1, 30-64, 2002.03. |
Presentations
| 1. | Cynthea Bogel, “The Political and Religious Context for the Shōsōin Donation", "PREMODERN VISUAL CULTURE IN JAPAN WORKSHOP.”, 2022.03, A workshop took place at Harvard University on March 4, 2022 entitled "Premodern Visual Culture in Japan Workshop.” Organized by Cynthea Bogel and the East Asian Art Faculty at Harvard, the featured lecture was by Professor Yukio Lippit (Harvard University) entitled, “The Political and Religious Context for the Shōsōin Donation.” Response lectures by Professor Eugene Wang (Harvard University) and Cynthea J. Bogel followed.. |
| 2. | Cynthea J. Bogel, The Demonic, Converted, Hybrid, and Foreign: ’Cosmoscapes” beneath the Buddha and the Construction of a Chinese-Style Imperial State, American Association of Religion, 2021.11, This paper closely examines two types of demonic figures situated on the waist of a profusely decorated pedestal below an early eighth century statue of the Medicine Buddha at Yakushiji, Nara. Created during the period when Japan's rulers emulated a Chinese-style imperial state'a process seen in the imaginaire of Japan's earliest written histories, too'I argue that the pedestal supporting the Buddha provides us with an opportunity to understand how representations of the demonic, grotesque, barbaric, and bestial reference the higher culture of the rulers and their right to rule while they also speak to the power of Buddhism to pacify potential threats through religious conversion. To give but one example, the twelve ethnically distinct figures seated in niches are tropes for the barbarians at the empire's borders; on the Yakushiji pedestal, they can also be understood as the Twelve Yaksa Generals'converted yaksa demons carrying out the twelve healing vows of the Medicine Buddha. Together with other symbols and decorations, the ugly and demonic construct a cosmoscape beneath the Buddha that reflects the goodness of the ruler and the faith through Buddhist and pre-Buddhist forms.. |
| 3. | Katherine Swancutt, King's College London, United Kingdom (organizer, presenter, chair) Laurel Kendall, American Museum of Natural History, United States (presenter) Ni Wayan Pasek Ariati, School for International Training (SIT), Indonesia (presenter) Kari Telle, Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), Norway (presenter) Moumita Sen, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society, Norway (presenter) Cynthea Bogel, Kyushu University, Japan (discussant), Demons and Gods on Display: The Pageantry of Popular Religion as Crossroads Encounters, AAS-in-Asia 2020 Conference in Kobe, 2020.09, [URL], https://aasinasia.org/submission/submission1127/. |
| 4. | Bogel, Cynthea, “Japanese Prints (ukiyoe 浮世絵) and Đông Hồ Painted Prints in a Comparative Light.”, International Symposium on the Safeguarding and Promotion of Dong Ho Woodblock Paintings in Contemporary Life, 2019.11, Paper abstract (panel chair duties described in next section) Bogel’s presentation focused on the block - print techniques used for creating Dong Ho "painted prints" in a comparative framework with 18th and 19th century Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyoe). Each genre deploys what we might call meta-print techniques (Meta is a prefix used in English to indicate a concept that is an "abstraction behind another concept, used to complete or add to the latter.”). In the case of the printed images made in Dong Ho village, the print is completed with hand -applied pigments (thus the name "painted prints," whereas Japanese prints achieve painterly effects by manipulating the color application on the block or utilizing the grain of the block itself, and also by adding metallic or lacquer materials to the pigments. Some are hand painted, usually within block-printed lines. Although both genres are produced using cutting tools on woodblocks, and both use multiple blocks for colors and a line block, the tools and techniques for cutting vary greatly (printing is inverse, i.e., Dong Ho prints are usually block to flat paper, not paper applied on the block as in Japan), as do the materials for engraving and coloring. Dong Ho painted prints limit the colors according to tradition; Japanese prints began with a limited range of pigments in the 18th c. then added a huge variety of pigment coloration, techniques to make the colors more painterly, and finely carved patterns and lines. The greatest differences between Japanese prints and Dong Ho prints may be in the act of printing itself: both genres deploy complex processes, but the Japanese print aims for a more technically precise and finished look - in a sense "masking" the multi -layered labors - whereas the Dong Ho painted prints often seem to celebrate both the precision of technical elements alongside folk style and freehand methods (for example, aligning the block and paper, using the eye for registration). Dong Ho prints also use pigmented papers for contrast. Bogel’s presentation considered the print techniques in detail, alongside a consideration of the reception and functions (religious, commemorative, economic) of each print genre, and the structure of the artistic community that produced them. It avoids making value judgements about the relative simplicity or complexity of the print techniques and materials, instead recognizing the agencies that preserve certain techniques, materials, and desired final effects vs those that alter them and the reasons why.. |
| 5. | CYNTHEA BOGEL, "Cosmology Beneath the Master of Medicine: The Eighth-Century Pedestal at Yakushiji, Nara", Japan Colloquium Series at Yale University, Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University, 2016.11, Yakushiji temple in Nara houses a 2.5-meter bronze sculpture of the Master of Medicine Buddha with two attendant bodhisattvas; the triad was completed ca. 718. A temple of the same name was vowed by Emperor Tenmu (r. 672–686) in 680 for an earlier capital, Fujiwara, when his chief consort, later Empress Jitō (r. 686–697), became ill. Visually and metaphorically, the 1.5-meter bronze pedestal beneath the Master of Medicine icon supports his promise to quell forces that sicken people and foster chaos. The elegant and powerful blend of Indic foreign figures, Chinese cosmology, grape vines, and symbolic motifs on the pedestal have intrigued scholars for over a century as they seek to explain their possible meanings. Focusing on a search for continental sources, motifs in Buddhist contexts alone, or “Silk Road” origins, and falling back on unrelated meanings for symbolics such as the four directional animals, art historians have overlooked evidence provided by the histories and literature of “ancient Japan” that create and narrate the realm of Tenmu "all under heaven.” What emerges from a reexamination of Yakushiji in two times and places and a review of copious scholarship on the pedestal is, in large part, the creation and maintenance of memory: the Empress and her Emperor carried forward in image and concept to Nara from the old Fujiwara capital, and the representation of Tenmu’s realm—re-presented or imagined—on the pedestal in artistic bronze relief. |
| 6. | CYNTHEA BOGEL, “Two Capitals, One Cosmology: Clues to a Dual History of the Temple of the Medicine Master Buddha (Yakushiji in the Fujiwara and Nara Capitals)”, Reassessing Kodai Workshop, ミシガン大学 University of Michigan, 2016.02. |
| 7. | CYNTHEA BOGEL, “Moving Icons, Changing Contexts: Statues and Paintings in Ancient Japanese Temples and Comparative Questions for Bhutan”, The Inaugural lecture for the Wellington and Virginia Yee Art Lecture Series, 2015.11. |
- The Eastern Buddhist Society
- American Academy of Religion
- THE BUDDHIST ART SOCIETY
- American Alliance of Museums (AAM), formerly the American Association of Museums
- Japanese Art History Association
- Japanese Art History Association, Western Division
- Association for Asian Studies
- College Art Association
- Japanese Art History Association
Educational
Educational Activities
GENERAL COURSES
History of Asian Art and Visual Culture. This survey covers the arts of India, Tibet, Cambodia, China, Korea, and Japan.
Arts of Japan: A Visual and Cultural History. this survey covers the arts of Japan, pre-history to the present.
UPPER LEVEL COURSES
Arts of Japan
Arts of Japan: Jomon (pre-history) to 1200
Arts of Japan: 1200-1500
Arts of Japan: 1500-Present
Arts of Contemporary East Asia
Japanese Ukiyo-e (woodblock prints), Edo Period (1603-1868)
Japanese Prints, Modern and Contemporary
Print Making and Print History in Japan (studio and art history course)
Japanese Painting
Edo Period Painting (1603-1868)
Japanese Buddhist Painting
East Asian Buddhist Visual Culture
Japanese Buddhist Visual Culture
Religious Art and Architecture of Japan
Korean and Chinese Painting
SEMINAR-LEVEL COURSES
Japanese Handscroll Painting, 11th-14th Centuries
Arts of the Heian Period (794-1185) (Japan)
Japanese Crafts: High Art in the Japanese Context (textiles, ceramics, lacquer)
Esoteric Buddhist Representation and Ritual
Japanese Buddhist Painting
Arts of the Edo Period (1603-1868) (Japan)
Edo-Period Painting (Japan)
Japanese Woodblock Prints (Ukiyo-e) I (early artists) (Japan)
Japanese Woodblock Prints (Ukyo-e) II (Utamaro and his contemporaries) (Japan)
Japanese Woodblock Prints (Ukiyo-e) III (19th c., Hokusai and Hiroshige) (Japan)
Kyoto: Tradition and Tradition Redefined (Japan)
Contemporary Japanese Art (1945-present)
3 WEEK-SEMINARS IN JAPAN
Exploration Seminar in Japan: Mountain Pilgrimage and Religious Arts (2010). Planned.
Exploration Seminar in Japan: Buddhist Temples Past and Present (2009). Taught and directed.
Exploration Seminar in Japan: Buddhism and Temples in Kyoto and Nara (2008). Taught and directed.
GRADUATE SEMINARS (ORDERED CHRONOLOGICALLY FROM 2016-1996)
Undocumented Traces, Hidden Powers: The Eighth-Century Hokkedō Hall and Its Status
Esoteric Buddhist Visual Culture in Japan
Collecting and Exhibiting Art: A View from the USA
The Art of the Printed Book in China, Korea, and Japan, 1600-1940
Art in the Mountains: Japanese Religious Sites, Pilgrimage Images, and Syncretic Icons
Painting of the Heian Period (794-1185) (Japan)
Methodology of Art History
Hidden Agendas and Visible Differences: Gender, Sexuality, Ethnicity, and Difference in Japanese Art and the Study of Japanese Art
Topics in Japanese Woodblock Prints: Entertainment Culture in the Edo Period
Esoteric Buddhist Visual Culture (Japan) and its Asian Sources: Practice, Form, and Perception
Japanese Medieval Handscroll Painting
Arts and Crafts of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) (Japan)
Japanese Textiles: Contemporary and Traditional Works and Methods (with exhibition)
Methodology of Art History
Topics in Japanese Buddhist Art and Architecture: The Long Eighth Century
Topics in Japanese Woodblock Prints: New Research and Methods
Artistic Exchange Between Korea and Japan
Religious Architecture and Gardens (Japan)
UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
古代日本の異界表象、そして死と視覚文化 Representations of Other Worlds: Death and Visual Culture i Ancient Japan (2014)
Other Educational Activities
History of Asian Art and Visual Culture. This survey covers the arts of India, Tibet, Cambodia, China, Korea, and Japan.
Arts of Japan: A Visual and Cultural History. this survey covers the arts of Japan, pre-history to the present.
UPPER LEVEL COURSES
Arts of Japan
Arts of Japan: Jomon (pre-history) to 1200
Arts of Japan: 1200-1500
Arts of Japan: 1500-Present
Arts of Contemporary East Asia
Japanese Ukiyo-e (woodblock prints), Edo Period (1603-1868)
Japanese Prints, Modern and Contemporary
Print Making and Print History in Japan (studio and art history course)
Japanese Painting
Edo Period Painting (1603-1868)
Japanese Buddhist Painting
East Asian Buddhist Visual Culture
Japanese Buddhist Visual Culture
Religious Art and Architecture of Japan
Korean and Chinese Painting
SEMINAR-LEVEL COURSES
Japanese Handscroll Painting, 11th-14th Centuries
Arts of the Heian Period (794-1185) (Japan)
Japanese Crafts: High Art in the Japanese Context (textiles, ceramics, lacquer)
Esoteric Buddhist Representation and Ritual
Japanese Buddhist Painting
Arts of the Edo Period (1603-1868) (Japan)
Edo-Period Painting (Japan)
Japanese Woodblock Prints (Ukiyo-e) I (early artists) (Japan)
Japanese Woodblock Prints (Ukyo-e) II (Utamaro and his contemporaries) (Japan)
Japanese Woodblock Prints (Ukiyo-e) III (19th c., Hokusai and Hiroshige) (Japan)
Kyoto: Tradition and Tradition Redefined (Japan)
Contemporary Japanese Art (1945-present)
3 WEEK-SEMINARS IN JAPAN
Exploration Seminar in Japan: Mountain Pilgrimage and Religious Arts (2010). Planned.
Exploration Seminar in Japan: Buddhist Temples Past and Present (2009). Taught and directed.
Exploration Seminar in Japan: Buddhism and Temples in Kyoto and Nara (2008). Taught and directed.
GRADUATE SEMINARS (ORDERED CHRONOLOGICALLY FROM 2016-1996)
Undocumented Traces, Hidden Powers: The Eighth-Century Hokkedō Hall and Its Status
Esoteric Buddhist Visual Culture in Japan
Collecting and Exhibiting Art: A View from the USA
The Art of the Printed Book in China, Korea, and Japan, 1600-1940
Art in the Mountains: Japanese Religious Sites, Pilgrimage Images, and Syncretic Icons
Painting of the Heian Period (794-1185) (Japan)
Methodology of Art History
Hidden Agendas and Visible Differences: Gender, Sexuality, Ethnicity, and Difference in Japanese Art and the Study of Japanese Art
Topics in Japanese Woodblock Prints: Entertainment Culture in the Edo Period
Esoteric Buddhist Visual Culture (Japan) and its Asian Sources: Practice, Form, and Perception
Japanese Medieval Handscroll Painting
Arts and Crafts of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) (Japan)
Japanese Textiles: Contemporary and Traditional Works and Methods (with exhibition)
Methodology of Art History
Topics in Japanese Buddhist Art and Architecture: The Long Eighth Century
Topics in Japanese Woodblock Prints: New Research and Methods
Artistic Exchange Between Korea and Japan
Religious Architecture and Gardens (Japan)
UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
古代日本の異界表象、そして死と視覚文化 Representations of Other Worlds: Death and Visual Culture i Ancient Japan (2014)
- 2019.11, 2019–23 **Cluster Leader (with Hien Thi Nguyen). Four-year Research and Training Cluster Grant 2020–23, FROGBEAR. “Talismans and Talisman Culture in Vietnam and Japan,”
2019 Frogbear program. Northern Vietnam fieldwork with Professor Nguyen Hien Thi. FROGBEAR Cluster 4.1 Talismans and Talisman Cultures in Contemporary Vietnam, Korea, and Japan: Meaning, Making, Medium. November, 7 days.
https://frogbear.org/portfolio-item/cluster-4-1-talismans-and-talisman-cultures-in-contemporary-vietnam-korea-and-japan-meaning-making-medium/. - 2019.12, The Many Shapes of Meaning: Object and Performance in Asia Across Time. 意義の多様性：アジアにおけるモノと表現 International Conference 国際学会 funded by 2018-19 Kyushu University RINK Challenge type 3 grant (Primary Investigator), December 7–8, 2019. 150 participants.
- 2018.10, 2018 New Terrains in Asian Humanities. Program Chair for day 2 symposium and organizer of the second and third days of the conference. English sessions. International three-day conference on Japanese humanities topics, sponsored by Kyushu University’s World Premier International Researcher Invitation Program (“Progress 100”) RINK grant of Professor Tomoyuki Kubo. September 21–23, 2018.
- 2017.11, Kokugakuin University, Kyoto. Invited speaker. “International Forum: How are Japanese Religions Being Taught?” Presentation in Japanese on Japanese religions in seminars on art history and visual culture..
Social
Professional and Outreach Activities
A Collaborative research in Okinawa, resulting in a publication about Ryukyu 19th c. art at Miyara dunchi published in Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University (JAH-Q), vol. 6 (March 2021).
B Completed first stage of a collaborative online art exhibition.
Title: Japanese and Korean Art Relationships: Painting, Ceramic, and Buddhist Arts
Created in collaboration with graduate students and faculty at Ehwa Womans University, Seoul Korea. Information will be in English, Korean, and Japanese. Website opens in July 2021.
COLLABORATIVE ONLINE ART EXHIBITION:
Ewha Womans University (Seoul) with support and collaboration from Kyushu University Graduate School of Humanities, International Research Center for the Humanities (Fukuoka)
C The Eastern Buddhist, Advisory Board member. https://ebs.otani.ac.jp/
D Organizer, International Public Lecture Series in collaboration with the Kyoto National Museum, “東洋染織品の移動と変容/ entitled The Transformation of East Asian Cloth: Transnational and Translocal Textiles. 4 sessions. 2020 January & March. Funded by the International Research Center for the Humanities, Kyushu University 人文学国際研究センター
E PROGRAM: Frogbear (From the Ground Up: Buddhism in East Asian Religions): a four-year research and graduate-student training program based at University of British Columbia and funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada)
2020 activities: Extensive international collaboration with Vietnam, Korea, and Chinese researchers for fieldwork on talismans in Japan and Vietnam.
Filming a bilingual documentaryVietnamese mortuary rituals and printed talismans produced in Vietnam with Vietnam National University, Hanoi
F 2020 Invited discussant for international Conference panel entitled. “Demons and Gods on Display: The Pageantry of Popular Religion as Crossroads Encounters,”
Association of Asian Studies conference “AAS-in-Asia 2020 Conference in Kobe, Japan, August 31 – September 04 By invitation
G postponed due to COVID
2020 Ehwa Womans Unversity (Seoul, Korea). “Buddhist practice and visual culture in East Asia ca. 700: Representing the cosmos on a Buddhist pedestal”
2020 Columbia University, Seminar for Buddhist Studies.. Invited by students and co-chairs.
B Completed first stage of a collaborative online art exhibition.
Title: Japanese and Korean Art Relationships: Painting, Ceramic, and Buddhist Arts
Created in collaboration with graduate students and faculty at Ehwa Womans University, Seoul Korea. Information will be in English, Korean, and Japanese. Website opens in July 2021.
COLLABORATIVE ONLINE ART EXHIBITION:
Ewha Womans University (Seoul) with support and collaboration from Kyushu University Graduate School of Humanities, International Research Center for the Humanities (Fukuoka)
C The Eastern Buddhist, Advisory Board member. https://ebs.otani.ac.jp/
D Organizer, International Public Lecture Series in collaboration with the Kyoto National Museum, “東洋染織品の移動と変容/ entitled The Transformation of East Asian Cloth: Transnational and Translocal Textiles. 4 sessions. 2020 January & March. Funded by the International Research Center for the Humanities, Kyushu University 人文学国際研究センター
E PROGRAM: Frogbear (From the Ground Up: Buddhism in East Asian Religions): a four-year research and graduate-student training program based at University of British Columbia and funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada)
2020 activities: Extensive international collaboration with Vietnam, Korea, and Chinese researchers for fieldwork on talismans in Japan and Vietnam.
Filming a bilingual documentaryVietnamese mortuary rituals and printed talismans produced in Vietnam with Vietnam National University, Hanoi
F 2020 Invited discussant for international Conference panel entitled. “Demons and Gods on Display: The Pageantry of Popular Religion as Crossroads Encounters,”
Association of Asian Studies conference “AAS-in-Asia 2020 Conference in Kobe, Japan, August 31 – September 04 By invitation
G postponed due to COVID
2020 Ehwa Womans Unversity (Seoul, Korea). “Buddhist practice and visual culture in East Asia ca. 700: Representing the cosmos on a Buddhist pedestal”
2020 Columbia University, Seminar for Buddhist Studies.. Invited by students and co-chairs.
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