Exploration, Memory, and Imagination: Modernity and the Knowledge of India in Japanese Buddhism

研究基金使我能够在福冈和岛原地区进行档案和实地调查。我收集了关于天皇纪念馆和明治时期建造它的佛教牧师广田权正的资料。在岛原的研究为我提供了重要的资料来源，特别是广田前往印度朝圣的照片，以及他为移居那里的日本妇女举行仪式的照片，我可以广泛地记录寺庙本身，这是这些妇女捐赠的物证。在福冈，我与福冈亚洲艺术博物馆的馆长合作，从黑田收藏中复制了有关印度流行艺术的资料，以及明治、大正时期为印度市场制作的日本火柴盒标签。这个系列打开了印度和日本之间视觉文化传播的窗口。最后，我还参观了福冈的光明会馆博物馆，了解了日本艺术家杉本哲郎（Sugimoto Tetsuro）的宗教艺术收藏。我用一部分研究经费购买了书籍，用于出版，另一部分则用于编辑一本关于媒体与现代佛教的书。研究经费还包括将本章翻译成日文的费用。该书将于2023年9月与Hozokan一起出版。

The research funds allowed me to do archival and fieldwork for my research in the areas of Fukuoka and Shimabara. I collected materials on the Tennyoto memorial and the Buddhist priest who built it in the Meiji period, Hirota Gonsho. The research in Shimabara has provided me with important sources, especially photos of Hirota’s pilgrimage to India and of the rituals he performed for Japanese women who had migrated there, and I could extensively document the temple itself, which is material evidence of the donations of such women. I also expanded my knowledge of the trade networks between Shimabara and the Indian Ocean through a visit to the Kuchinotsu Archive and Museum.In Fukuoka, I collaborated with the curators of the Fukuoka Asian Arts Museum to copy materials from their Kuroda Collection on popular Indian art and on Japanese matchbox labels produced in the Meiji and Taisho periods for the Indian market. This collection opens a window on the circulation of visual culture between India and Japan. Finally, I visited the Seimeikaikan Museum in Fukuoka, to gather information on their collection of religious art produced by the India-inspired artist Sugimoto Tetsuro.I used part of the research funds to purchase books that I use in my book publication, and others that I have used for a chapter contribution to an edited volume on media and modern Buddhism. The research funds also covered the cost for the translation of this chapter into Japanese. The book will be published with Hozokan in September 2023.