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

研究基金使我能够为我在福冈和岛原地区的研究做档案和田野工作。我收集了关于田本纪念馆和明治时期建造它的佛教僧侣广田恭正的材料。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，以及他为移民到那里的日本妇女举行的仪式的照片，我可以广泛地记录寺庙本身，这是这些妇女捐款的物质证据。在福冈，我与福冈亚洲艺术博物馆的策展人合作，复制了他们的黑田藏品中有关印度流行艺术的材料，以及明治和大正时期为印度市场生产的日本火柴盒品牌的材料。这一藏品打开了一扇了解印度和日本之间视觉文化交流的窗口。最后，我参观了福冈的清海馆博物馆，收集了他们收藏的由印度艺术家杉本哲郎创作的宗教艺术的信息。我用部分研究资金购买了我在图书出版中使用的书籍，还有一些我用来为编辑过的关于媒体和现代佛教的卷撰写了一章稿件。研究经费还包括将这一章翻译成日语的费用。这本书将于2023年9月与霍佐坎一起出版。

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.