Gender in Japanese Religions: Roles of Buddhist Nuns and Convents in Early Modern Society

本课题通过对日本宗教史和性别史研究的重要资料--《日本修道院家书》的分析，研究了日本近代以来天皇修道院和修道院在其中所起的作用。为此，该项目采取了三种方法：1.关于济州-in monzeki藏品中“Soji-infuredome”的调查；2.研究尼姑在妇女社会网络中的作用；以及3.Reigan-ji monzeki(前比库尼·戈肖)藏品中的工艺品调查。在四年的时间里，项目成员举行了33次会议，并通读了28卷《Soji-in Furedome》，日期从1698年(Genroku 11)到1736(Kyoho 21)。此外，我们还对热干寺进行了6次调查访问，记录了收集的170个玩偶、70个纺织品和100件陶瓷作品的数据。2013年3月，我们发表了一份关于研究成果的报告，其中包括6篇学术论文。该项目揭示了，在近代早期的日本，以经营修道院为主要职责的修女在世俗社会中也发挥了积极的作用。

This project researches on roles of ama monzeki (imperial convents) and ama dera (convents) in early modern Japan through the analysis of documents housedat ama monzeki, which are important material for the study of Japanese religion andgender histories. For this purpose, this project took three approaches： 1. Survey on “Soji-infuredome” in the collection of Jiju-in monzeki; 2. Study on the role of nuns within socialnetworks of women; and 3. Survey on arts and crafts in the collections of Reigan-ji monzeki(former bikuni gosho). For the period of four years, members of the project held thirty-threemeetings, and read through twenty-eight volumes of “Soji-in furedome”, which are datedfrom 1698 (Genroku 11) to 1736 (Kyoho 21). In addition, we made six research visits toReigan-ji monzeki and recorded data of 170 dolls, 70 textiles and 100 ceramic works in theconvent collection.Soji-in furedome shiryoshu, a report on the research results with sixacademic essays, was published in March 2013. The project has revealed that, in early modern Japan, nuns, whose main responsibility is to operate convents, also played active roles in secular society.