Open Talk: I See Dead People: Touring Jigoku on Mt. Tateyama
For this event, Dr. Shōhei Yamayoshi will discuss Tateyama Worship, a faith tradition surrounding the divine mountains in Toyama. The Tateyama range has fascinated people with its abundant nature, beautiful landscape, and majestic peaks. In premodern Japan, however, it was a “symbol of death” known through the legends of Tateyama Jigoku, the Hell high up in the mountain where the living can be reunited with the dead.
In this open talk, he will examine the images of Tateyama Jigoku depicted in various literary works while reviewing the history of Tateyama Worship.
- Day & Time：June 19th, 2025 (Thursday), 14:00-15:00
- Venue：Lab (2nd floor of WIHL)
- Language：Japanese
- Participation：Free
- Participants：Students, Faculty and Public
- Presented by the Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities, with support from the Waseda International House of Literature
Lecture
Shōhei YAMAYOSHI
Assistant Professor (without tenure) at the Faculty of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, Waseda University. He received his M.A. from Waseda University and Columbia University, and his Ph.D. from Waseda University. He was a Yanai Initiative Visiting Graduate Researcher at UCLA in 2016. He specializes in medieval literature, narratives of the origins of temples and shrines (jisha engi), and mountain worship. His major publications include “Exploring the Acceptance of the Yoshida Shintō Teachings at Keta Shrine: An Analysis of Keta Jinja Koengi and the Nō Play Unomatsuri” (2025.3), “The Transfiguration of Ōnominato Shrine’s Origin Story” (2024.2), and “On the Formation of the Takada-daimyōjin Engi” (2023.9).
Facilitator
Yanai Initiative Committee Member: Kanako MABUCHI
Contact
Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities: [email protected]
