{"id":36177,"date":"2026-06-04T11:56:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T02:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/?p=36177"},"modified":"2026-06-04T12:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T03:40:10","slug":"%e3%80%90%e6%9c%83%e6%b4%a5%e5%85%ab%e4%b8%80%e8%a8%98%e5%bf%b5%e5%8d%9a%e7%89%a9%e9%a4%a8%e3%80%91%e5%af%8c%e5%b2%a1%e3%82%b3%e3%83%ac%e3%82%af%e3%82%b7%e3%83%a7%e3%83%b3%e5%b1%95-%e8%bf%91-2-2-2-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/news-en\/2026\/06\/04\/36177\/","title":{"rendered":"\u3010Yanai Initiative\u3011Open Talk “From Karma to Kabuki: Kasane and the Making of an Early Modern Ghost\u201d (July 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open Talk: From Karma to Kabuki: Kasane and the Making of an Early Modern Ghost<\/h3>\n

The Yanai Initiative welcomes Rachele Mansi, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at UCLA and a Yanai Initiative Research Fellow at Waseda University, who will explore how Kasane, a disfigured countrywoman, became so popular in early modern Japan.<\/p>\n

Early modern Japan (1603-1868) was haunted by all sorts of supernatural creatures, but only few can boast the same popularity and pervasiveness as the angry spirit of a disfigured countrywoman named Kasane. <\/p>\n

Fictional and theatrical reworkings of her story were produced nearly every year between the 1730s and the dawn of the Meiji period (1868-1912). Kasane\u2019s name haunted even poetry, and several famous contemporary writers remarked how virtually everyone in the world was familiar with her. <\/p>\n

This lecture traces the development of Kasane from an unassuming protagonist of a Buddhist tale about karma into a cultural icon, focusing on kabuki as the main engine behind her rise to fame\/immortality. Then, by discussing this character alongside other female ghosts, it will clarify her position and extensive impact on Japan\u2019s popular imagination. <\/p>\n