{"id":5391,"date":"2026-03-13T11:19:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T02:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/?p=5391"},"modified":"2026-03-13T11:23:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T02:23:51","slug":"event-report%ef%bc%9a-public-lecture-by-jennifer-guest-associate-professor-at-the-university-of-oxford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/news-en\/5391","title":{"rendered":"Event Report\uff1a Public Lecture by Jennifer Guest, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford"},"content":{"rendered":"

Public Lecture by Jennifer Guest, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford<\/h2>\n

\u2018The sign of the newt: chastity and illicit romance in the language of Toshiyori zuin\u014d\u2018
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On December 2, 2025, Jennifer Guest, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, delivered a lecture titled \u201cThe Sign of the Newt: Chastity and Illicit Romance in the Language of Toshiyoru zuin\u014d<\/em>\u201d in Meeting Room 1, Building 33, Waseda University\u2019s Toyama Campus.<\/p>\n

Professor Jennifer Guest specializes in classical Japanese literature, with particular focus on the reception of Chinese texts in Japan from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries, as well as on education, translation practices, and the dissemination of literary language (bungo<\/em>). On this occasion, she presented a portion of the research she conducted during her seven-month tenure as a visiting scholar at Waseda University.<\/p>\n

In her lecture, Professor Guest examined episodes and poems concerning the \u201csign of the newt\u201d (imori no shirushi) in Toshiyori zuin\u014d, a treatise on waka poetics written by Minamoto no Toshiyori in the early twelfth century for Fujiwara no Kunshi. It was believed that if the \u201csign\u201d (blood) of a \u201cnewt\u201d (imori) were painted onto a woman\u2019s arm, the mark would last eternally\u2014unless she committed adultery, in which case the mark would disappear and her misconduct would be exposed. This belief derives from ancient Chinese literature, including Yan Shigu\u2019s commentary on the biography of Dongfang Shuo in the Book of Han, as well as the Hokke genzan. The lecture explored how this story entered the discourse of waka poetry and came to be discussed in poetic treatises, while also considering how the \u201csign of the newt\u201d functions within Toshiyori zuin\u014d as a potentially didactic discourse directed at women. Drawing on a wide range of related materials, Professor Guest\u2019s analysis<\/p>\n

Following the lecture, Christina Laffin, Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, offered comments, first praising Professor Guest\u2019s meticulous close reading and extensive engagement with relevant sources, and noting her multidimensional, systematic analysis of the discourse under consideration. She also commented on the relative dearth of scholarship on Toshiyori zuin\u014d <\/em>in Japan and internationally and raised further questions regarding the extent to which the text\u2019s discourse was connected to and contributed to the education of imperial women during the Heian period. She additionally addressed the difficulty of translating words such as imori<\/em> and mushi<\/em>, identifying new directions for future research.<\/p>\n

The event concluded with a rich discussion featuring questions and comments from the audience.<\/p>\n

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Event Details<\/p>\n