Name
CROSS, Julia
Degree
Ph.D. (East Asian Languages and Civilizations)
HP (URL)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-cross-77621113a/
Status
Assistant Professor
Research Topic
Tales of Vengeful Ghosts and Longing Spirits: A Study of Woodblock Prints, Legends, and Anthologies
Julia Cross’ current research project examines female ghosts in popular Edo-period depictions (ghost tales, prints, and theater) through the framework of medieval Japanese Buddhism. Drawing on Buddhist commentaries, sutras, and narratives, it traces how such supernatural beliefs shaped a range of Edo period materials. The project’s contribution lies in highlighting the role of female ghosts in prints and popular narratives, and how this later material developed out of medieval doctrinal and narrative traditions. This work advances scholarship on gender and the spirit realm, as well as cultural understandings of women in the afterlife—in the heavens and hells—shaped by Buddhist sutras, commentaries, and folkloric beliefs.
Education and Academic Employment
Education
| 2021 | Ph.D., Harvard University, East Asian Languages and Civilizations |
| 2012 | M.A., University of California, Los Angeles, East Asian Studies |
| 2009 | B.A., University of California, Santa Cruz, History of Art and Visual Culture (Honors thesis) |
Academic Employment
| 2025 | Mount Allison University, Lecturer |
| 2024-2025 | Santa Clara University, Lecturer |
| 2022-2024 | Stanford University, Postdoctoral Fellow |
| 2021-2022 | Yale University, Postdoctoral Associate |
Fields of Research Interests
Japanese Buddhism, Japanese religions, art history, women and Buddhism, body, ghosts and the supernatural, death studies.
Academic Publications
- 2026. “Living Buddhas on Mt. Yudono: Community, Belief, and Politics,” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Vol. 50: 1–40 (forthcoming).
- 2026. “Analyzing the Kisshōten Cabinet Shrine at Kōfukuji,” Japanese Religions special issue on “Medieval Embodiments in Japan,” Vol. 46: 125–158.
- 2025. “Relics and Myth-Making on Mount Murō: The Body of the Worshipper and the Body of the Buddha,” Journal of Religion in Japan Vol. 14: 1–25.
- 2019. “The Hokkeji Nuns, Relic Worship, and Theft in Medieval Japan,” Japanese Religions special issues on “The Materiality of Japanese Religions” Vol. 43 (1/2): 39–67.
- 2013. “Yuan Shangtong’s Landscape 石壁秋林圖 (1638),” and “Lu Wei’s Landscapes of Poetic Ideas 山水詩意冊 (prior to 1689),” in The Artful Recluse: Painting Poetry, and Politics in 17th Century China, ed. by Peter Sturman and Susan Tai. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 126–127, 256–259, 281, and 301–303.
Other Interests
Reading novels, visiting temples, yoga, photography
Affiliated Academic Organizations
Harvard University, Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies (RIJS)
Society for the Study of Japanese Religions (SSJR)
Association for Asian Studies (AAS)
Awards
Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Dissertation Fellowship, Harvard University, 2019–2020
Fulbright Graduate Research Fellow, Japan, 2017–2018
Derek Bok Center Certificate for Teaching Distinction, Harvard University, 2017
Satoh and Tsuchiya Merit Scholarship, 2013–2016
Toshizo Watanabe Scholarship, Inter-University Center (IUC) for Japanese Language, 2012–2013
