Women, Rites, and Ritual Objects in Premodern Japan

Karen M. Gerhart, Ph.D. (1992), is Professor of Japanese Art History at the University of Pittsburgh. She has published monographs and articles on Japan, including The Eyes of Power: Art and Early Tokugawa Authority (1999) and The Material Culture of Death in Medieval Japan (2009).

'Women, Rites, and Ritual Objects in Premodern Japan is an invaluable volume not just for scholars of premodern Japan but also for anyone with an interest in material culture. Whether we acknowledge this or not, it is largely through a carefully constructed symbolic order that we as human beings create and mark our places in the world and navigate our way through life and its many challenges.' - Yui Suzuki, University of Maryland, in: Monumenta Nipponica 74:1 (2019).'a rare insight into the still largely veiled and thus lesser-known world of rites and rituals concerning women and female deities in premodern Japan.(...) serves therefore as an important pioneer in the field; hence, it is warmly recommended to all students of Japanese religions.' - Lehel Balogh, Hokkaido University, in: Religious Studies Review 45/3 (2019)'The studies range widely in terms of source material and period; nevertheless,the volume’s clear thematic focus yields a greater degree of cohesion than one often sees in an edited volume. In fact, reading the essays together, as one would a monograph, produces a powerful effect: the chapters reflect and refract each other in subtly provocative ways, such that the entire book enacts a kind of historicist scintillation.(...) To the credit of the publisher, the format for Women, Rites, and Ritual Objects is wonderfully expansive. Ample illustrations, many in full color,provide welcome context and enable readers to follow arguments rooted in visual analysis. Overall, the book is a must-have for libraries and for the individual reader who can afford it. It is an important contribution to Japan studies in the areas of religious history, visual culture, and, of course, women’s history.' - Heather Blair, Journal of Japanese Studies 46:2 (2020)

• PrefaceBarbara RuchList of Figures and TablesList of ContributorsIntroductionKaren M. GerhartPart 1 Rituals Related to the Household and Childbirth1 Women and “Moving-House” Rituals in Mid-Heian JapanKaren M. Gerhart2 Devising Esoteric Rituals for Women: Fertility and the Demon Mother in the Gushi nintai sanshō himitsu hōshūAnna Andreeva3 Taira no Tokushi’s Birth of Emperor AntokuNaoko GunjiPart 2 Women and Buddhist Rituals and Icons4 A Female Deity as the Focus of a Buddhist Ritual: Kichijō Keka at HōryūjiChari Pradel5 The Relic and the Jewel: An Eleventh-Century Miniature Bronze Pagoda to Hold the Bones of a Young QueenHank Glassman6 Connecting Kannon to Women Through PrintSherry FowlerPart 3 Buddhist Women and Death Memorials7 Commemorating Life and Death: The Memorial Culture Surrounding the Rinzai Zen Nun Mugai NyodaiPatricia Fister8 Of Surplices and Certificates: Tracing Mugai Nyodai’s KesaMonica BethePart 4 Female Patronage, Portraits, and Rituals9 Retired Empress and Buddhist Patron: Higashisanjō-in Donates a Set of Icon Curtains in the Illustrated Legends of Ishiyamadera HandscrollElizabeth Morrissey10 Life After Death: The Intersection of Patron and Subject in the Portrait of Jōkō-inElizabeth SelfIndex