Donald Keene Center

Events 2004

January 29

Lecture: Curating Golden Fantasies
Rosina Buckland (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University)
Kress Room, C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
 

Musashino at Sunset

In early seventeenth-century Japan, as the warrior class settled down to life in the cities, and as the merchants began to establish themselves as a powerful economic force, demand arose for new subject matter for paintings in the folding screen format. These included episodes taken from well-known narratives, both courtly romances (Tale of Genji) and warrior tales (Tale of the Heike), scenes of life in the city together with its entertainments, as well as the symbolic use of natural motifs that possessed emotional resonance through literary allusions. Not just gorgeous images on a grand scale, these works carried meanings and messages related to the changing social climate of the day.

Rosina Buckland, curator of Golden Fantasies: Japanese Screens From New York Collections at the Asia Society, will use works from the exhibition to illustrate this relationship between history and art in early modern Japan.

 

February 3

Discussion: Japan in Hollywood: An Evening of Conversation
Paul Anderer (Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures), David Lurie (Assistant Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures), Daisuke Miyao (Postdoctoral Fellow, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University), Richard Peña (Director, Film Society of Lincoln Center and Associate Professor, Film Division, Columbia University), Gregory Pflugfelder Associate Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures), and Henry D. Smith (Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
From Lost in Translation to Kill Bill to The Last Samurai, Japan's profile in American popular film has become very conspicuous of late. The Keene Center is pleased to sponsor an evening of informal conversation on the significance of these contemporary trends in Hollywood moviemaking and about the historical, cultural, and aesthetic issues that they raise.

February 10

Booktalk: Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion: The Creation of the Soul of Japan

Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion

Professor Donald Keene (Professor Emeritus, Columbia University)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Yoshimasa may have been the worst shogun ever to rule Japan. He was a failure as a soldier, incompetent at dealing with state business, and dominated by his wife. But his influence on the cultural life of Japan was unparalleled. In this talk, Professor Keene will speak about his book and how Yoshimasa was the only shogun to leave a lasting heritage for the entire Japanese people.

February 19

  Lecture: A Collector's Odyssey
George Mann (private collector)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
George Mann is a longtime collector and is reputed to have the finest collection of Ukiyo-e prints in this country. He is a member of the Art Institute of Chicago's Board of Trustees and its Committee on Asian Art. His lecture at the Donald Keene Center will be mainly about his experiences as a collector.
Co-sponsored by the Ukiyo-e Society of Japan, Inc.

February 20

Lecture: Prince Shôtoku and the Chinese Ritual Calendar
Michael Como (College of William and Mary)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Professor Michael Como will be speaking about the early cult of Prince Shotoku.

 

March 9

Lecture: Sumo in Global Spaces: The Politics of Representation
R. Kenji Tierney (Postdoctoral Fellow, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

1856 lithograph from the Perry Expedition

Has the age of the American-born sumo wrestler come to an end? The January Tournament (Hatsu Basho) was the first in decades without an American-born wrestler in the ring and an end to the Japan-US rivalry that had defined the globalization of sumo. With many of the most popular wrestlers having retired, an unruly Mongolian wrestler at the top, and a sharp decline in overall popularity, the Japan Sumo Association is struggling to make sumo relevant in contemporary Japan and reformulate its cultural role in the 21st century. Seeking to explain the present situation, this talk examines the ways in which 20th century historical actors, international discourses and events – such as the “physical culture movement,” international tourism, Olympics, and the World Wars – transformed sumo into both a nationalized sport and a tradition. Examining the cultural categories of sport and tradition, this talk will discuss the present state of professional sumo along with recent attempts by the amateur association to internationalize sumo as a participation sport, a movement that is now producing amateur American wrestlers.
Co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute

March 12

Lecture: Envisioning the Prince: The Life of Images in the Shôtoku Cult
Kevin Carr (Princeton University)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

March 26 & 27 (Friday & Saturday)

Conference: Translation Matters: East Asian Literatures in Transnational Perspective
Location: Buell Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
9:00 AM - 6:30 PM
With the help of writers from across East Asia, along with translators, scholars, and publishers from around the world, we will explore the integral relations between translation and the way that literature is conceived, practiced, transmitted, and studied. Not a mere by-product of literature, translation "matters", shaping literary and cultural traditions from their beginnings. We will investigate, in particular, how translation figures crucially in the formation of modern Chinese, Japanese, and Korean literatures, as well as in the rise of the disciplines which study them. Mapping the spatial and temporal migration of literary forms, examining the practice and production of translation, tracing the expansionary forces at work within national literary languages - our various inquiries will all reassert the crucial role of translation in literary creation and in the advance of the humanities.
Co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Center for Chinese Cultural and Institutional History, and the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University.
 

March 29

Lecture: Inaka Genji: Pictures and Text
Satoru Sato (Jissen Women's University, Japan)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Lecture to be given in Japanese

April 9 (Friday)
2003-2004 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize Ceremony for the Translation of Japanese Literature
Main Reading Room, C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
6:15 PM

The Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture will hold an award ceremony and reception honoring the winners of the 2003-2004 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature:
• Classical Category:
Charles S. Inouye - Japanese Gothic Tales, Volume Two by Izumi Kyoka
• Modern Category:
Shogo Oketani & Leza Lowitz - America and Other Poems by Ayukawa Nobuo
 

April 13

Lecture: Watanabe Kazan: Painter, Patriot, and Prisoner
Donald Keene (Professor Emeritus, Columbia University)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Watanabe Kazan (1793-1841) was the first successful Japanese portraitist in the Western style, but in his day he was even more renowned for traditional paintings in the Chinese manner. Although a high-ranking samurai, he lived in poverty most of his life and painted mainly in order to earn desperately needed income. His growing interest in the West led to his imprisonment, his abiding belief in Confucian ideals led to suicide. Professor Keene will speak about his forthcoming book about this painter.

April 16

Lecture: Nuns, Court Ladies, and Shôtoku Worship in Kamakura-Period Japan
Lori Meeks (University of Puget Sound, Stanford University)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

April 21

Lecture: Avant-Garde Art and Politics in Early 1960s Japan: The Yomiuri Indépendant and the Readymade Critique of Everyday Life
William Marotti (Postdoctoral Fellow, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
2:30 PM - 4:00 PM

April 28

2004 Sôshitsu Sen XV Distinguished Lecture on Japanese Culture: The Perils and Joys of Pioneering the Arts of Japan in New York
Beate Sirota Gordon (Former Director of Performing Arts, Japan Society and Asia Society)
Low Rotunda, Low Memorial Library, Columbia University (116th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave.)
6:00 PM (Reception to follow at 7:15 PM in Faculty Room of Low Memorial Library)

Through December 2004: Godzilla Conquers the Globe: Japanese Movie Monsters in International Film Art
C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
Marking the 50th anniversary of the original Godzilla film's release, we are pleased to present an exhibit of film posters and related movie ephemera from different parts of the world. The exhibit which extends across three rooms in the historic C.V. Starr East Asian Library is curated by Gregory M. Pflugfelder (Associate Professor of Japanese History, Columbia University), from whose private collection many of the items are drawn.

September 14

Lecture: Building the Nara Palace in the 8th and the 21st Centuries: An Informal Report on the Daigokuden Reconstruction Project, Summer 2004
Prof. David Lurie (Assistant Professor, Dept. of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University)
413 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

September 22

Lecture Series: New Horizons in Japanese Historywriting: The Books and Their Authors
Geographies of Identities in Nineteenth-Century Japan
Prof. David Howell (Professor of Japanese History, Dept. of East Asian Studies, Princeton University)
918 International Affairs Building (118th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
The books and xeroxes of proofs or manuscripts will be available for purchase before talks. Please contact Arie Bram at 212-854-4591.
Co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute

October 6

Lecture Series: New Horizons in Japan Historywriting: The Books and Their Authors Mapping Early Modern Japan: Space, Place, and Culture in the Early Modern Period, 1603-1868
Prof. Marcia Yonemoto (Assistant Professor of History, University of Colorado at Boulder )
918 International Affairs Building (118th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
The books and Xeroxes of proofs or manuscripts will be available for purchase before talks. Please contact Arie Bram at 212-854-4591.
Co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute

October 7

Lecture: A Buddhist Chameleon Prince Shotoku: An Evolutionary Adaptive Image Surviving Time
Sayoko Sakakibara (Historiographical Institute, University of Tokyo)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

October 8

Presentation: Electronic Databases of the Historiographical Institute
Wakabayashi Haruko, Sakakibara Sayoko, Roy Ron (Historiographical Institute, University of Tokyo)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM

October 13

Lecture Series: New Horizons in Japan Historywriting: The Books and Their Authors
Rearranging the Landscape of the Gods:The Politics of a Pilgrimage Site in Japan, 1573-1912
Sarah Thal (Assistant Professor of History, Rice University)
918 International Affairs Building (118th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
The books and Xeroxes of proofs or manuscripts will be available for purchase before talks. Please contact Arie Bram at 212-854-4591.
Co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute

October 14

Donald Keene Center Special Lecture Series: Collateral Damage (And Other Rules of War in Early Medieval Japan)
Karl Friday (Professor of History, University of Georgia)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
  The "culture of war" forged in Japan between the 10th to 14th centuries informs our understanding of coetaneous social structures and customs. This early formative age, moreover, provided a framework for Japanese military rules and ethics into modern times. This lecture will contrast the received wisdom on warfare of early medieval Japan against the military culture of the early samurai to identify the norms and behaviors in the conduct of war.

November 4

Donald Keene Center Special Lecture Series: Too Close to the Sun: Korean Writers under Japanese Rule John W. Treat (Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures, Yale University)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

November 10

Lecture Series: New Horizons in Japan Historywriting: The Books and Their Authors The Dawn That Never Comes: Shimazaki Toson and Japanese Nationalism
Prof. Michael Bourdaghs (Assistant Professor of Modern Japanese Literature, Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures, University of California, Los Angeles)
918 International Affairs Building (118th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
The books and Xeroxes of proofs or manuscripts will be available for purchase before talks. Please contact Arie Bram at 212-854-4591.
Co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute

November 17

Lecture Series: New Horizons in Japan Historywriting: The Books and Their Authors House and Home in Modern Japan
Prof. Jordan Sand (Assistant Professor of Japanese History and Culture, Georgetown University)
918 International Affairs Building (118th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
The books and Xeroxes of proofs or manuscripts will be available for purchase before talks. Please contact Arie Bram at 212-854-4591.
Co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute

November 18

Lecture: The Life of the Death of the Buddha: The Parinirvâna in Japanese Iconography
David Max Moerman (Assistant Professor, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures, Barnard College)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

December 2

Donald Keene Center Special Lecture Series: First, Foremost and Famously Accused: An Etymology of the Decorative in Japanese Art
Barbara Ford (Curator, Department of Asian Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Dismissed as dazzling to the eye but lacking in truth by eleventh-century Chinese critics and adulated for exemplary fidelity to nature by new admirers in nineteenth-century Europe and America, the decorative character of Japanese art is invariably if variously noted. More recently the Japanese art historian Tsuji Nobuo championed the Japanese propensity toward decoration, dubbing it Kazari, an ancient Japanese term for adornment. His work and others' highlight the diversity and pervasiveness of decorative expression in Japan and focus on cultural underpinnings peculiar to Japan, studies that culminated in the exhibition "Kazari" held at the Japan Society and the British Museum in 2002. To date, less attention has been given to more distant but profound roots of decorative art in Buddhist practice based on the notion of shôgon that will be explored in this talk.

December 4

Symposium: Global Fantasies: Godzilla in World Culture
Altschul Auditorium, 417 International Affairs Building (118th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
9:30 AM - 5:30 PM
SPEAKERS:
• Anne Allison (Duke University)
• Aaron Gerow (Yale University)
• Theodore Hughes (Columbia University)
• Yoshikuni Igarashi (Vanderbilt University)
• Gregory Pflugfelder (Columbia University)
• Alan Tansman (University of California, Berkeley)
• William Tsutsui (University of Kansas)

 

Through December 2004

Exhibition: Godzilla Conquers the Globe: Japanese Movie Monsters in International Film Art
C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)

Marking the 50th anniversary of the original Godzilla film's release, we are pleased to present an exhibit of film posters and related movie ephemera from different parts of the world. The exhibit, which extends across three rooms in the historic C.V. Starr East Asian Library, is curated by Gregory M. Pflugfelder (Associate Professor of Japanese History, Columbia University), from whose private collection many of the items are drawn.