The 1999 Soshitsu Sen XV Distinguished Lecture on Japanese Culture: Japan: The Magic of Mountains Fosco Maraini (Professor, University of Florence)

April 12, 1999

The 1999 Soshitsu Sen XV Distinguished Lecture on Japanese Culture: Japan: The Magic of Mountains
Fosco Maraini (Professor, University of Florence)
The Teatro, Casa Italiana, 1161 Amsterdam Ave. (adjacent to Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs); RSVP REQUIRED

Writer, photographer, scholar, and mountaineer, Fosco Maraini has gained distinction in numerous fields. He is one of the most accomplished scholars of things Japanese. In 1938, Prof. Maraini first visited Japan to undertake research on the Ainu, Japan’s aboriginal people. This led to a doctorate in anthropology and a book on the Ainu religion and customs.  Subsequently, he was appointed lecturer at Kyoto University and returned to Japan. From 1943 to 1945, Prof. Maraini was interned with his family as a war prisoner in a Buddhist temple near Nagoya.

Following the war, Prof. Maraini returned to Italy and in the 1950s worked in the Italian film industry. He revisited Japan in 1953 to produce a documentary film and to gather material for his well-known book Meeting with Japan. In addition to Japan, Prof. Maraini has pursued studies of other Eastern cultures and religions at the University of Florence, at Oxford University, and on his frequent and extensive travels in Asia. Prof. Maraini’s other works include: Secret Tibet, published after a series of expeditions to the Himalayas; Where Four Worlds Meet, an account of leading an Italian Alpine Club expedition to the Hindu Kush; Jerusalem: Rock of the Ages; and Japan: Patterns of Continuity.

In addition to his writings about Japan and Asia, Prof. Maraini is well known as a photographer.  Exhibitions of his photographs have been held in Italy and Japan.

Beginning April 13, an exhibition of Prof. Maraini’s photographs will open at the Tenri Gallery in Soho (575 Broadway, 4th Floor; TEL: 212-925-8500).

Professor Maraini’s lecture will be followed by a reception in his honor. Seating is limited, so those wishing to attend the lecture are requested to make reservations by calling the Donald Keene Center at (212) 854-5036.

Cosponsored by The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America