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Dana Mirsalis @danamirsalis.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

SSJR is running its first virtual book talk next week! @orionklautau.bsky.social will lecturing on the enduring fascination with Shōtoku Taishi in 20th century Japan. Please join us! You can register for the Zoom webinar here: bit.ly/4mtw3qJ

THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF JAPANESE RELIGIONS PRESENTS
ANOTHER SHŌTOKU: HISTORY AND MYTHMAKING IN MODERN JAPANESE RELIGION
A VIRTUAL BOOK TALK W/ DR. ORION KLAUTAU
HOSTED BY DR. OR PORATH, TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
This lecture examines the enduring fascination with the "true" image of Shōtoku Taishi (574-622) in twentieth-century Japan. By tracing the emergence of alternative historical narratives around him, it reveals how Shōtoku has been recast as both a symbol of religious and political importance and a romanticized figure endowed with supernatural power. The talk further explores how modern reinterpretations-spanning from the early twentieth century to the present-have woven together elements of occultism, mythology, and pseudo-history, forging new forms of storytelling that often blur the line between fact and fantasy. Engaging with a range of scholarly works and popular media, this presentation illustrates how these "alternative histories" have been crafted to appeal to both intellectual audiences and the broader public, reshaping Shōtoku's legacy and his role in the Japanese cultural imagination.
THU. JUNE 19
9AM JAPAN TIME
2AM CENTRAL EUROPEAN SUMMER TIME
WED. JUNE 18
8PM U.S. EASTERN
5PM U.S. PACIFIC
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Orion Klautau is Associate Professor at the Department of Japanese Religion and Intellectual History, Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, Tohoku University. His work focuses on the development of Japanese Buddhism in the modern period, with special emphasis on historiographical issues. Besides a number of articles in both English and Japanese, he is author of Kindai Nihon shisō toshite no bukkyō shigaku (Buddhist historiography as modern Japanese thought, Hōzōkan, 2012), and Kakusareta Shōtoku Taishi: Kingendai Nihon no gishi to okaruto bunka (Shōtoku Taishi Veiled:
Alternative Histories and Occulture in Modern Japan, Chikuma Shobō, 2024).