"En (縁)-livening Heritage: Culture and Community Building at Yakushiji Temple, Nara"

Paride Stortini (Ghent University) gives a lecture on « En (縁)-livening Heritage: Culture and Community Building at Yakushiji Temple, Nara », as part of the Kyoto Lectures, organised by the EFEO, ISEAS and the Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University.

This hybrid lecture will be held on site and via Zoom (meeting ID: 826 4493 4790).

Yakushiji temple constitutes an interesting laboratory to explore the intersection between cultural heritage and religion. Using the concept of karmic connections (en 縁), Yakushiji clergy has tied the lay community to the preservation of the material and immaterial culture of the temple, also building on the broader Japanese imaginary of Silk Road. Combining historical and ethnographic approaches, this lecture will analyze Yakushiji through the lens of “living heritage,” shifting focus from nation-centered and secularization narratives to the role of Buddhist communities.

Paride Stortini is an FWO research fellow at Ghent University. His work explores Buddhism in the modern and contemporary cultural imaginary of Japan as a way to question imperialism, orientalism, and national identity. His current project investigates the idea of Silk Road in postwar Japan, at the intersection between religion and cultural heritage.