Gaétan Rappo
University professor
Geographic area
Japan
Fields of study
Religious history, Digital humanities, Philology
Year of entry into function at EFEO
Depuis 2020
Research affiliation
Faculty of Culture and Information Science, Doshisha University, Kyoto
Links
Gaétan Rappo
University professor
Geographic area
Japan
Fields of study
Religious history, Digital humanities, Philology
Research themes / topics
An Intellectual History of Esoteric Buddhism in Japan (Medieval Period)
Studies of Monastic Manuscripts and Archives
Digital Humanities and Buddhist Studies
Research in progress
Our current project focuses on the doctrinal history of the Shingon school, particularly on the development of the concepts of orthodoxy and heresy within Japanese Buddhism. Based on an analysis of doctrinal and ritual texts, particularly medieval corpora, we employ methods from the digital humanities (text mining and distant reading) to study the dissemination of concepts, quotations, and terminology. The goal is to assess the extent to which doctrinal genealogies reflect historical realities or later constructions, and to propose a non-sectarian reinterpretation of the intellectual history of Japanese Buddhism.
Studies and training
- Ph.D. in Humanities, “Japanese Language, Literature, and Civilization,” University of Geneva, 2014.