Second Conference of the Interdisciplinary Research Network on Religions and Beliefs in Japan

After a particularly fruitful first event, it is organizing at the University of Aix-
Marseille the second Assises de la recherche sur les religions et les croyances au Japon on
June 23 and 24, 2026. The aim is twofold: to continue the panorama of studies on the issue,
which the first meeting is far from having exhausted; to define more precisely the common
themes that structure current and future research.

Hypothesis Notebook: https://religionsjap.hypotheses.org/

Scientific Committee
Aurelien Allard (CECILLE, Université de Lille)
Yannick Bardy (CECILLE, Université de Lille)
Arnaud Brotons (IrAsia, Université d'Aix-Marseille)
Jean-Michel Butel (IFRAE, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales)
Fabienne Duteil-Ogata (ARTES, LAP, Université Bordeaux Montaigne)
Matthias Hayek (CRCAO, École Pratique des Hautes Études)
Charlotte Lamotte (Université Grenoble-Alpes)
Édouard L'Hérisson (IFRAE, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales)
Adam Lyons (Université de Montréal)
Martin Nogueira Ramos (CRCAO, École française d'Extrême-Orient)
Carina Roth (University of Geneva)

Organizing Committee
Arnaud Brotons (IrAsia, Aix-Marseille Université)
Jean-Michel Butel (IFRAE, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales)
Louis Canales (IrAsia, Aix-Marseille Université)
Matthias Hayek (CRCAO, École Pratique des Hautes Études)
Édouard L'Hérisson (IFRAE, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales)

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

9h Welcome
9h15 Opening
9h30 Exceptional lecture: "D'un dieu l'autre: Retour sur la mythologie japonaise médiévale "Bernard Faure (Columbia University)
10:15am Break

10:30am Session 1: Zen of yesterday and today Discussant: Arnaud Brotons
10:30am Compiling, commenting, awakening: Transformation of kōan practice in medieval Zen: Didier Davin (National Institute of Japanese Litterature)
11am Research possibilities on the history of Japanese Zen in the Middle Ages: Reflection from some problems linked to the study of Ikkyū: Iijima Takayoshi (Hanazono University)
11:30am Ritualizing the abbatiate in Japanese Zen: Le rekijū kaidō shiki 歴住開堂式 du monastère Myōshinji 妙心寺 Garance Chao Zhang (CRCAO, EPHE)
12h Discussion
12h15 Déjeuner

14h Session 2: Percussions entre religieux et politiqueDiscussant: Édouard L'Hérisson
2pm Ichikawa Hakugen 市川白弦 (1902-1986), a post-1945 communist Zen thought: Léa Kermorgant (IFRAE, INALCO)
2:30pm A latent threat? The management of crypto-Catholicism in Ōmura's fiefdom after the Shimabara-Amakusa revolt: Martin Nogueira Ramos (CRCAO, EFEO)
15h Two emperors for a shrine. Les deux visites impériales au sanctuaire Hiyoshi de 1091Arnaud Brotons (IrAsia, Aix-Marseille Université)
3:30pm Discussion
3:45pm Break

4:15pm Session 3: Media and contemporary transformationsDiscussant: Fabienne Duteil-Ogata
16:15 The Nostradamus boom in Japan: Popular culture appropriations of a contemporary millenarianism (1973-1999): Romain Lebailly (IFRJ, MFJ)
4:45pm Pour une pratique exemplaire : La presse catholique face aux cas de conscience de ses lecteurs durant l'ère Taishō : Étienne Marq (CRCAO, EPHE-PSL)
5:15pm De la notoriété d'un lieu de culte. Le cas de Takachiho, " pays des mythes "Jean-Michel Butel (IFRAE, INALCO)
17h45 Discussion
18h Table-ronde autour des publications récentes Moderator: Jean-Michel Butel

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

9h15 Welcome
9h30 Exceptional lecture: "Des usages d'un faux qui n'est pas si faux: Le cas du Sendai kuji hongi "François Macé (IFRAE, INALCO)
10:15am Break

10:30am Session 4: Local identities, spatial issuesDiscussant: Martin Nogueira Ramos
10:30am An aborted tradition. The wearing of the deity's palanquin in the village of Nanba during the Edo period: Yannick Bardy (CECILLE, Université de Lille)
11am Local identities and the spatiality of rites: The case of visiting deities: Louis Canales (IrAsia, Aix-Marseille Université)
11:30am The empire's allochthonous genealogies. The legitimization of Shintō shrines in Japanese coloniesÉdouard L'Hérisson (IFRAE, INALCO)
12:00 Discussion
12:15 Lunch

2:00 Session 5: Death and representations of the afterlifeDiscussant: Matthias Hayek
2pm Religious beliefs through dreams in Fujiwara no Yukinari's Gonki (972-1027): Bérangère Hamel (IETT, Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3)
2:30 pm When the dead (literally) enter the stage: Representations of the specter of Kusunoki Masashige in the Taiheiki (14th c.): Ivan Grandclément (CRCAO, EPHE)
3:00 pm Death as instant, death as duration: spatio-temporal stratifications of the afterlifeCarina Roth (University of Geneva)
3:30 pm Discussion
3:45 pm Break
4:15 pm Concluding round-table discussion