The Princess Nun: Bunchi, Buddhist Reform, and Gender in Early Edo Japan (Harvard East Asian Monographs)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.53 (697 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0674491971 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 336 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-05-19 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
About the Author Gina Cogan is Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at Boston University.
"A SOLID AND VALUABLE ACADEMIC WORK." according to Thomas. An important piece of research likely to become a touchstone for historians and scholars of religious history, gender studies, Japanese history, and others.Foregoing conjecture and sidestepping the assumptions of the few scholars before her, Cogan presents her research and data as it stands, providing a foundation of facts and historical insights on the life of Bunchi, the 17th Century monas. DrBWF said Her life reads like Game of Thrones in Japan.. Fascinating tale of medieval Japan, and true. Her life reads like Game of Thrones in Japan. An excellent view of a very different, but still oddly familiar, culture from long ago and far away.
. Gina Cogan is Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at Boston University
The Princess Nun tells the story of Bunchi (1619-1697), daughter of Emperor Go-Mizunoo and founder of Enshji. Bunchi advocated strict adherence to monastic precepts while devoting herself to the posthumous welfare of her family. As the first full-length biographical study of a premodern Japanese nun, this book incorporates issues of gender and social status into its discussion of Bunchi's ascetic practice and religious reforms to rewrite the history of Buddhist reform and Tokugawa religion.Gina Cogan's approach moves beyond the dichotomy of oppression and liberation that dogs the study of non-Western and premodern women to show how Bunchi's aristocratic status enabled her to carry out reforms despite her gender, while simultaneously acknowledging how that same status contributed to their conservative nature. Cogan's analysis of how Bunchi used her prestigious position to further her goals places the book in conversation with other works on powerful religious women, like Hildegard of Bingen and Teresa of Avila. Through its illumination of the relationship between the court and the shogunate and its analysis of the practice of courtly Buddhism