HISTORY OF JAPANESE PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIONS 1

This is one of the mandatory courses of the Corso di Laurea "Languages, Cultures and Societies of Asia and Mediterranean Africa".
Its formative objectives are within the area of cultural and humanistic skills learning.

Knowledge and understanding:
- understand the cultural complexity of traditional Japanese religious experience in its historical and social context;
- acquire critical awareness of the different perspectives of analysis of religious phenomena.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
- analyze philosophical and religious texts through the use of critical historical-religious and anthropological tools;
- critically apply the analytical methodologies of the sciences of religions;

Judgment skills:
- elaborate critical judgments on religious phenomena examined during the course;

Communication skills:
- critically re-elaborate the contents of the program without resorting to purely mnemonic preparation.

Learning ability:
- take notes, summarizing, in a clear way, the main topics covered during the lessons;
- integrate independently the study of different teaching materials;
- independently analyze topics not dealt with during lectures;
- study on texts in English;
- use the online teaching platform.

An intermediate level of English (B2) is required to deepen the topics covered in class, using the reference texts.

The course will give a general introduction to classical Japanese thought. In particular, the course will present the most important religious doctrines and religious practices of the Shinto, Taoist and Buddhist traditions in Japan.

Lessons 1-2 The conceptions of Shintoism
Lessons 3-7 The spread of Buddhism in Japan
Lessons 8-9 Esoteric Buddhism
Lessons 10-12 Shugendō and the Ascetic Way on the mountains
Lessons 13-15 The Daoist tradition

Raveri, Massimo, Il pensiero giapponese classico, Torino, Einaudi, 2014 (first eight chapters, from page 3 to 254).

Letture consigliate per l’approfondimento (non richieste all’esame):

Aldo Tollini, L'ideale della Via. Samurai, monaci e poeti nel Giappone medievale, Torino, Einaudi, 2017.
Daigan Matsunaga, Alicia Matsunaga, Foundation of Japanese Buddhism, Los Angeles - Tokyo, Buddhist Books International, 1996.
Taiko Yamasaki, Shingon. Il buddhismo esoterico giapponese, Roma, Ubaldini Editore, 2015.
Miyake Hitoshi, Shugendo. Essays on the Structure of Japanese Folk Religion, The University of Michigan, 2001.
William E. Deal, Brian Ruppert, A Cultural History of Japanese Buddhism, Wiley Blackwell, 2015.
Joseph Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History, New York, Columbia University Press, 1966.
Byron H. Earhart, Religion in Japan: Unity and Diversity, Boston, Cambridge Learning, 2013.
P. F. Kornicki, I. J. McMullen (eds.), Religion in Japan: Arrows to Heaven and Earth, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996.
George Tanabe (ed.), Religion in Japan in Parctice, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1999.
John Breen, Mark Teeuwen (eds.), Shinto in History: Ways of Kami, Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 2000.

Written exam (1h 30m): 6 open questions.

The exam serves to evaluate the knowledge relevant to the different Japanese religious traditions and the student's ability to study and learn. The open questions are used to evaluate his ability to apply knowledge to the discussion of the topics covered and his autonomy of judgment in their analysis, as well as his ability to express his arguments in a concise and effective manner.

Lectures, also with the help of power-point.

It will be possible to take the exam with the program carried out in this course (2018-19) only for the first four exam sessions.
Once these four exam sessions have passed, students will have to take the exam with the program of the new academic year.

written