Conferences

25.-26. of August 2025 at the Institue of of Asian and Oriental Studies of the University of Zurich

Following the loss of political power by the aristocracy, medieval Japan (12th–16th centuries) was significantly shaped by the newly emerging warrior class and its military conflicts. However, literary texts repeatedly express a sense of nostalgia for the preceding courtly era. Furthermore, new Buddhist movements emerged that retained transience as a core concept but drew new conclusions from it. Thus, the epoch was permeated by different conceptions of time, which exerted a profound influence on its literature. The purpose of the workshop is to examine these conceptions of time, placing particular emphasis on their emotional dimension. It seeks to discuss various aspects of time and emotion in different literary genres, as well as in the social and imaginary spaces associated with them, including court narratives, along with diaries, travel literature and poetry (court and boudoir), historical and war tales (warrior clans and battlefields), recluse literature (travel and hermitage), legends and didactic tales (sacred spaces and fantastic worlds), as well as visual and performing arts (theater, recitation, and illustrated handscrolls). The key questions addressed in the contributions are: How are perceptions of time represented in literature, and how are they connected to culture, society, and religion? What role did aspects such as gender and social status play play in influencing literary representations of time? How did the literary engagement with time, in turn, shape literary works and genres, and which time-related motifs proved particularly productive? How did these literary and artistic objectifications give rise to emotional communities and discourses? 

You can find the program here: