The University of Illinois will host an international symposium, “Religious Performance, City and Country in East Asia,” October 9-10, 2013, at Levis Center of the Urbana-Champaign Campus.

This conference brings together leading scholars in the field from North America and Japan for a two-day symposium, October 9-10, 2013 (Levis Center), to examine the relationship between metropole and rural religious performance by drawing a set of clear lines of liturgical practice in the East Asia case, with special reference to Japan. 

The keynote speakers will be Professors Matsuo Kōichi, National Museum of Japanese History, and Haruo Shirane, Columbia University. Registration is free but required (contact ruppertshogyo@gmail.com) since there is limited seating. Booklets with the full lectures by participants, including translations into Japanese and English, are planned for distribution to all registrants at the event; discussants, with the exception of Professor Matsuo, will comment in English, and discussion will be in both English and Japanese. Japanese participants will present in Japanese.