Professor Noriko Kurushima

Professor of History, The Historiographical Institute, the University of Tokyo

“Records of Distinguished Military Service: from Medieval to Early Modern Times”

Presenting on Friday, October 7, 2011 9:10–9:40am

In Japanese, English translation will be available

Professor Noriko Kurushima is the Director of the Center for the Study of Visual Resources at The Historiographical Institute, the University of Tokyo, and Professor in the Institute's Old Documents and Diaries Department, which compiles and publishes the renowned Dai Nihon Komonjo series. A prolific specialist of medieval Japanese history, Professor Kurushima publishes on various issues related to social and economic history, including the political culture of the imperial institution, systems of taxation, marriage, widowhood, women's work, and most recently the development and meaning of ikki (leagues of common cause). Professor Kurushima has been a visiting scholar at Cornell University, where she taught a workshop to American students in reading and interpreting medieval primary sources.

Professor Fumiko Umezawa (Miyazaki)

Professor of History, Keisen Universtity, Tokyo

“Image of a Medieval Warrior in Tokugawa Writings: Kumagai Naozane in Plays, Ballad-dramas, and Religious Tales”

Presenting on Saturday, October 8, 2011 9:10–9:40am

Professor Fumiko Umezawa is former Dean of Humanities and current Director of the Graduate Program in Humanities at Keisen University. She started her research and teaching career at the University of Tokyo Historiographical Institute, and has also taught at Sophia University in Tokyo. She was the Toyota Visiting Professor in 2001 at the Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan. She has shared her expertise in reading Japanese sources with English-speaking students and faculty at anumber of other North American Universities, such as Stanford, Yale, and the University of British Columbia. Professor Umezawa has published widely, sometimes under the name Fumiko Miyazaki, in both English and Japanese on topics that range from medieval to modern history, including the histories of women, religion in warrior families, popular religious movements, and early modern pilgrimage.