Japanese Studies event in Athens

Samurai in Edo and the Culture of Early Modern Japan

Lecture by Constantine Nomikos Vaporis
University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA

Tuesday 26 February 2008, time 19.00 venue: Hellenic American Union, Athens

During the Tokugawa period (1603-1868) the military lords, or daimyo, were required by law to divide their time between their domains and the capital city of Edo (Tokyo) as part of the system known as alternate attendance. To assist them in their service to the shogun in Edo, they brought with them large numbers of retainers, or samurai. Using brush-written diaries, official documentation, woodblock prints and scrolls, Vaporis examines the experience of the samurai who accompanied their lords to Edo, one of the world’s most vibrant cities, and explores their role as carriers of culture. In doing so he argues for the importance of alternate attendance as an engine of cultural, intellectual, material and technological exchange during Japan’s early modern past.

Constantine Nomikos Vaporis is one of the leading Japanologists in America. He is an Associate Professor of History and Graduate Program Director in the History Department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1987; most recently, in 1993-94, he was a Visiting Research Professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken). He has held major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Fulbright and the Japan Foundation. His previous book was Breaking Barriers. Travel and the State in Early Modern Japan (Council for East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1994). His next book Tour of Duty. Samurai, Military Service in Edo and the Culture of Early Modern Japan will be published by Hawai University Press in July 2008.

Prof. Stylianos Papalexandropoulos, University of Athens introduced Professor Vaporis to the audience. The lecture delivered in English language and translated simultaneously in Greek by Achilleas Oikonomou (History, University of Athens)

The event was supported by the Embassy of Japan in Greece

Organised by the HELLENIC JAPANESE CENTER / Greece-Japan.com with the collaboration of the Greek-Japanese Association and the Hellenic American Union

A small ikebana exhibition took place at the
venue by the Greek Ikebana Chapter of the Οhara School of Japan

The event was organized under the sponsorship of

2008 - Hellenic Japanese Center events