Thanking an old object before throwing it away, avoiding saying something aloud so as not to tempt fate, trusting that certain words or gestures bring luck: many everyday habits have close counterparts in Japanese belief.
Japanese magic extended well beyond charms, spirits and rituals. For centuries it was part of government service: officials calculated auspicious days, cities were guarded against demons, and the vengeful dead were made into gods so that they would stop harming the living. Many of these ideas are still current.
THE LECTURE CONSIDERS:
— why words were believed to hold power, and which things were better left unsaid;
— how Abe no Seimei, a real court official, came to be regarded as Japan’s Merlin;
— why entire cities were protected against demons from the north-east;
— how paper figures, to which people entrusted their misfortunes, gave rise to the Doll Festival (Hina-matsuri);
— whether one could curse an enemy or become a ghost while still alive, and why the dead were made into gods;
— why Japanese schoolchildren still ask the spirit of a disgraced minister for help;
— why foxes marry, and what this has to do with the weather.
VENUE. MIT space hosts lectures, workshops and chamber concerts in an old tenement building on Stalowa Street in Praga Północ, Warsaw, on the right bank of the Vistula.
THE LECTURE CONSIDERS:
— why words were believed to hold power, and which things were better left unsaid;
— how Abe no Seimei, a real court official, came to be regarded as Japan’s Merlin;
— why entire cities were protected against demons from the north-east;
— how paper figures, to which people entrusted their misfortunes, gave rise to the Doll Festival (Hina-matsuri);
— whether one could curse an enemy or become a ghost while still alive, and why the dead were made into gods;
— why Japanese schoolchildren still ask the spirit of a disgraced minister for help;
— why foxes marry, and what this has to do with the weather.
VENUE. MIT space hosts lectures, workshops and chamber concerts in an old tenement building on Stalowa Street in Praga Północ, Warsaw, on the right bank of the Vistula.
SPEAKER. Alexander Sheremetev is an art historian and researcher specialising in the symbolism, ornament and visual culture of Japan. He has worked with museums for over twenty years, curating private and public collections, developing university courses and advising private projects. He lectures and writes, situating aesthetic form within its historical, philosophical and structural context.
