講演名：What are (Japanese) Emperors for? Reflections on the Reiwa Accession（天皇は何のためにあるのか――令和の皇位継承儀礼を考える）

講師： John Breen（国際日本文化研究センター教授）

What are Japanese emperors for? Wherein lies the quality of 21st century Japanese emperorship? In this lecture, John Breen will propose that answers to these most basic of questions are to be found, partly at least, in the very rites of accession that concluded in December 2019. Kings and emperors use accession rites as a stage on which to construct, display and render meaningful an array of new and privileged relationships of power. The quality of kingship/emperorship is to be found precisely in the aggregate of these several power relations. Emperor Naruhito’s recent accession rites saw him fashion anew such relations with the Japanese state and the Japanese people, of course, but significantly also with his ancestor, the Sun Goddess. In this talk, Breen will examine first the emperor-centered dynamic at the heart of the Reiwa rites of accession. He will then trace the roots of these rites back 150 years to the Meiji Restoration, and the construction then of an entirely new type of emperor. For all the change in the quality of emperorship, it is clear that the Meiji legacy endures to this day. Finally, he will return to the 2016 abdication crisis, and reflect on its implications for the imperial institution now and in the future.

日時： 2020年1月31日（金）　16:30-18:00（含質疑応答）

会場： 東北大学・川内北キャンパス国際文化研究科棟 101会議室

主催：東北大学大学院国際文化研究科

※本講演は英語にて行われる

問い合わせ先：国際日本研究講座　クラウタウ准教授
E-mail: klautau「a」tohoku.ac.jp

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