We know that many of you are interested in Study Abroad opportunities but you are often concerned about time away from UW. If you haven’t looked into Exploration Seminars, we highly recommend you consider it.
Here is general information, and below is info on a program to Japan as an example. They are generally open to students from any major and often fulfill general education requirements.
Exploration Seminars: http://depts.washington.edu/explore/
_________________________________________
Gods and Mountains: Icons, Temples, and Pilgrimage
2010 Exploration Seminar in Japan
Program Director: Cynthea J. Bogel <mailto:cjbogel@u.washington.edu> , Art History
Dates of Instruction: August 20 – September 10, 2010
FOR MORE INFORMATION SEE
http://depts.washington.edu/explore/programs/2010/japantemples.htm
$1000 scholarships (merit based) are available for undergraduates.
Financial Aid is applicable to the Early Fall Program
DESCRIPTION
On this 21-day seminar we will explore the artistic and religious culture of Japan’s mountains and ancient capitals and walk the World Heritage ancient pilgrimage mountain route from the Kumano region (south Wakaama Prefecture) to Mt. Koya. Visits to Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in the mountains near Kyoto and Nara comprise a major element of Japanese religious practices, past and present. The early fall Exploration Seminar features the study of temples and shrines in the mountains outside the eighth-century capital of Nara, the ninth- to twelfth-century capital of Kyoto, and pilgrimage routes to sites in the Wakayama peninsula south of Nara. Our visits to remote regions of Japan will provide first-hand experience of rigors demanded of religious devotees, and allow us to consider the important role travel has played in Japan’s rich religious history. During the seminar we experience the power of the natural world and Japan’s rich pilgrimage and more isolated temple traditions by experiencing the natural world through hiking and walking, staying at temples, close visual study of icons and icon halls and discussions with pilgrims, monks and nuns, and temple experts.
Students will live in a traditional Buddhist temple during their stay on Mt. Kōya (stay 5-6 days), an esoteric Buddhist temple complex founded by Kūkai Kōbō Daishi in the ninth century and important pilgrimage site for royalty, warriors, and ordinary people from the tenth century until today. From Kōya we will head south on the Kumano–Kodo (ancient road) toward the Kumano Sanzan (Three Shrines of Kumano), staying in traditional lodges along the way (3–4 days rigorous hike). This pilgrimage route, traveled since the middle of the Heian period (eighth to twelfth centuries), links the sacred Buddhist grounds of Mt. Kōya with the Shinto shrines of the Kii Mountain range, which are considered some of the oldest religious sites in all of Japan.
During our stay in a traditional setting we will explore the Kumano–Nachi area (2 days), including Nachi taki, the tallest waterfall in Japan and the original religious site of the area, and the shrine/temple complex of Kumano Nachi Taisha and Seigantōji. From there, students will go by train to Kyoto. Residing in a Zen monastery there, we will make day trips to Mt. Hiei (mountain headquarters of Tendai Buddhism), Daimonji (a mountainside into which each year a huge Chinese character is burned as part of the O-Bon religious festivities), and Shinto shrines. Then students will move to Nara, where we will hike the Yagyûkaidô and visit temples such as Murôji, Hasedera, and others deep in the forested hills and mountains. At 3000 feet, and reached by cable car, Mt. Kôya will be the highest peak visited. Hikes are from 800–1600 feet.
This seminar will consider the development of temples, shrines, and religious practices in the hills and mountains from several aspects, creating a rich context of past and present: the historical, the visual (icons, architecture and art study), and the religious and ritual. The religious contextsof pilgrimage and mountain traditions differ in important ways from those found in cities like Kyoto. We will consider the many ways in which the demands of strenuous travel and an itinerant lifestyle affect the contours and contrasts of religious motivations, beliefs, icon-making, and practices to attain enlightenment. Along with Buddhist and native god or “Shintō” traditions, we will explore Shugendō, Japan’s tradition of mountain-dwellers and ascetics that amalgamates Buddhist, Chinese, and local religious practices. We will also consider the comparative dimensions of pilgrimage and attempt to identify common themes, styles, and subjects among Japanese, Chinese, and Korean temples. Study of mountain temples near the great capitals of Kyoto and Nara will serve to highlight the need for monks and nuns to isolate themselves from the activities of the capital even while serving to protect them. The goal of this seminar is to instill in students not only an appreciation of lesser-known aspects of Japanese “syncretic” religion, visual culture, and history but to provide first-hand experience of these historical phenomena in living modern forms. Field trips will take place daily and will be led by the professor and assistant. Students will keep a journal and will respond in their journal to questions distributed at the sites. Additionally, students will be encouraged to explore one aspect of particular interest to them and pursue independent study.
The expertise of assistant Lindsey DeWitt, Ph.D. candidate, Buddhist Studies UCLA (University of Washington M.A., Comparative Religions) will greatly enhance the Seminar. We will also deeply benefit from the guidance of monks on Mt. Koya and at Kumano. In Kyoto, the son of our host temple within Myoshinji is Vice Abbot and speaks fluent English.
Experience of director: Two previous Exploration Seminars in Japan. Director of the Oregon study abroad program at Waseda and Aoyama Gakuin in Tokyo (one academic year), 1995-96. Researched this new Seminar, facilities, routes, etc. during one week stay after 09 Exploration Seminar. Teaching a graduate/undergraduate seminar this Fall term (09) on the subject of Mountain Temples, Icons, and Gods to prepare all background and readings for the proposed Seminar. This seminar combines previous seminar cities (Kyoto and Nara) with entirely new temples there, and entirely new mountain pilgrimage trips. Fluent in Japanese.
Credits: Participants may receive 5 credits of either:
* ART H 321: Arts of Japan (I&S/VLPA) which can be counted toward the Asian Studies major (Japan or General concentrations), or toward the Japan Studies minor; see (http://jsis.washington.edu/advise/undergradstudy.html).
* RELIG 399 (I&S) for Comparative Religion majors
* ART H 499 or 515 , graduate credit and honors credit are also possible but only with approval and consultation with Prof. Bogel or your advisor. Some students may also be permitted to add 2-3 additional credits during the fall term for extended research and writing on exceptional projects.
Participants should check with their academic advisors to determine how these credits may apply to major requirements.
Books and Readings:
* Required: Moerman, D. Max. Localizing Paradise: Kumano Pilgrimage and the Religious Landscape of Premodern Japan, Harvard East Asian monographs, 235 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center: Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2005).
* Required: Ten Grotenhuis, Elizabeth. Japanese Mandalas: Representations of Sacred Geography. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1999. Selections.
* Recommended: Thal, Sarah. Rearranging the Landscape of the Gods: The Politics of a Pilgrimage Site in Japan, 1573-1912 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005).
Student costs:
* $3,350 Program Fee
* $250 International Programs & Exchanges Fee <http://www.ipe.washington.edu/domestic/cefaq.html>
* Click here for a Estimated Budget of Student Expenses <http://depts.washington.edu/explore/docs/budgets/> (for financial aid requests)
* The program fee includes all lodging, all ground travel costs in Japan (excluding round trip from/to Kansai/Osaka International airport to/from our base temple, estimate $60), six dinners and six breakfasts, all entry fees to temples, sites, and museums. This extensive coverage at very reduced cost is made possible through arrangements between the director and our host temples and lodgings.
* Additional costs include: round trip airfare to Japan, health insurance, meals not noted above, and personal expenses including personal travel.
Students attending this exploration seminar are eligible to apply for a $1000 Freeman scholarship, which are given out on the basis of academic merit to select students on Exploration Seminar programs in East and Southeast Asia. The application deadline is March 1
FOR MORE INFORMATION SEE
http://depts.washington.edu/explore/programs/2010/japantemples.htm
$1000 scholarships (merit based) are available for undergraduates.
Financial Aid is applicable to the Early Fall Program
