Download New Publication> Schicketanz, Between Decline and Revival

H-Japan
New Publication> Schicketanz, Between Decline and Revival:
Historical Discourse and Modern Chinese Buddhism’s
Encounter with Japan
Discussion published by Orion Klautau on Saturday, October 1, 2016
Dear list members,
I would like to announce the publication of a new book which should be of interest to those working
on modern Sino-Japanese relations.
Erik Schicketanz, Daraku to fukkō no kindai Chugoku bukkyō: Nihon bukkyō to no kaiko to sono
rekishizō no kōchiku [Between Decline and Revival: Historical Discourse and Modern Chinese
Buddhism’s Encounter with Japan] (Kyoto: Hōzōkan, 2016). 381 pages, 5,400 Yen.
This volume examines the formation of images of Chinese Buddhism in the late nineteenth and the
first half of the twentieth centuries by employing a transnational perspective. It pays attention to the
interaction between self-images created by Chinese Buddhists and intellectuals with images found in
the writings of Japanese Buddhist travelers and academics. It questions the historical veracity of the
two dominant images of decline and revival, which also still form the main analytical poles for
discussing modern Chinese Buddhism, and frames them as the products of a complex intellectual
exchange occurring against the backdrop of the disintegrating Chinese empire and the emergence of
the modern Japanese empire. The volume focuses on the way that a specific sect-centric view of
Chinese Buddhist history that was developed by Meiji and Taisho period scholars in Japan made its
way to China and was integrated there into the self-perception of Chinese Buddhists. Schicketanz
outlines how Japanese authors posited the existence of thirteen distinct sects (J. shū, Ch. zong)
during the Sui and Tang dynasties and saw the loss of most of these sectarian formations as a sign of
the decline of Buddhism in China. He then shifts the focus back to China, where Buddhists and
intellectuals, such as Yang Wenhui, Taixu, Liang Qichao, and Jiang Weiqiao reproduced this historical
narrative, thus reinforcing an existing sense of decline among Chinese Buddhists. The idea that the
lost sectarian formations needed to be recovered came to form an important part of Buddhist
revivalist and reformist thought and spawned concrete efforts, such as the tantric revival movement
during the 1920s and 1930s.
Citation: Orion Klautau. New Publication> Schicketanz, Between Decline and Revival: Historical Discourse and Modern Chinese
Buddhism’s Encounter with Japan. H-Japan. 10-01-2016. https://networks.h-net.org/node/20904/discussions/146158/new-publicatin-schicketanz-between-decline-and-revival-historical
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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H-Japan
Warm regards,
Orion Klautau
Tohoku University
Citation: Orion Klautau. New Publication> Schicketanz, Between Decline and Revival: Historical Discourse and Modern Chinese
Buddhism’s Encounter with Japan. H-Japan. 10-01-2016. https://networks.h-net.org/node/20904/discussions/146158/new-publicatin-schicketanz-between-decline-and-revival-historical
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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