Leprosy and Religion in Modern Japan

FAIN: FEL-268218-20

Jessica Starling, PhD
Lewis and Clark College (Portland, OR 97219-8091)

Research and writing leading to a book based on an ethnographic study of Buddhist priests and lay people who work among Japanese leprosy patients.

Ethnographic and archival research for a monograph on the activities of Buddhists related to the forced isolation of sufferers of Hansen’s Disease (leprosy) in modern and contemporary Japan (ca. 1933-present). For many contemporary socially engaged Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land) Buddhists, visiting and advocating for patients at former state-run leprosaria is a central expression of their Buddhist faith. What accounts for these Buddhists’ special draw to the most stigmatized members of their society? The proposed research project uses an ethnographic approach to trace the contours of the modern Buddhist moral imagination. I find that Buddhist ethics in practice, as expressed through encounters between Buddhist priests, laypeople and Hansen’s Disease survivors at the site of Buddhist social work, are shaped variously by Buddhist teachings, liberal ideas about the sanctity of the individual, and lived experiences of friendship, intimacy and suffering.