Fabio Rambelli
Biographic Data
| ID | 1036541 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Fabio Rambelli |
| GIVEN NAMES | Fabio |
| FAMILY NAME | Rambelli |
| SIGNATURE | RAMBELLI F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, Santa Barbara |
| ORCID | 0009-0008-3984-9155 |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 30 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 28 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Buddha’s Dues
This article discusses a few aspects in the intellectual history of the system of taxes (and related economic interactions) in support of Buddhist organizations, their members, and their activities in premodern Japan. We will look at the concepts of debt toward benefactors (Jp. on 恩 ), with reference to an early scripture about social formation and primitive accumulation on the one hand and the early Japanese state’s taxation system on the other;…
Musicology of Religion
The World of Japanese Medieval Musicians
Yasukuni Fundamentalism
Gagaku in Medieval Japanese Religion
Contrary to the widespread assumption in the study of Japanese religions that Kagura is historically the main genre of performing arts at Shintō festivals, something dating back to the beginning of Japanese history, in this article I focus instead on Gagaku (and its Bugaku dance repertory) as a central component of rituals, ceremonies, and festivals not only at the imperial court but also and especially at many temples and shrines across the coun…
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Japanese Religions
Providing an overview of current cutting-edge research in the field of Japanese religions, this Handbook is the most up-to-date guide to contemporary scholarship in the field. As well as charting innovative research taking place, this book also points to new directions for future research, covering both the modern and pre-modern periods. Edited by Erica Baffelli, Andrea Castiglioni, and Fabio Rambelli, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Japanese Religion…
Rituals of Initiation and Consecration in Premodern Japan
In premodern Japan, legitimization of power and knowledge in various contexts was sanctioned by consecration rituals ( kanjō ) of Buddhist origin. This is the first book to address in a comprehensive way the multiple forms and aspects of these rituals also in relation to other Asian contexts. The multidisciplinary chapters in the book address the origins of these rituals in ancient Persia and India and their developments in China and Tibet, befor…
Religion, Power, and the Rise of Shinto in Early Modern Japan
This book sheds new light on the relationship between religion and state in early modern Japan, and demonstrates the growing awareness of Shinto in both the political and the intellectual elite of Tokugawa Japan, even though Buddhism remained the privileged means of stately religious control. The first part analyses how the Tokugawa government aimed to control the populace via Buddhism and at the same time submitted Buddhism to the sacralization …
The Dharma of Music
This article is a contribution to the rediscovery of the gagaku soundscape in medieval Japan with a special focus on instrumental music as part of the rep-ertoire of gagaku and bugaku, a subject that is mostly absent from research on the history of Japanese religions. The article outlines some of the ways in which professional musicians and music virtuosos among the aristocracy conceptualized gagaku and bugaku instrumental music in Buddhist terms…
Dharma Devices, Non-Hermeneutical Libraries, and Robot-Monks
This article explores the little-known subject of the presence, in the Japanese Buddhist tradition, of machines (understood here as special tools, instruments, and various mechanical devices) used for the production and proliferation of prayers and prayer-related activities. Following a description of representative examples from various historical periods and ritual contexts (the shakuhachi flute as performed by adepts of the Fuke Zen sect, pray…
Prayer Machines in Japanese Buddhism
It is a well documented fact, albeit perhaps not emphasized enough in scholarship, that Japanese Buddhism, historically, has often favored and contributed to technological developments. Since its t
Spells, Images, and Maṇḍalas
Journal Article Spells, Images, and Maṇḍalas: Tracing the Evolution of Esoteric Buddhist Rituals . By Koichi Shinohara Get access Spells, Images, and Maṇḍalas: Tracing the Evolution of Esoteric Buddhist Rituals . By Koichi Shinohara. Columbia University Press, 2014. 352 pages. $55.00. Fabio Rambelli Fabio Rambelli University of California , Santa Barbara [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google …
Toward a poetics of divine languages
This review highlights three central issues in Yelle's book, namely the suggestion that an important component of religions is constituted of supposedly non-arbitrary languages and sign systems, and that such non-arbitrary sign systems are constructed through particular poetics (semiotic) strategies and have an essentially performative nature and function. Yelle also argues that Western modernity is characterized by a different regime of signs, o…
The Vicissitudes of the Mahāsammata in East Asia
This article discusses Buddhism’s conflicting relation with kingship through an analysis of the figure of the Mahāsammata, the first mythical ruler according to Buddhist scriptures and canonical commentaries. The Mahāsammata, literally the ‘Great Elect’, was a human being elected by the people and entrusted with keeping order in a society that was gradually becoming more complex; as such, this myth expresses an idea of kingship that is very diffe…
Sada Kaiseki
Accounts of Japanese Buddhist attitudes about modernization, in general, argue that most religious institutions accepted without strong resistance the Meiji government's policy of separating Buddhism from kami cults and the ensuing persecution of Buddhism and traditional forms of combinatory religiosity.1 By doing so, Buddhist institutions renounced their autonomy and chose a path of almost complete subservience to the state. This implied their a…
Japan's Holy War
Students of Japanese religions and intellectual history (this reviewer included) tend to ignore the vast and multifarious field of right-wing ideologies, in particular in their connections with Shinto and Buddhism. The fact that these ideologies often display an oversimplified and self-contradictory conceptual apparatus, together with their overall repulsive effects (racism, violence, war), certainly contributes to discourage sustained inquiry. N…
The material culture of death in medieval japan, Gerhart, Karen M
"The material culture of death in medieval japan, Gerhart, Karen M.." Material Religion, 6(3), pp. 384–385
"Dog-men," Craftspeople or Living Buddhas? The Status of Yamabushi in Pre-modern Japanese Society
Selon les interprétations élaborées du terme yamabushi dans les textes shugendō, ce terme, qui désigne à la fois des êtres ordinaires et des ascètes dotés de « pouvoirs » extraordinaires — des êtres plongés dans l'ignorance et des Buddhas —, résumerait l'itinéraire ascétique qui débouche sur la « bouddhéité en ce corps même ». L'étymologie du caractère bushi en particulier, le présente comme composé de deux unités sémantiques — « homme » et « chi…
Before the First Buddha
Before the First Buddha Medieval Japanese Cosmogony and the Quest for the Primeval Kami Fabio Rambelli, professor of Japanese and comparative religion From the end of the Heian period, a number of texts began to investigate cosmogonic issues, namely, the process of creation of the universe and the manifestations of the first deities—matters more generally pertaining to what is known as "the age of the gods" (jindai or kamiyo). Indeed, pervasive i…
Buddhist Materiality
Throughout its history, Buddhism has developed a sophisticated philosophy of materiality, addressing the status of material objects and their role in the quest for salvation. This is an innovative book that addresses the ways in which Buddhism has conceived of, and dealt with, material objects ranging from the environment to everyday tools, ritual implements, icons, and sacred texts. Contrary to received assumptions, careful reading of original s…
Objects, Rituals, Tradition
Re-positioning the Gods
Le présent article essaie de montrer que l'un des principaux traits — peut-être même le trait le plus significatif du point de vue des développements ultérieurs — du discours médiéval sur les kami est la tendance vers l'extérieur du bouddhisme et sa vision du monde (y compris les idées bouddhiques sur les kami et les divinités locales en général). Nous discuterons de quelques cas où ce mouvement centrifuge est particulièrement évident, à savoir :…
Approaching the Land of Bliss
Introduction
This book discusses a central issue in the history of pre-modern Japanese religion, namely the idea that local, native deities (kami) are emanations of universal, Buddhist divinities – a notion known in Japanese as honji suijaku (“original forms of deities and their local traces”). It was this idea that lay at the basis of Buddhist cults of kami, of the incorporation of kami shrines in Buddhist temples, and of the development of Buddhist-inspired…
Buddhas and Kami in Japan
Contributors Preface 1. Introduction: Combinatory religion and the honji suijaku paradigm in pre-modern Japan Mark Teeuwen and Fabio Rambelli 2. From thunder child to Dharma protector: Dojo hoshi and the Buddhist appropriation of Japanese local deities Irene Lin 3. The source of oracular speech: absense? presence? or plain treachery? The case of Hachiman Usa-gu gotakusenshu Allan Grapard 4. Wrathful Deities and saving deities Sato Hiroo 5. The cr…
Prayer Machines in Japanese Buddhism
It is a well documented fact, albeit perhaps not emphasized enough in scholarship, that Japanese Buddhism, historically, has often favored and contributed to technological developments. Since its t
Shinto in History
True words, silence, and the adamantine dance
This paper deals with Japanese esoteric Buddhism (Mikkyo), in particular the Shingon tradition, as it relates to the emergence of new and peculiar epistemological concerns.Through a discussion of the kenmitsu system outlined by Kuroda Toshiothe paper first situates Mikkyo within the reli gious and institutional framework of medieval Japan, underlining its liminal and heterological nature as both an institutionalized discourse and a reservoir of o…
Religion, ideology of domination, and nationalism
Shinto in History
The Emperor's New Robes
Cet article porte sur les modes complexes de traitement de la figure et du rôle de l'empereur, ainsi que celui de l'État par les institutions bouddhiques japonaises. A travers une analyse faisant à la fois appel aux données philologiques et à une lecture sémiologique de deux rituels d'importance majeure de l'école èsotérique Shingon, le Goshichinichi no mishuhō et le Taigen no hō, l'article montre les systèmes conceptuels et les édifices idéologi…
The Ritual World of Buddhist "Shinto"
This article describes a set of rituals, closely related to esoteric Buddhist initiations, in which imperial and kami symbols often replace Buddhist ones, These rituals were at the basis of the transmission of knowledge and practices concerning the kami within the larger framework of medieval and early-modern kenmitsu religiosity, a form of applied honji suijaku. Particularly important among these rituals is the role of Reiki kanjo, the secret in…
Approaching the Land of Bliss
Introduction
This book discusses a central issue in the history of pre-modern Japanese religion, namely the idea that local, native deities (kami) are emanations of universal, Buddhist divinities – a notion known in Japanese as honji suijaku (“original forms of deities and their local traces”). It was this idea that lay at the basis of Buddhist cults of kami, of the incorporation of kami shrines in Buddhist temples, and of the development of Buddhist-inspired…
Buddhas and Kami in Japan
Contributors Preface 1. Introduction: Combinatory religion and the honji suijaku paradigm in pre-modern Japan Mark Teeuwen and Fabio Rambelli 2. From thunder child to Dharma protector: Dojo hoshi and the Buddhist appropriation of Japanese local deities Irene Lin 3. The source of oracular speech: absense? presence? or plain treachery? The case of Hachiman Usa-gu gotakusenshu Allan Grapard 4. Wrathful Deities and saving deities Sato Hiroo 5. The cr…
Re-positioning the Gods
Le présent article essaie de montrer que l'un des principaux traits — peut-être même le trait le plus significatif du point de vue des développements ultérieurs — du discours médiéval sur les kami est la tendance vers l'extérieur du bouddhisme et sa vision du monde (y compris les idées bouddhiques sur les kami et les divinités locales en général). Nous discuterons de quelques cas où ce mouvement centrifuge est particulièrement évident, à savoir :…
Buddhist Materiality
Throughout its history, Buddhism has developed a sophisticated philosophy of materiality, addressing the status of material objects and their role in the quest for salvation. This is an innovative book that addresses the ways in which Buddhism has conceived of, and dealt with, material objects ranging from the environment to everyday tools, ritual implements, icons, and sacred texts. Contrary to received assumptions, careful reading of original s…
Objects, Rituals, Tradition
"Dog-men," Craftspeople or Living Buddhas? The Status of Yamabushi in Pre-modern Japanese Society
Selon les interprétations élaborées du terme yamabushi dans les textes shugendō, ce terme, qui désigne à la fois des êtres ordinaires et des ascètes dotés de « pouvoirs » extraordinaires — des êtres plongés dans l'ignorance et des Buddhas —, résumerait l'itinéraire ascétique qui débouche sur la « bouddhéité en ce corps même ». L'étymologie du caractère bushi en particulier, le présente comme composé de deux unités sémantiques — « homme » et « chi…
Before the First Buddha
Before the First Buddha Medieval Japanese Cosmogony and the Quest for the Primeval Kami Fabio Rambelli, professor of Japanese and comparative religion From the end of the Heian period, a number of texts began to investigate cosmogonic issues, namely, the process of creation of the universe and the manifestations of the first deities—matters more generally pertaining to what is known as "the age of the gods" (jindai or kamiyo). Indeed, pervasive i…
The material culture of death in medieval japan, Gerhart, Karen M
"The material culture of death in medieval japan, Gerhart, Karen M.." Material Religion, 6(3), pp. 384–385
Sada Kaiseki
Accounts of Japanese Buddhist attitudes about modernization, in general, argue that most religious institutions accepted without strong resistance the Meiji government's policy of separating Buddhism from kami cults and the ensuing persecution of Buddhism and traditional forms of combinatory religiosity.1 By doing so, Buddhist institutions renounced their autonomy and chose a path of almost complete subservience to the state. This implied their a…
Japan's Holy War
Students of Japanese religions and intellectual history (this reviewer included) tend to ignore the vast and multifarious field of right-wing ideologies, in particular in their connections with Shinto and Buddhism. The fact that these ideologies often display an oversimplified and self-contradictory conceptual apparatus, together with their overall repulsive effects (racism, violence, war), certainly contributes to discourage sustained inquiry. N…
Toward a poetics of divine languages
This review highlights three central issues in Yelle's book, namely the suggestion that an important component of religions is constituted of supposedly non-arbitrary languages and sign systems, and that such non-arbitrary sign systems are constructed through particular poetics (semiotic) strategies and have an essentially performative nature and function. Yelle also argues that Western modernity is characterized by a different regime of signs, o…
The Vicissitudes of the Mahāsammata in East Asia
This article discusses Buddhism’s conflicting relation with kingship through an analysis of the figure of the Mahāsammata, the first mythical ruler according to Buddhist scriptures and canonical commentaries. The Mahāsammata, literally the ‘Great Elect’, was a human being elected by the people and entrusted with keeping order in a society that was gradually becoming more complex; as such, this myth expresses an idea of kingship that is very diffe…
Spells, Images, and Maṇḍalas
Journal Article Spells, Images, and Maṇḍalas: Tracing the Evolution of Esoteric Buddhist Rituals . By Koichi Shinohara Get access Spells, Images, and Maṇḍalas: Tracing the Evolution of Esoteric Buddhist Rituals . By Koichi Shinohara. Columbia University Press, 2014. 352 pages. $55.00. Fabio Rambelli Fabio Rambelli University of California , Santa Barbara [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google …
Prayer Machines in Japanese Buddhism
It is a well documented fact, albeit perhaps not emphasized enough in scholarship, that Japanese Buddhism, historically, has often favored and contributed to technological developments. Since its t
Dharma Devices, Non-Hermeneutical Libraries, and Robot-Monks
This article explores the little-known subject of the presence, in the Japanese Buddhist tradition, of machines (understood here as special tools, instruments, and various mechanical devices) used for the production and proliferation of prayers and prayer-related activities. Following a description of representative examples from various historical periods and ritual contexts (the shakuhachi flute as performed by adepts of the Fuke Zen sect, pray…
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Japanese Religions
Providing an overview of current cutting-edge research in the field of Japanese religions, this Handbook is the most up-to-date guide to contemporary scholarship in the field. As well as charting innovative research taking place, this book also points to new directions for future research, covering both the modern and pre-modern periods. Edited by Erica Baffelli, Andrea Castiglioni, and Fabio Rambelli, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Japanese Religion…
Rituals of Initiation and Consecration in Premodern Japan
In premodern Japan, legitimization of power and knowledge in various contexts was sanctioned by consecration rituals ( kanjō ) of Buddhist origin. This is the first book to address in a comprehensive way the multiple forms and aspects of these rituals also in relation to other Asian contexts. The multidisciplinary chapters in the book address the origins of these rituals in ancient Persia and India and their developments in China and Tibet, befor…
Religion, Power, and the Rise of Shinto in Early Modern Japan
This book sheds new light on the relationship between religion and state in early modern Japan, and demonstrates the growing awareness of Shinto in both the political and the intellectual elite of Tokugawa Japan, even though Buddhism remained the privileged means of stately religious control. The first part analyses how the Tokugawa government aimed to control the populace via Buddhism and at the same time submitted Buddhism to the sacralization …
The Dharma of Music
This article is a contribution to the rediscovery of the gagaku soundscape in medieval Japan with a special focus on instrumental music as part of the rep-ertoire of gagaku and bugaku, a subject that is mostly absent from research on the history of Japanese religions. The article outlines some of the ways in which professional musicians and music virtuosos among the aristocracy conceptualized gagaku and bugaku instrumental music in Buddhist terms…
Japanese History and Culture (21 works) · Chinese history and philosophy (20 works) · History (17 works) · Philosophy (16 works) · Buddhism (13 works) · Art (12 works) · Law (9 works) · Political science (8 works) · Ancient history (7 works) · Politics (7 works)