Organizers: Caleb Carter and Fukushima Ayako
This workshop focused on the material culture and practice of senshafuda 千社札 and nōsatsu 納札. These print objects include a broad range of customized woodblock-printed slips of paper that originated in the eighteenth century and continue to be made today. Despite their prominent role in pilgrimage and popular culture, senshafuda are not well known among the public and have received only limited attention in the Japanese humanities. Their preservation and the continuation of lived practices faces significant uncertainties going forward: dwindling numbers of practitioners and craftsmen, heritage policies at religious sites that favor built landscapes over intangible cultural practices, a lack of public awareness, and the material loss of extant senshafuda.
This workshop brought together scholars of literature, religion, art history, and heritage studies, who exchanged ideas and expertise on senshafuda culture, discussed current and future vulnerabilities, and strategized on next steps for research, publication, and collaboration with scholars, craftsmen, and practitioners in Japan. It was a full day of fascinating presentations and conversations and hopefully planted the seed for future collaboration, perhaps next time in Japan!
Image: from the Jinja bukkaku nōsatsu kigen 神社仏閣納札起源 (1858). Gazoku Yōsō Collection, Kyushu University Library
