MENU

CLOSE

Tobunken Seminar

The Mythmaking of Silk Roads: Reinventing Eurasian Heritage in Japan, 1880-1980

Date and TimeMarch 17 (Tue), 2026, 16:30 (JST)
Venue Room 302, 3rd floor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo and online via Zoom
TitleThe Mythmaking of Silk Roads: Reinventing Eurasian Heritage in Japan, 1880-1980
LanguageEnglish

Pre-registration is required for both in-person and online participation. Please complete the registration form at the link below by Tuesday 10 March, 24:00 (JST). A Zoom link will be sent to all registrants by the end of the following day. https://forms.gle/UHwpGULSFWwpbops8>

The Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, and Cluster of Excellence “EurAsia Transformations” (Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna), are pleased to co-host the Tobunken Seminar: “The Mythmaking of Silk Roads: Reinventing Eurasian Heritage in Japan, 1880-1980”. As the opening event of the four-day programme “EurAsia-Tokyo Academy”, this seminar aims at investigating, by focusing on Japan as a case study, how the knowledge of Eurasian heritage acquired during the late nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries have influenced the way in which many people worldwide came to understand the visual, material and textual legacies of the trans-Eurasian trade network called “Silk Roads”.

Programme
16:00-16:30 Arrival

16:30-16:45 Welcome: Kazuo Morimoto (The University of Tokyo)
Introduction: Yuka Kadoi (University of Vienna)

16:45-17:15 Shamim Homayun (The University of Tokyo)
Placing Afghanistan on the Silk Road: Japanese Encounters with the Bamiyan Buddhas, 1926–1969

17:15-17:45 Francesca Fiaschetti (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Mapping the Steppe: Twentieth-Century Japanese Scholarship on Mongols and Inner Asia

17:45-18:00 Discussion

Co-organizer:Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, and Cluster of Excellence “EurAsia Transformations” (Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna)
Contact:Kazuo Morimoto (morikazu@ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp)