Drott Edward

(EDWARD DROTT)

Profile Information

Affiliation: Professor, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Department of Liberal Arts, Sophia University

Degree: M.A.(University of Pennsylvania)
Ph.D(University of Pennsylvania)

Researcher number: 10749914
J-GLOBAL ID: 201501016491908602
researchmap Member ID: 7000013447

My research explores the role of the body in religion and the role of religious ideology and practice in producing knowledge about the body. My recent publications have examined the ways in which religious ideas and practices helped shape perceptions of old age in early and medieval Japan. I have also published on the intersections of religious and medical knowledge in premodern Japan. I teach courses on the history of Buddhism, Japanese religions, and religion and the body.

Research Interests

Japanese Religions, Religion and the Body, Religion and Medicine

Research Areas

Humanities & social sciences / Religious studies /

Research History

Apr, 2025 - Present

Professor of Japanese Religions, Faculty of Liberal Arts Department of Liberal Arts, Sophia University
Sep, 2016 - Mar, 2025

Associate Professor of Japanese Religions, Faculty of Liberal Arts Department of Liberal Arts, Sophia University
Aug, 2018 - Mar, 2020

International Research Center for Japanese Studies
Sep, 2014 - Sep, 2016

Assistant Professor of Japanese Religions, Faculty of Liberal Arts Department of Liberal Arts, Sophia University
Aug, 2009 - Aug, 2014

Assistant Professor, University of Missouri Dept. of Religious Studies

Awards

Dec, 2022

JSPS Invitational Fellowships for Research in Japan, Buddhism and Wellbeing in Contemporary Japan, Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)

Edward R. Drott, C. Pierce Salguero
Jun, 2022

FLA Special Research Budget Grant, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University

Edward Drott
Dec, 2019

JSPS Invitational Fellowships for Research in Japan, Buddhism and Wellbeing in Contemporary Japan (award declined due to COVID travel restrictions), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Edward Drott, Pierce Salguero
Oct, 2018

FLA Special Research Budget Grant, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University

Edward Drott
Oct, 2016

FLA Special Research Budget Grant, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University

Edward Drott

Major Papers

Sensation, Salvation, and Simile: A Study of the Saḷāyatana-vagga

Edward R. Drott

Buddhism and the Body, 20-45, Aug 21, 2023 Peer-reviewedInvited
Aging Bodies, Minds and Selves: Representations of Senile Dementia in Japanese Film

Edward R. Drott

Journal of Aging Studies, 47 10-23, Dec, 2018 Peer-reviewed
Overcoming Illness with Insight: Kokan Shiren's Treatise on the Nature of Illness and Its Manifestations

Edward R. Drott (Role: Author and Translator)

Buddhism and Medicine, 61-83, Dec 31, 2017 Peer-reviewedInvited
Bukkyō igaku to jukyō igaku no kiro de: Manase Dōsan no Rōjinmon

Edward R. Drott

Manase Dōsan to Kinsei nihon iryō shakai (Manase Dōsan and Early Modern Japanese Medical Society), 2015 Peer-reviewedInvited
Aging in Medieval Japanese Buddhism

Edward R. Drott

Religion Compass, 9(1) 1-12, Jan, 2015 Peer-reviewedInvited
"Care must be Taken": Defilement, disgust and the aged body in early Japan

Edward R. Drott

Journal of Religion in Japan, 4(1) 1-31, 2015 Peer-reviewed
"To Tread on High Clouds" Dreams of Eternal Youth in Early Japan

Edward R. Drott

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 42(2) 275-317, 2015 Peer-reviewed
Gods, Buddhas, and Organs Buddhist Physicians and Theories of Longevity in Early Medieval Japan

Edward R. Drott

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 37(2) 247-273, 2010 Peer-reviewed

Misc.

Review: Right Thoughts at the Last Moment: Buddhism and Deathbed Practices in Early Medieval Japan by Jacqueline I. Stone

Edward R. Drott

The Journal of Religion, 99(4) 580-582, 2019 InvitedLead author
Review: The Face of Jizō: Image and Cult in Medieval Japanese Buddhism. By Hank Glassman. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2012. xii + 292 pages. ISBN (cloth) 978 0 8248 3443 2; ISBN (paper) 978 0 8248 3581 1

Edward R. Drott

Journal of Religion in Japan, 2(1) 85-88, 2013 InvitedLead author
Review: Confluences of Medicine in Medieval Japan: Buddhist Healing, Chinese Knowledge, Islamic Formulas, and Wounds of War (review)

Edward R. Drott

Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 72(2) 402-407, Dec, 2012 InvitedLead author
Review: Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism

Edward R. Drott

Journal of Asian Studies, 69(4) 1251-1253, Nov, 2010 InvitedLead author

Major Books and Other Publications

Biolust, Brain Death, and the Battle over Organ Transplants: America's Biotech Juggernaut and its Japanese Critics

William R. LaFleur (Author) Edward Drott (Editor)

Bloomsbury Academic, 2023 (ISBN: 9781350254992)
Buddhism and the Transformation of Old Age in Medieval Japan

Drott Edward (Role: Author)

University of Hawai`i Press, 2016 (ISBN: 9780824866860)

Presentations

“Fringe States: The Altered and Exceptional Mind”

Edward Drott (Role: Chair)

East West Philosopher’s Conference, Honolulu, May 29, 2024
Gates, Roots, and Resting Places: Theories of the Senses in Premodern Japan (cancelled due to COVID travel restrictions)

Edward Drott

Académie du Midi, Alet-les-Bains (France)
Buddhist Theories of the Senses in Premodern Japan

Edward Drott

"Bodies of Buddhism: Somaesthetic Explorations," Boca Raton Campus of Florida Atlantic University, the Center for Body, Mind, and Culture, Feb 28, 2020 Invited
Old Age and Aging in Pre-Edo-Period Medical Texts.

Edward Drott

Imagining and Developing Images of the Body in Medicine, Art, and Folk Religion, Feb 1, 2019, International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken)
Buddhist Perspectives on Excreta in Premodern Japan

Edward Drott

International Workshop: The Burden of Superfluous Matters: Towards a Transcultural History of Bodily Wastes, Dec 1, 2018, Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies Invited

Professional Memberships

Research Projects

Buddhism and Wellbeing in Contemporary Japan

JSPS Invitational Fellowships for Research in Japan, Jul, 2023 - Jul, 2023

Edward R. Drott, C. Pierce Salguero
Collaborative research project "The Moral Significance of Consciousness in Japan: Religious and Cultural Contexts"

Fordham Research Abroad Program (FRAP), Nov, 2021 - May, 2023

Edward Drott and Laura Specker Sullivan

Major Academic Activities

Chief Editor: Monumenta Nipponica

Planning, Management, etc., Supervision (editorial), Review, evaluation

Apr 1, 2024 - Present
Associate Editor: Monumenta Nipponica

Planning, Management, etc., Supervision (editorial), Review, evaluation

Apr 1, 2023 - Mar 31, 2024

Social Activities

Vice President, Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ)

Others

Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ), Jul, 2019 - Jul, 2025
Executive Committee of Asian Studies Conference in Japan (Tokyo, Japan)

Others

2017 - 2025
Organizing Committee, 2018 Aging & Society meeting, Toyo University

Others

2017 - Sep 19, 2018
Monumenta Nipponica Steering Committee

Others

2018

Media Coverage

Abandoning the Grandmother: Interview with Edward Drott by Karen Jensen

Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/ubasute/, Aug, 2020 Newspaper, magazine
Bei Geburt shintoistisch, beim Tod buddhistisch

Neue Zürcher Zeitung, https://www.nzz.ch/international/asien-und-pazifik/bei-geburt-shintoistisch-beim-tod-buddhistisch-1.18680026?reduced=true, Jan, 2016 Newspaper, magazine

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