Professor Nam-lin Hur teaches premodern Japanese history, Korean-Japanese relations, and Chosŏn Korea in the Department of Asian Studies and conducts research on foreign relations, religion, and society in premodern Japan and Korea. His current monograph projects involve “Japan’s Invasion of Korea in Premodern East Asia, 1592-98” and “Kaichō and Religious Culture in Early Modern Japan.”

Areas of his graduate supervision include: early modern Japanese history, Japanese Buddhism, international relations in premodern East Asia, Chosŏn Korea, Korean Buddhism, traditional Korean culture, and Korea-Japan relations.

Background

Ph.D. (Princeton)                    East Asian Religions
M.A. (Seoul National Univ.)      Religious Studies
B.A. (Seoul National Univ.)       Religious Studies

Monographs

Prayer and Play in Late Tokugawa Japan: Asakusa Sensōji and Edo Society. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2000.

Death and Social Order in Tokugawa Japan: Buddhism, Anti-Christianity, and the Danka System. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2007.

Book Chapters

“History and the Myth of Imperial Authority: Buddhism and Anti-Christianity in Early Modern Japan.” In Sinhwa wa yŏksa, ed. Kim Chongsuh, et al. Seoul: Sŏul taehakkyo ch’ulp’anbu, 2003, pp. 573-98.

“Chonggyohak esŏ pon ch’ŏnhwangje.” In Chŏnhwang kwa Ilbon munhwa, ed. Asia munhwa yŏn’guso. Ch’unchŏn: Hallym taehakkyo ch’upp’anbu, 2004, pp. 357-89.

“Sorei, ie, soshite kindai no ‘kazoku kokka’.” In Nihonjin no shūkyō to shomin shinkō, ed. Tamamuro Fumio. Tokyo: Yoshikawa kōbunkan, 2006, pp. 458-76.

“King Sŏnjo and Confucian Politics in 1592.” In Yugyo wa chonggyohak, ed. Sŏul taehakkyo chonggyo munje yŏn’guso. Seoul: Sŏul taehakkyo ch’ulp’anbu, 2009, pp.355-78. (15 authors)

“Funerary Rituals in Japanese Buddhism.” In The Wiley Blackwell Companion to East and Inner Asian Buddhism. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2014 (May), pp. 239-258.

“The Celestial Warriors: Ming Military Aid and Abuse during the Korean War, 1592-8.” In The East Asian War, 1592-1598: International Relations, Violence, and Memory. Edited by James B. Lewis. London and New York: Routledge, 2015 (January), pp. 236-255.

“Kŭnse Ilbon sŏmindŭlŭi chonggyo munhwa wa sasaegwan.” In Han’gukin kwa Inbonin ŭi sam kwa chugŭm. Seoul: Kyŏng’in munhwasa, 2015: 203-230.

“Retsujo gensetsu no keisei to Jinshin waran.” In Chōsen no josei (1392-1945): Shintai, gen’go, shinsei (1392-1945). Tokyo: CUON, 2016, pp. 172-198.

Articles

“Buddhist Culture of Asakusa Kannon in Edo.” Asia Journal 2-1 (June 1995): 15-28.

“Collective Memory, Historians, and the Construction of the National Identity of Koreans through the Japanese.”The Review of Korean Studies 1-1 (September 1998): 5-25.

“The Sōtō Sect and Japanese Military Imperialism in Korea.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 26/1-2 (Spring 1999): 107-134.

“A Korean Envoy Encounters Tokugawa Japan: Shin Yuhan and the Korean Embassy of 1719.” Civilization 21, no. 4 (March 2000): 61-73.

“Kido wa changsik: Ilbon Bulgyo munhwa ŭi tu chungsimch’uk.” Ilbon sasang (Journal of Japanese Intellectual History), no. 2 (Fall 2000), Seoul, Korea, pp. 91-113.

“Ilbon kŭnse ch’ogi e issŏsŏŭi pan-Kidokkyo chŏngch’aek kwa sach’ŏng chedo ŭi sŏngnip.” Ilbon yŏksa yŏn’gu(The Journal of Japanese History), no. 11 (Winter 2000), Seoul, Korea, pp. 1-21.

“Anti-Christianity and Funerary Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan.” Chonggyo wa munhwa (Religion and Culture), vol. 11 (Fall 2005), Seoul, Korea, pp. 175-222.

“Ilbon e issŏsŏ Pulgyo wa Pulgyohak ŭi kŭdaehwa: Pan-Kidokkyojuŭi, kajok-kukka, kŭrigo Pulgyo ŭi munhwa chŏch’ihak.” Chonggyo munhwa pip’yŏng (The Critical Review of Religion and Culture), vol. 8 (Fall 2005), Seoul, Korea, pp. 47-79.

“Chonggyo wa chŏnjaeng: Toyotomi Hideyoshi ŭi Chosŏn ch’imnyak.” Ilbonhak yŏn’gu (Journal of Japanese Studies), no. 18 (April 2006), Dankook University, Korea, pp. 345-364.

“Cheju ŭi yŏksajŏk t’op’osŭ: p’erip’ori kŭrigo p’ŭront’iŏ.” Tamla munhwa (The Culture of Tamla), vol. 31 (August 2007), Cheju National University, Korea: 5-39.

“Chosŏn Korean Officials in the Land of Tokugawa Japan: Ethnic Perceptions in the 1719 Korean Embassy.”Korea Observer 38-2 (September 2007): 439-468.

“Invitation to the Secret Buddha of Zenkōji: Kaichō and Religious Culture in Early Modern Japan.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 36/1 (March 2009): 45-64.

“National Defense in Shambles: Wartime Military Build-up in Chosŏn Korea, 1592-98.” Seoul Journal of Korean Studies 22/2 (December 2009): 113-135.

“Han Yong’un (1879-1944) and Buddhist Reform in Colonial Korea.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 37/1 (May 2010): 75-97.

“In Search of ‘Korean-ness’ in Korean Religions through Border-crossing: A Comparative Approach.” Journal of Korean Religions 2-1 (March 2011): 5-31.

“Confucianism and Military Service in Early Seventeenth-Century Chosŏn Korea.” Taiwan Journal of East Asian Studies, volume 8, number 1 (June 2011): 51-84.

“The Roots of Buddhist Imperialism in Modern Japan, 1568-1945.” Buddhist Studies, vol. 36 (Spring 2012): 67-107.

Works in English on the Imjin War and the Challenge of Research.” International Journal of Korean History, vol. 18, no. 2 (August 2013): 53-80.

“Vanguard Buddhist Monks, Political Activism, and the Honganji Nexus at the Dawn of the Modern Era in Chosŏn Korea.” Pulgyo hakpo, vol. 72 (September, 2015): 115-139.

“Korean Tea Bowls (Kōrai chawan) and Japanese Wabicha: A Story of Acculturation in Premodern Northeast Asia.” Korean Studies, volume 39 (January 2016): 1-22.