June
23 Friday

From Traditional arts to Manga: On creating a Japanese Islamicate Culture

Fri, June 23, 2023 (6:00 pm - 9:00 pm)
Al Manaar

Description

A discussion with Dr Yamamoto on Islam in Japan and the development of a Japanese Islamicate Culture and Japanese tea ceremony

Japanese tea ceremony and a discussion on creating a new traditional Japanese culture inspired by Muslim spirituality by Dr Qayyim Naoki Yamamoto.

 

Passionate to forge a cultural bridge between Muslim and Japanese cultures, Dr Qayyim Naoki Yamamoto blends art and spirituality through Manga and Sufism and traditional Japanese tea ceremony dating back nearly 700 years.

 

There are currently 250,000 Muslims living in Japan, of which about 50,000 are Japanese Muslims. The recent Tokyo Olympics have led to an increase in the number of restaurants serving halal food as more Muslims visited the country and awareness of both Islam and the Japanese Muslim communities have increased by Japanese government, locals as well as Muslim tourists. Unfortunately, Japan has a short history of interaction with Islamic civilization and has not yet reached the level of the Japanese interpretation of Islamic culture.

 

In this presentation, Dr Naoki Yamamoto, who specializes in Ottoman Sufism and traditional Japanese culture, will introduce the key themes in Muslim spirituality that have influenced him as a Japanese person and discuss what inspires him in creating a new traditional Japanese culture inspired. He believes that the next generation will create Japanese Islamic culture by traditional Muslim spirituality. He has already translated the highly respected Sufi saint and scholar of the 10th century of Qur’an and hadith, Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami’s book on ‘futuwwa'(chivalry) into Japanese and this summer the Japanese translation of Imam al-Ghazali’s Mukhtasar Ihya Ulum ad-Din will be published.

 

He argues that manga, and anime in particular, can be a bridge to educate many Japanese, especially the younger generation, to understand Islamic teachings. Manga is therefore a proven gateway for young Japanese people to become more educated about their changing society and the developments in the rest of the world. Manga’s tradition dates back to the 12th century when Buddhist monks created Emaki scrolls, or illustrated texts, that discussed issues, such as spirituality and politics – sometimes in narrative form. These scrolls could be found on the walls of buildings, such as houses of worship. Nevertheless, visual storytelling was common in the Sufi tradition, as well as in Japan to convey religious ideas for centuries and educate new populations about religious teachings.

 

Could Islamic values be introduced in the same way? Yamamoto believes so. His ideas are not speculative hypothesizing, as the works of the famed expert in Sufism, Professor Toshihiko Izutsu, have shown. The shared values between Islam, especially Sufism, with Taoism and Shintoism are abundant. Yamamoto has found that the popularity of manga characters Naruto from Naruto Shippuden or Tanjiro from Demon Slayer were not simply due to the genre being ninja-manga (Naruto) or samurai-manga (Demon Slayer), but also due to the spiritual teachings in this genre. A key feature within the Shonen Manga genre to which Naruto and Demon Slayer belong is to represent the main protagonists on a moral journey of discovery and development, one in which they are guided by teachers and sages and, as a result, find meaning beyond the simple material world.

 

In many ways Dr Yamamoto’s ideas are reflective of how Japanese converts to Islam view Islam as a tradition that can be part of the Japanese landscape; Islam need not be feared, but instead it must be understood that Islamic teachings need not antagonise Japanese traditions and customs. The manga genre can become an effective medium in conveying the traditions of Islam, given that the transmission of spiritual traditions are heavily ingrained within its historic culture. While some may find the use of entertainment as a vehicle strange, for many in Japan it is the nuances that the visual medium form provides and its feeling of familiarity that can help normalise Islam’s teachings within mainstream Japanese society. With more and more young Japanese Muslims growing up in Japan over the next decade or so, storytelling in the popular manga form may be an indigenous Japanese way for Islam and Muslims to become accepted.

 

After the lecture, there will a traditional Japanese tea ceremony and matcha tea tasting which participants can take part in.

About the speaker: Dr. Qayyim Naoki Yamamoto is currently an assistant professor at Graduate school of Turkic Studies, Marmara University. He completed his PhD at the Graduate School of Asia and Africa Studies, Kyoto University in 2018. Qayyim Naoki Yamamoto specializes in Ottoman Tasawwuf and traditional Japanese culture. His publications include a Japanese translation of Sulami’s Kitāb al-Futuwwa and Introduction to Tasawwuf: A Comparison with Shonen Manga (Shueisha Web Essay Series).

Ticket Information

Tickets

Online booking closed

Event Calendar

Friday, June 23, 2023

6:00 pm - 9:00 pm  
Closed
Add A Review

Refund Policy

Cancel booking before 0 days

5

Send Message

Send mail success

Send mail failed

Please enter input field

reCAPTCHA verification failed. Please try again.

© 2023 Muslim Event. All Rights Reserved.

Join Muslim Event Club

Get Free Tickets & Offers for Muslim events.

Don’t miss out on the latest events & activities happening in your city!