Research Faculty

YANAGI Mikiyasu

YANAGI Mikiyasu

Associate Professor
Office of International Academic Affairs,
Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia
yanagi[at]

History and Philosophy of Chinese Buddhism

Research Topics

History and Thought of Chinese Buddhism

YANAGI Mikiyasu, who joined the Institute as Associate Professor in 2021, is a Sinologist specializing in the history and philosophy of East Asian Buddhism. He received his Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Tokyo. His research has been focused on the intellectual history of Chan/Zen Buddhism, which arose and flourished in China before spreading to other places such as Korea and Japan, so as to analyze and clarify in detail the new developments in Buddhist thought which occurred in East Asia.

Research activities

Books
  • Liu, Zelinag & Chen, Wenqing & Yanagi, Mikiyasu. Yixin Wanfa: Yanshou xue Yanjiu: Religion and Culture Press(宗教文化出版社), 2018.12. (in Chinese) [Link]
  • Fujii, Jun & Ikeda, Masanori & Kuramoto, Shotoku & Murata, Mio & Yanagi, Mikiyasu. Research on Saicho and Kukai’s versions of Sanjiao buqilun: Kokusho Kankokai, 2016.1. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. Eimei enju to sugyoroku no kenkyu: Isshin niyoru chugoku bukkyo no saihen [Yongming Yanshou and the Zongjing Lu (Record of the Axiom Mirror): From One Mind to the Reorganization of Chinese Buddhism]: Hozokan, 2015.2. (in Japanese) [Link]
Translated Books and Articles
  • Fang, Litian. Translated by Tomohiro Kannno, Hiroshi & Zhang, Wenliang & Yanagi, Mikiyasu & Matsumori, Hideyuki & Nakanishi, Toshihide & Saito. Chugoku Bukkyo Tetsugaku Yogi: Daizo Shuppan, 2023. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Ekai, Hougen Mon’eki & Mumon. Translated by Mikiyasu Tuchiya, Taisuke & Yanagi. Hougen-roku Mumon-kan[The Record of Fayan and the Gateless Gate]: Daizo Shuppan, 2019. (in Japanese) [Link]
Articles and Book Chapters
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “The Theory of Waka Poem as Dharani in the Shasekishu and its Context.” Nihon no Dento Bunka wo Toinaosu: Rinsen Book Co., 2024: 163-181. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “The Zongjinglu and the Word “Shū-kyō 宗教” as the Translation of “Religion”.”Indo-gaku Bukkyo-gaku kenkyu: Journal of Indian and Buddhist studies 72, no. 1 2023.12: 241-235. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Hakuin’s system of practice and its background.” Translated by Bo Huan Studies in Chinese Religions 9, no. 2 2023.11: 193-223. [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Hakuin’s system of practice and its background.” Translated by Mingjia Li Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies 6, no. 1 2023.5: 221-271. (in Chinese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Structuring Satori: The Chan Buddhism of Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163).”Indo-gaku Bukkyo-gaku kenkyu: Journal of Indian and Buddhist studies 31 2023.3: 27-54. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Zazen and Kōan in the Zen Practice of Hakuin: A comparison with Dahui’s method of kōan contemplation.”Indo-gaku Bukkyo-gaku kenkyu: Journal of Indian and Buddhist studies 71, no. 1 2022.12: 220-214. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Tachi, Ryushi & Yoshimura, Makoto & Moro, Shigeki & Yamaguchi, Hiroe & Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Daruma-shu Bucchi-bo Kakuan Shinkon ketsugi sho Kunchu Chu.”Komazawa daigaku bukkyo gakubu ronshu: Journal of Buddhist studies 53 2022.10: 83-110. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Yongming Yanshou’s (904-976) Standpoint: Recapturing Chan Buddhism at the Historical Turning Point.”China: Society and Culture 37 2022.7: 21-38. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “The Formation and Transformation of the Legend that Yongming Yanshou Used State Funds to Purchase and Release Captive Animals.”Studies in Zen Buddhism 100 2022.3: 43-74. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Contextualizing Hakuin’s System of Practice.”International Zen Studies 9 2022.2: 277-332. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Sugyoroku no Rufu to sono Haikei.”International Zen Studies 8 2022.1: 65-79. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Tachi, Ryushi & Yoshimura, Makoto & Moro, Shigeki & Yamaguchi, Hiroe & Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Daruma-shu Bucchi-bo Kakuan Shinkon ketsugi sho Kunchu Jo.”Komazawa daigaku bukkyo gakubu ronshu: Journal of Buddhist studies 52 2021.10: 127-156. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Similarities and Differences on the Acceptance of “Zongjing Lu” in China and Japan and Its Background.” Translated by Lulu Ding Journal of East Asia Religion 3 2021: 83-94. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Zongjing lu yu Liancang Shiqi Linjizong zhi Shourong.” The Formation of Chan Buddhism and its Spread in the World: Religion and Culture Press(宗教文化出版社), 2021: 276-287. (in Chinese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Hakuin’s Criticism of Heterodox Practices and His Views on Correct Practice.”Hanazono daigaku kokusai zengaku kenkyujo ronso: Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism 16 2021.3: 49-70. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Kyo zen to sugyoroku [Doctrinal Approaches, Chan Approaches, and the Zongjing lu].”Komazawa daigaku zen kenkyujo nenpo: Annual Report of the Zen Institute 32, no. 1 2020.12: 166-154. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “The Elements of Pure Land Buddhism in Yongming Yanshou’s Thought and Practice.”Indo-gaku Bukkyo-gaku kenkyu: Journal of Indian and Buddhist studies 69, no. 1 2020.12: 312-305. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Hakuin Ekaku and the Oracle of Bodhicitta.”Indo-gaku Bukkyo-gaku kenkyu: Journal of Indian and Buddhist studies 68, no. 1 2019.12: 314-307. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “A Comparison of Three Editions of the Mumonkan: From dasu (hunchbacks) to chisu (running children).”Hanazono daigaku kokusai zengaku kenkyujo ronso: Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism 14 2019.3: 1-14. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Hakuin Ekaku and the Zongjing lu.”Indo-gaku Bukkyo-gaku kenkyu: Journal of Indian and Buddhist studies 67, no. 1 2018.12: 292-286. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Guchu Shukyu’s Rinmyosho and the Zongjinglu.”Hanazono daigaku kokusai zengaku kenkyujo ronso: Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism 13 2018.3: 1-20. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Muso Soseki and the Zongjinglu.”Proceedings of the International Conference on East Asian Buddhism 6 2018.1: 271-293. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Similarities and Differences on the Acceptance of “Zongjing Lu” in China and Japan and Its Background.” Translated by Lulu Ding Journal of East Asia Religion 3 2017.12: 83-94. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “The Axiom Mirror in Zongjing lu: A Hypothesis on the Incised Mirrors in Chonen’s Standing Shakyamuni Image.” The Role of Todai-ji in the Cultural Exchange of Song China and Japan: In Commemoration of Priest Chonen, Papers from the Great Buddha Symposium. Vol. 15: Hozokan, 2017: 69-83. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Kamakura-ki rinzai-shu niokeru sugyo-roku no juyo: Enni to jisshu-yodo-ki.” Rinzai-roku kenkyu no genzai: Zen-bunka kenkyujo, 2017: 451-469. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “To sodai no bukkyo no shoso.”Indo-gaku Bukkyo-gaku kenkyu: Journal of Indian and Buddhist studies 65, no. 2 2017.3: 753-752. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Eisai and the Zongjing lu: Citing the Zongjing lu as a Precedent in the Kozen gokokuron.”Indo-gaku Bukkyo-gaku kenkyu: Journal of Indian and Buddhist studies 65, no. 1 2016.12: 516-510. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Yongming Yanshou’s Sudden Enlightenment and Sudden Practice: The Inheritance and Transformation of Tang Dynasty Theories of Cultivation and Realization.”Journal of Seon Studies 45 2016.12: 43-82. (in Chinese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Yongming Yanshou of the Five Dynasties Period Theory of Buddhist Hermanutics: Its Heritage from and Deconstruction of Sui and Tang Period Doctrinal Classification.”Journal of Chinese Literature of National Taipei University 19 2016.3: 127-152. (in Chinese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Yongming Yanshou and the “Unity of Meditative and Doctrinal Approaches”: The Evolution of Yanshou’s Image as Harmonizer.”Fo Guang Journal of Buddhist Studies 1, no. 1 2015.1: 225-252. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “The Zongjing lu and the Lankavatara Sutra: Based on What sutra Did Yongming Yanshou Claim that “One Mind” Was the Most Fundamental Principal of Buddhism?”Indo-gaku Bukkyo-gaku kenkyu: Journal of Indian and Buddhist studies 63, no. 1 2014.12: 504-500. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Yongming Yanshou and Chinese Buddhism.”The Journal of East Asian Buddhis Studies 18 2014.5: 147-170. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Yongming Yanshou and the “Chan/Pure Land Hybrid”: the Shaping and Reshaping of a So-Called “Pure Land Patriarch”.”Journal of Buddhis Studies 55 2013.12: 115-143. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “How Chan Buddhists Saw Heart/Mind : Mazu’s Recast of the Lankavatara-sutra.”The Journal of East Asian Buddhis Studies 10 2012.5: 105-140. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Locating the Thought of the Yuanming lun in the History of Chan Buddhism:Understanding States of Mind by Looking at the Context of Sutra Discursive Texts and Metaphors.”Indo-gaku Bukkyo-gaku kenkyu: Journal of Indian and Buddhist studies 60, no. 2 2012.3: 41-44. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Reflections of the world: mirror metaphors in early Chan Buddhism.”The Journal of East Asian Buddhis Studies 9 2011.5: 17-37. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Lankavatara-sutra and the Erru sixing lun: early-period Zen thought and the role of the Lankavatara-sutra.”Studies in Indian Philosophy and Buddhism 18 2011.3: 71-85. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Huike and Huiyuan’s Understanding of the Four Bodies of the Buddha in the Lankavatara-sutra.”Indo-gaku Bukkyo-gaku kenkyu: Journal of Indian and Buddhist studies 56, no. 2 2008.3: 975-972. (in Japanese) [Link]
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “The origin of chan dialogue in the record of the masters and disciples of the lankavatara-sutra: “inquiries about things” and the metaphor of the mirror.”Studies in Indian Philosophy and Buddhism 15 2008.3: 85-98. (in Japanese) [Link]
Book Reviews
  • Yanagi, Mikiyasu. “Book review: John Kieschnick, Buddhist Historiography in China.”International Journal of Asian Studies 2023 (2023.3): 1-6. [Link]

Experience

YearEducation
1981.5. Born.
2013.3 Doctor of Letters, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, the University of Tokyo.
2013.4. Postdoctoral Fellow (PD), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (until 2015.3.).
2015.4. Postdoctral Fellow for Research Abroad, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (until 2016.3.).
2016.4 Full-time Lecturer, Researcher of the International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism, Hanazono University (until 2018.3.).
2018.4 Associate Professor, Deputy Director of the International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism, Hanazono University (until 2021.3.).
2021.4 Guest Researcher, International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism, Hanazono University.
2021.4 Associate Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, The University of Tokyo.
YearAcademic experience