Tobunken Symposium:International Conference“Sunnis” and “Shiʿis” across History: Confessional Identities, Mutual Perceptions, and Academic (Mis)Conceptions
Venue: Large Conference Room, 4th Floor (Southeast Corner), Institute for Research in Humanities (Main Building), Kyoto University
(For direction: https://www.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/english/)
Convened by: Kazuo Morimoto (The University of Tokyo), Tatsuya Nakanishi (Kyoto University), and Teruaki Moriyama (Doshisha University)
Sponsored by: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Kakenhi Grant-in-Aid 23K25371 “‘Sunnis’ and ‘Shiʿis’: Historical Inquiries into Confessional Identities and MutualPerceptions”; Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo (Tobunken Symposium); Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University; Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Monotheistic Religions, Doshisha University.
How to Participate:
The conference will be held in a hybrid format, combining in-person and online participation. Prospective in-person participants are encouraged to register by the end of September 11 (JST). The registration deadline for online participation is September 16 (JST). All registered participants will receive the Zoom link on September 17.
Registration Form: https://forms.gle/J879jR9hTHgeg4aJ6
Inquiries:
For all inquiries, please contact Mr. Naoki Nishiyama at n-nishiyama@g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp .
Program:
September 19, 2026 (Sat)
Arrival & Coffee 10:00–10:30
Opening Remarks 10:30–10:45
Panel 1 Hadith Transmitters and Scholars Chair: TBA
10:45–11:15 I-Wen Su (National Chengchi University)
ʿAbdallāh b. Muḥammad b. ʿAqīl (d. bet. 140/757–8 and 145/762): A Systematic Forger of ʿAlī’s Faḍāʾil among the Ahl al-Bayt
11:15–11:45 Takahiro Hirano (University of Tsukuba)
Reliable Sunni Transmitters and Muwaththaq Hadith in Imami Hadith Collections
11:45–12:15 Teruaki Moriyama (Doshisha University)
The Contested Boundaries of Ahl al-Sunna: Who Could Be Counted as Sunnis?
Lunch
Panel 2 Sayyids and Sharifs in Differing Confessional Ecologies
Chair: Lloyd Ridgeon (The University of Tokyo)
13:30–14:00 Shamim Homayun (The University of Tokyo)
Migrant Sayyids and Sacred Authority Across Sunni-Shiʿi Boundaries in the Hindu Kush
14:00–14:30 Mara Leichtman (Michigan State University)
Ambiguities of Shiʿi Islam in Sufi Senegal: The Case of Mozdahir International
14:30–15:00 Matsunaga, Yasuyuki (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
How and Why Ṭarīqa ʿAliyya Qādiriyya Kasnazāniyya, an Iraqi-based Sunni Sufi Order, Attracts Shiʿi Murīds from Iran and What Does This Tell Us about Confessional Identities, Mutual Perceptions, and Academic (Mis)Conceptions?
Break
Panel 3 Early Modern Imperial Contexts and the Qizilbash
Chair: TBA
15:20–15:50 Hüseyin Ongan Arslan (American University of the Middle East)
Negotiating Confessional Boundaries: A Qizilbash Voice from the Ottoman–Safavid World (online)
15:50–16:20 Seyed Saleh Pezhman (University of Tehran)
From Contestation to Synthesis: Competing Currents in the Making of Safavid-Period Shīʿism
16:20–16:50 Tatsuya Nakanishi (Kyoto University)
De-Shiitization of the Legend of “ʿAlī Bābā and the Forty”: Discourses of Sufi Mendicants in Central Asia and Hui Muslims in China
Break
Keynote
Chair: Kazuo Morimoto (The University of Tokyo)
17:05–18:15 Andrew Newman (The University of Edinburgh)
Academic (Mis)conceptions as Barriers to Understanding ‘Sunnis’ and ‘Shiʿis’ Across History: The Case of the Study Twelver Shiʿism
Conference Dinner at the popular (shaʿbī/mardomī) Japanese Restaurant Omuraya (open only to those invited by the organizers. A participation fee will apply, except for invited overseas speakers)
For details of Omuraya: https://www.deepkyoto.com/omuraya/
*Please note that seating is on tatami mats at low tables, in the traditional Japanese style.
* * *
September 20, 2026 (Sun)
Panel 4 Determining Identity: Emic and Etic Perspectives
Chair: TBA
10:00–10:30 Ayako Ninomiya (Aoyama Gakuin University)
“Official” Sunnism in Fourteenth-Century India
10:30–11:00 Kazuhiro Arai (Keio University)
The Twentieth-Century Debates Surrounding the Sect of Ahmad bin ʿIsa al-Muhajir, a Sayyid Who Migrated to Hadramawt in the Tenth Century
11:00–11:30 Ethel Sara Wolper (The University of New Hampshire)
Ottoman Support of ʿAlid Shrines in Mosul: Problematizing Shrines as Proofs of “Sunni”- “Shi’i” Boundaries
11:30–12:00 Kazuo Morimoto (The University of Tokyo)
Terminology for Non-Shiʿi and Supra-Confessional Veneration of the ʿAlids and the Twelver Imams: Towards Better-Informed Choices
Lunch
Panel 5 “Sunni” Veneration of the Imams
Chair: Majid Daneshgar (Kyoto University)
12:45–13:15 Alyssa Gabbay (University of North Carolina at Greensboro)
“From the Highest Heaven”: Amir Khusraw’s Exaltation of ʿAli in His Dībācha-yi Dīvān-i Ghurrat al-Kamāl
13:15–13:45 Ryo Mizukami (Japan Women’s University)
The Transformation of Sunni Imamophilism within an Intellectual Family in 17th–18th Century Mughal India
13:45–14:15 Ryuichi Sugiyama (Kyoto Tachibana University)
The Rise of Emām Reżā’s Authority after His Martyrdom: A Study of Persian Poetry and Sufi Literature in a Sunni Context
Break
Panel 6 Sunni Perceptions of the Shiʿa
Chair: Ken’ichi Isogai (Kyoto University)
14:35–15:05 Naoki Nishiyama (The University of Tokyo)
Between Heterodoxy and Infidelity: Ibn Taymiyyah’s Categorization of Shīʿī Sects
15:05–15:35 Yayoi Kawahara (The University of Tokyo)
19th-Century Central Asian Hajj Travelogues: Sectarian Perception and Route Choice
15:35–16:05 Yoichi Yajima (Nara Women’s University)
The Enslavement of Shiʿi Muslims
Break
General Discussion
16:20–17:30
Closing Remarks
17:30–17:40
Download the program from here for further details, abstracts, and presenters' short bios: