Remembrances of Japan’s Past, Encounters with Japan’s Present

Edward Kamens is Sumitomo Professor of Japanese Studies at Yale University, where he has taught since 1986. He has published books and articles on Buddhism in Japanese literature, classical poetry, and literary interactions with the visual arts, and he is currently directing a digital humanities research project focused on a 17th century calligraphy album in the Beinecke Library ("The Tekagamijō.") From 1998 to 2008 he was Associate Head of Saybrook College and served as Head in 2009 and 2011. Kamens has been Chair of the East Asian Languages and Literatures for several terms and also has served a term as Acting Director of the Whitney Humanities Center. He was the founding Chair of Yale's Committee on Language Study and helped launch Yale's highly successful Richard U. Light Fellowship (for the study of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean in East Asia.)