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Important Update: Japanese Islamicate Art Lecture (Postponed)We regret to inform you that tomorrow’s lecture, “Japanese Islamicate Art and Our Cultural Imperative,” scheduled for Tuesday, December 16th, has been postponed due to unforeseen travel issues.
Unfortunately, Dr. Naoki Yamamoto was unable to travel as planned, and despite best efforts, the matter could not be resolved in time. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding. Once a new date is confirmed, we will share the updated details with you promptly, Insha’Allah. |
This talk explores the concept of Japanese Islamicate Art as a living cultural practice rather than a fixed identity or aesthetic label. Drawing on Japanese classical arts such as calligraphy, swordsmanship, literature, and ethical discipline, the presentation examines how these traditions can be read and re-articulated through an Islamicate lens—one shaped by moral restraint, inward cultivation, responsibility, and care for the common good.
Rather than framing Islam in Japan as a matter of conversion narratives or cultural borrowing, this talk argues for a cultural imperative: the need to cultivate forms of expression that are rooted, accountable, and responsive to the societies in which Muslims actually live. Through examples from art, literature, and narrative storytelling, the talk reflects on what it means to create culture from within a place, while remaining connected to a broader civilizational inheritance.
Rather than framing Islam in Japan as a matter of conversion narratives or cultural borrowing, this talk argues for a cultural imperative: the need to cultivate forms of expression that are rooted, accountable, and responsive to the societies in which Muslims actually live. Through examples from art, literature, and narrative storytelling, the talk reflects on what it means to create culture from within a place, while remaining connected to a broader civilizational inheritance.
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Dr. Naoki Yamamoto
Dr. Naoki Yamamoto is an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Turkic Studies at Marmara University in Istanbul and Director of the Institute of Muslim Societies and East Asian Civilizations (IMSEAC) in Japan.
He specializes in Ottoman Tasawwuf, Japanese classical culture, and comparative intellectual history, with a particular focus on Islamicate readings of East Asian traditions. He is the founder of Japanese Islamicate Art, a cross-disciplinary project encompassing scholarship, calligraphy, narrative fiction, and cultural commentary. His publications include a Japanese translation of Sulamī’s Kitāb al-Futuwwa, Introduction to Tasawwuf: The Way of Training (Shueisha, 2023), and an English translation of Liu Zhi’s Wugong Shiyi (The Exposition of the Five Pillars of Islam), which is forthcoming from Fons Vitae. Through teaching, writing, and artistic practice, his work seeks to explore how ethical traditions travel, settle, and take root without losing depth or integrity. |
