ONUMA Yu
Faculty of Letters Department of English
Professor
Last Updated :2025/04/26

Researcher Profile and Settings

Research Interests

  • Encyclopaedia
  • Natural History
  • Marvels
  • Travels
  • Medieval English Literature
  • Reception of Classical Literature

Research Areas

  • Humanities & social sciences / Literature - British/English-languag

Research Experience

  • Doshisha University, Faculty of Letters Department of English, Professor, 2021 - Today
  • University of Cambridge, Clare Hall, Visiting Fellow, 2024/09 - 2025/08
  • Doshisha University, Faculty of Letters Department of English, Associate Professor, 2014 - 2021
  • Doshisha University, Faculty of Letters Department of English, Assistant Professor, 2009 - 2014

Degree

  • PhD in Letters, Keio University
  • Master of Philosophy (Medieval Studies), University of Birmingham
  • Master of Arts in Letters, Keio University

Association Memberships

  • The English Literary Society of Japan
  • The West Branch of Japan Society for Medieval English Studies
  • The Japan Society for Medieval English Studies
  • Japan Society for Medieval European Studies

Committee Memberships

  • Programming Committee, 2019 - Today, Japan Society for Medieval European Studies, Society
  • Councillor, 2018/04 - 2024/03, The Japan Society for Medieval English Studies, Society
  • General Secretary, 2021/04 - 2023/03, The Japan Society for Medieval English Studies, Society
  • Secretary, 2009 - 2023, Japan Society for Medieval European Studies, Society, Japan Society for Medieval European Studies
  • Editorial Board, 2015 - 2019, The Japan Society for Medieval English Studies, Society, The Japan Society for Medieval English Studies
  • Member of executive committee, 2012 - 2015, The West Branch of Japan Society for Medieval English Studies, Society, The West Branch of Japan Society for Medieval English Studies

Awards

  • Conference Presentation Grant
    2008, The Japan Society for Medieval English Studies, Japan

Published Papers

  • "The Fate of the Gigantes: Tracing the Representation of Giants from Classical to Medieval Europe."
    Yu Onuma
    Topos of Giants: Figures of Giants in Ancient Oriental, Jewish, Islamic, and European Cultures. Ed. Etsuko Katsumata (Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Monotheistic Religions, Doshisha University), 59 - 79, Mar. 2023, In book
  • “Physical, Mental, and Linguistic Travels: Images of England in the English and French Versions of Mandeville Travels.”
    Yu Onuma
    Narative and Mobility in Medieval Europe Ed. Yu Onuma and Satoko Tokunaga (Chisen Shokan), 5 - 21, Dec. 2022, In book
  • "Otherness as an Ideal: The Tradition of the ‘Virtuous’ Indians"
    Yu Onuma
    'Otherness' in the Middle Ages. Ed. Hans-Werner Goetz and Ian Wood (Brepols), 319 - 338, 2021, In book
  • "Manticore Variations between Fact and Fiction,"
    Yu Onuma
    The Fantastic and the Supernatural in English Literature IV. Ed. Masao Higashi and Masaya Shimokusu (Shumpu-sha), 54 - 75, Sep. 2020, In book
  • The Great Khan and the Mongols in Mandeville’s Travels: Medieval European Observation and Imagination
    Yu Onuma
    Études Médiévales Anglaises, 95 41 - 66, 2020, Scientific journal
  • Development of Medieval European Encyclopaedias
    Yu Onuma
    『令和元年度極東証券寄付講座文献学の世界-書物と知の組織化』、安形麻里編(慶應義塾大学), 63 - 74, 2020, Research society
  • Encylopaedias and Classification of Nature
    Yu Onuma
    Inside and Outside of Nature. Ed. Yuriko Yamanaka and Hitoshi Yamada (Bensei Press), 55 - 68, Oct. 2019, In book
  • “Convention Through Innovation: Marvels in Topographia Hibernica by Gerald of Wales.”
    Yu Onuma
    Aspetti del meraviglioso nelle letterature medievali: Medioevo latino, romanzo, germanico e celtico. Ed. Franca Ela Consolino, Lucilla Spetia, and Francesco Marzella (Brepols), 69 - 80, Nov. 2016, In book
  • Eagles and the Phoenix in Classical and Medieval Europe
    Yu Onuma
    The Fantastic and the Supernatural in English Literature II. Ed. Masao Higashi and Masaya Shimokusu (Shumpu-sha), 146 - 165, Jul. 2016, In book
  • “Wonders of the East: Descriptions of Gigantic Ants in Classical and Medieval Europe.”
    Yu Onuma
    Cultural History of Marvels in the Middle East and Europe. Ed. Yuriko Yamanaka (Nagoya UP), 220 - 236, Nov. 2015, In book
  • “Marvels and Medieval European Travel Narratives to the East.”
    大沼由布
    Cultural History of Marvels in the Middle East and Europe. Ed. Yuriko Yamanaka (Nagoya UP), 95 - 112, Nov. 2015, In book
  • 'Wonders of the East and Natural History'
    Yu Onuma
    Poetica: An International Journal of Linguistic-Literary Studies, 83 19 - 36, 2015, Scientific journal
  • "The Amazons Imagined"
    大沼由布
    The Fantastic and the Supernatural in English Literature. Ed. Masao Higashi and Masaya Shimokusu (Shumpu-sha), 82 - 108, Apr. 2014, In book
  • 'The Modification of Mandeville's Travels in Its Two Versified Versions'
    Yu Onuma
    Shuryu, Alternative:English Literary Society of Doshisha University, 75(75) 25 - 47, 2013, Research institution
  • Mandeville's Travels and the Role of the Narrator
    Yu Onuma
    Doshisha Studies in English, Doshisha University, 91 1 - 18, 2013, Research institution
  • 'Through the Eyes of Travellers: Classical and Medieval Views of Exotic Marvels'
    Yu Onuma
    Studies in Medieval English Language and Literature, 27 59 - 78, 2012, Scientific journal
  • 'Gervase of Tilbury and Medieval Marvels'
    Yu Onuma
    Doshisha Literature, 52&53 49 - 73, 2010, Research institution
  • “Studying the Classical Tradition in the Middle Ages to Analyse the Mentality of Medieval Compilers: with Special Reference to Mandeville’s Travels,”
    Yu Onuma
    The 21st Century COE Program by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2006/07: Toward an Integrated Methodology for the Study of the Mind; Young Researchers’ Results,, 5 - 12, 2007
  • 'The Appropriation of the Classics in Mandeville’s Travels’
    Yu Onuma
    Vincent of Beauvais Newsletter, 31 43720 , 2006
  • ' "Go to the Ant": Appropriations of the Classical Tradition in Mandeville's Travels'
    Yu Onuma
    Studies in English Literature, 47 43487 , 2006, Scientific journal
  • 'Trees of the Sun and the Moon: The Development of the Motif with Special Reference to The Letter of Alexander the Great to Aristotle and Mandeville’s Travels’
    Yu Onuma
    Geibun Kenkyu, Keio University, 85 100 - 26, 2003
  • “ ‘Innumeri thesauri’: Gold and Gems in The Letter of Alexander the Great to Aristotle and The Book of Sir John Mandeville
    Yu Onuma
    Colloquia, 22 15 - 26, Oct. 2001
  • “Medieval Triceratops: ‘Rhinoceros’ in The Letter of Alexanderthe Great to Aristotle and The Book of Sir John Mandeville
    Yu Onuma
    Round Table, 15 53 - 60, Mar. 2001

MISC

  • Review of Emily Steiner John Trevisa’s Information Age: Knowledge and the Pursuit of Literature, c. 1400. Oxford University Press, 2021, pp. xii + 287.
    Yu Onuma
    Studies in Medieval English Language and Literature, 39 37 - 41, Sep. 2024, Book review
  • Editors' introduction on Narrative and Mobility in Medieval Europe
    Satoko Tokunaga; Yu Onuma
    Mita Hyoron, 1275 88 , Mar. 2023
  • Introduction
    Yu Onuma
    Narrative and Mobility in Medieval Europe, v - viii, Dec. 2022
  • "27. Vincentius Bellovacensis, Speculum naturale," "28. Vincentius Bellovacensis, Speculum doctrinale," "29. Vincentius Bellovacensis, Speculum historialle," "30. Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De proprietatibus rerum"
    Yu Onuma
    Age of Incunabula, Ed. Mari Agata, 2018, Introduction other
  • Lecturer at The 16th Workshop for Aid and Support for Research by the Japan Society for Medieval English Studies
    Taro Ishiguro; Yu Onuma
    2016
  • Japanese translation of William Snell's “Middle English Encyclopedias and Scientific Writings”
    Trans. Yu Onuma
    Introduction to Medieval English Literature: Studies and Bibliography, Ed. Toshiyuki Takamiya and Takami Matsuda, Yusho-do, 133 - 138, Dec. 2008
  • “Mandeville and Travel Narratives”
    Yu Onuma
    Introduction to Medieval English Literature: Studies and Bibliography, Ed. Toshiyuki Takamiya and Takami Matsuda, Yusho-do, 139 - 141, Dec. 2008, Introduction other
  • “007: Vincentius Bellovacensis [Vincent de Beauvais], Speculum naturale,” “008: Vincentius Bellovacensis [psd-Vincent de Beauvais], Speculum morale,” “009: Vincentius Bellovacensis [Vincent de Beauvais], Speculum doctrinale,” “018: Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De proprietatibus rerum,”
    Yu Onuma
    Digital Collections of Keio University Libraries, Incunabula and the Keio University Library Collection, 2008
  • '037: Vincentius Bellovacensis [Vincent de Beauvais], Speculum historiale'
    Takami Matsuda; Yu Onuma
    Digital Collection of Keio University Libraries, Incunabula and the Keio University Library Collection, 2008
  • 「037:ヴァンサン・ド・ボーヴェ『歴史の鑑』」
    松田隆美・大沼由布
    慶應義塾大学メディアセンターデジタルコレクション、インキュナブラコレクション(慶應義塾大学), 2006
  • 「007:ヴァンサン・ド・ボーヴェ『自然の鑑』」・「008:偽ヴァンサン・ド・ボーヴェ『道徳の鑑』」・「009:ヴァンサン・ド・ボーヴェ『諸学の鑑』」・「018:バルトロマエウス・アングリクス『物性論』」
    大沼 由布
    慶應義塾大学メディアセンターデジタルコレクション、インキュナブラコレクション, 2006
  • Japanese translation of Neil McRynn, “1. Tombstone of Sestia Nymphe,” “2. Bronze Military Diploma,” “4. Augustine of Hippo, Sermones de Verbis Domini et Apostoli,” William Snell, “6. Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Poetria Nova,” “11. Aegidius Romanus [Giles of Rome], De Regimine Principum”
    Trans. Yu Onuma
    Mostly British: Manuscripts and Early Printed Materials from Classical Rome to Renaissance England in the Collection of Keio University Library, Ed. Takami Matsuda, Keio University, 17, 25, 35, 45, 77 , 2001
  • 'Vincentius Bellovacensis [Vincent de Beauvais], Speculum Historiale'
    Takami Matsuda; Yu Onuma
    Mostly British: Manuscripts and Early Printed Materials from Classical Rome to Renaissance England in the Collection of Keio University Library , 98 - 105, 2001

Books etc

  • Encyclopedia of Medieval European Culture, edited by Japan Society for Medieval European Studies
    Yu Onuma
    Maruzen Publishing, Nov. 2024, Contributor, "India/Orient" and editorial committee member, Dictionary or encycropedia
  • Narrative and Mobility in Medieval Europe
    Ed. Yu Onuma; Satoko Tokunaga
    Introduction (pp. v-viii) is by Yu Onuma, Chisen Shokan, Dec. 2022, Joint editor, Scholarly book

Presentations

  • How to Write a Medieval Travel Narrative
    Yu Onuma
    Clare Hall Literature Special Interest Group, 06 Mar. 2025, Public discourse, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge
  • The Idea of the Marvellous in Antiquity and the Middle Ages
    Yu Onuma
    CLAMS Lecture, 12 Nov. 2024, Public discourse, Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies, King's College London
  • Travelling Marvels: Seeing Classical Reception through the Lens of Medieval Wonders
    Yu Onuma
    Medieval Research Seminar, 30 Oct. 2024, Public discourse, Faculty of English, University of Cambridge
  • Examining the Role of the Narrator in the Multilingual Textual Tradition of Mandeville’s Travels
    Yu Onuma
    International Medieval Congress, 02 Jul. 2024, 01 Jul. 2024, 04 Jul. 2024, Oral presentation
  • Mobility and Identity in Medieval European Literature
    Yu Onuma
    Doshisha University―EHESS Meeting & Seminar, 20 Oct. 2023, 20 Oct. 2023, Public discourse, Doshisha University
  • Monsters in Liber monstrorum
    Yu Onuma
    Symposium entitled 'Monsters and Medieval English Literature', The 95th Annual General Meeting of the English Literary Society of Japan, 20 May 2023
  • The Role of Prester John in Mandeville’s Travels
    Yu Onuma
    Mandeville 700, 30 Jun. 2022, 30 Jun. 2022, 30 Jun. 2022, Oral presentation, King’s College London, King’s College London
  • Giants in Medieval Encyclopaedias
    Yu Onuma
    "Topos" of Giants, 06 Nov. 2021, Public discourse, Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Monotheistic Religions (CISMOR), Doshisha University
  • Migration of Marvels across Genres and the Ages
    Yu Onuma
    UCMS Lecture Series, 24 Jun. 2021, Public discourse, Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Utrecht
  • The Fate of the Gigantes: Tracing the Representation of Giants from Classical to Medieval Europe
    Yu Onuma
    Special Symposium entitled "Images of Colossal Peoples in the Jewish, Islamic, and European Cultural Spheres," The 36th Congress, The Japan Society for Medieval English Studies, 05 Dec. 2020, 15 Dec. 2020, Nominated symposium
  • Earthly Paradise and Mandeville's Travels
    Yu Onuma
    Symposium entitled 'The Search for Paradise—The Otherworld in the Medieval European Imagination', The 92nd Annual General Meeting of the English Literary Society of Japan, 06 Jul. 2020, 15 Jul. 2020, Nominated symposium
  • Medieval Encyclopaedias
    Yu Onuma
    極東証券寄付講座「文献学の世界―書物と知の組織化」第9回, Nov. 2019, Public discourse, Keio University
  • “The Great Khan: Observed and Imagined”
    ONUMA Yu
    The 10th Japanese-Korean Symposium on Medieval European History, 23 Aug. 2019, Invited oral presentation
  • “Medieval European Encyclopaedias and Classification of Nature"
    Yu Onuma
    Seminar for the project entitled “Marvels and the Uncanny: Comparative Studies on the Realm of Imagination,, 2018, 大阪(国立民族学博物館)
  • 'Encyclopaedias and Their Compilers in Medieval England: Alexander Neckam and Bartholomaeus Anglicus'
    Yu Onuma
    The 33rd Congress of the Japan Society for Medieval English Studies, Dec. 2017
  • 'Otherness as an Ideal: The Tradition of the "Virtuous" Indians'
    Yu Onuma
    International Medieval Congress, Jul. 2017, Oral presentation
  • 'England and France in Mandeville's Travels'
    Yu Onuma
    Symposium entitled 'France in Medieval English Literature', The 87th Annual General Meeting of the English Literary Society of Japan, May 2015
  • 'Wonders of the East and Natural History'
    Yu Onuma
    Old and Middle English Studies: Texts and Sources, 03 Sep. 2014, Oral presentation
  • 'Literary Migration of the Amazons through Contact Zones'
    Yu Onuma
    9th Japanese-German Frontiers of Science Symposium, Oct. 2012
  • “Accumulation and Compilation of Knowledge: Vincent of Beauvais and Speculum maius,” (paper read by proxy)
    Yu Onuma
    Seminar for the project entitled “A Comparative Study of Mirabilia in the Middle East and Europe”, 2012, 大阪(国立民族学博物館)
  • Mandeville’s Travels and the Authority of Eyewitness
    大沼 由布
    「驚異譚にみる文化交流の諸相-中東・ヨーロッパを中心に-」共同研究会, 2012, 大阪(国立民族学博物館)
  • 'Convention Through Innovation: Marvels in Topographia Hibernica by Gerald of Wales'
    Aspetti del meraviglioso nelle letterature medievali / Aspects of the Marvelous in Medieval Literatures, 2012
  • 'From Drawing to Printing: Letters in Medieval Europe'
    ONUMA Yu
    The Universe of Letters: Form of Meaning, Meaning of Form, 2011, Doshisha University, Kyoto
  • 'Animated Creatures of the East: Magic and Automaton in the Middle Ages'
    MEMESAK (Medieval and Early Modern English Studies Association of Korea) International Conference, 2011
  • “Worldview of Medieval Europe”
    Yu Onuma
    The 45th Annual Conference of English Literary Society of Doshisha University, Oct. 2010
  • 'Through the Eyes of Travellers: Classical and Medieval Views on Marvels'
    International Medieval Congress, 2010
  • 'Gervase of Tilbury and Medieval Marvels'
    Yu Onuma
    The 24th Congress of the Japan Society for Medieval English Studies, Dec. 2008
  • 'Monsters with Reason: Mandeville’s Travels and the Transformation of Dog-Headed People'
    Yu Onuma
    The 4th Annual Conference of the Keio Society for English Studies, 2008
  • “Studying the Classical Tradition in the Middle Ages to Analyse the Mentality of Medieval Compilers: with Special Reference to Mandeville’s Travels,”
    Yu Onuma
    The 21st Century COE Program by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2006/07: Toward an Integrated Methodology for the Study of the Mind; Young Researchers’ Results,, 2007
  • ‘Appropriations of the Classical Tradition in Mandeville’s Travels’
    Yu Onuma
    The 77th Annual Conference of the English Literary Society of Japan 2005年, May 2005
  • ' "Sir Iohn Mavndevile was his name”: Fact and Fiction in the Metrical Version of Mandeville’s Travels'
    Interdisciplinary Seminars for Postgraduates and Staff in the University of Birmingham, 2004
  • ‘Trees of the Sun and the Moon: The Development of the Motif with Special Reference to The Letter of Alexander the Great to Aristotle and Mandeville’s Travels’
    Yu Onuma
    The 18th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Division of the Japan Society for Medieval English Studies, Jun. 2002

Works

  • Brief Notice: James G. Clark, Frank T. Coulson & Kathryn L. McKinley (eds), Ovid in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011)
    2013
  • Joint translation of The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, ed. by Chris Baldick (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992)
    2012
  • Brief Notice:Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Idols in the East: European Representations of Islam and the Orient (1100–1450) (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009)
    2011

Research Projects

  • Mobility and Self-Identity in Medieval English Literature
    Yu Onuma
    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), 2022/04 -2027/03, Principal investigator, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Doshisha University
  • The Natural and the Supernatural in Comparative Perspective
    山中 由里子; 小松 和彦; 安井 眞奈美; 木場 貴俊; 佐々木 聡; 大沼 由布; 黒川 正剛; 林 則仁; 野元 晋; 山田 仁史
    令和2年度は、コロナ感染症拡大のため、予定していた国内外調査がほとんどできなかったが、国内での成果展示、および今後の国際発信に向けての勉強会を行い、主としてユーラシア大陸の東西の文明圏において、「自然」と「超自然」、もしくは「この世」と「あの世」の境界に立ち現れる身体・音・モノが、伝承・史料・民族資料・美術品などにどのように表象されているかを考察した。 具体的には、兵庫県立歴史博物館において、特別展「驚異と怪異――モンスターたちは語る」を開催し、ヨーロッパや中東において、不可思議ではあるが実在するかもしれず自然に関する知識の一部として伝えられた犬頭人、一角獣といった「驚異」と、東アジアにおいて、流星や異形の生き物の誕生など、天や神仏からの警告であると捉えられた、通常とは異なる現象「怪異」の比較研究を、展示の形で公開した。本展では人魚、竜、怪鳥、一角獣など、さまざまな世界の想像上の生き物の境界的な「生態系」を紹介するとともに、特に警告・凶兆(モンストルム)を語源とする怪物(モンスター)の文化史的な意味に注目した。兵庫県立歴史博物館学芸員の香川雅信氏の先験的キュレーションによって展示されていたアマビエなどの「予言獣」が、コロナ禍によって一層の注目を浴びることとなり、疫病とモンスター表象の関係性についても考察をうながす展示となった。さらに、分担者の佐々木聡が、特別展「東アジア恠異学会20周年記念展示 吉兆と魔除け―怪異学の視点から」(2021年2月24日~4月14日、京都産業ギャラリー)の企画に関わり、祥瑞災異思想に関わる解説を担当した。 また、2019年に刊行した日本語の成果論集『この世のキワ―<自然>の内と外』の英訳作業を進め、特に漢語や日本語の概念を英語に置き換える際の、概念の意味範囲のズレの問題について、オンライン勉強会を開き、踏み込んだ議論を行った。, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), 2018/04 -2023/03, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), National Museum of Ethnology
  • The Dissemination of Knowledge: Encyclopedias in the Middle Ages
    Yu Onuma; Yuriko Yamanaka; Masatake Kurokawa
    本研究では、博物誌・百科事典の本文を比較・分析することにより、動物・植物・鉱物等についての博物学的記述が、古代ギリシア・ローマから、イングランドを初め、フランスやドイツ等のヨーロッパ中世に、どのように受け継がれていったかを分析する。さらに、ヨーロッパ中世の博物学的知識が、どのように中世イスラーム世界からの影響を受けたか、また、どのように近世ヨーロッパへとつながっていったかをあわせて考察する。そして、それらを通し、時代や地域を限定した局地的な知のあり方ではなく、古代から中近世ヨーロッパという時代的な広がりや、ヨーロッパと中東という地域的広がりをカバーし、当時の知識のあり方を総合的に浮かびあがらせることを目的とする。研究分担は引き続き、西洋古代及び中世を大沼、西洋近世を黒川、イスラーム中世を山中が担当し、それぞれの担当する地域と時代とにおける代表的な資料を数例取り上げ分析した。 2021年度は、これまで足りなかった部分、とりこぼした部分を取り上げ、最終的に総括する予定だったが、後述するように追いきれない部分が残った。また、具体的な成果発表の場として、国際学会で全員発表し、発表内容を単行本としてまとめていくことが当初の目標であったが、国際学会に会場参加することは引き続き難しい状況であったため、オンライン講演や、国内での発表と論文集の刊行へ切り替えた。研究の総括的なものとして、大沼はオンラインの国際講演(主催:ユトレヒト大学中世研究センター)を行い、数年かけて取り組んでいた国際論文集も刊行された。また、大沼、山中、黒川3名全員参加してのオンライン公開シンポジウムも行った。こういった収穫があった一方、シンポジウム内容に基づき、最終的な総括として、2021年度中に論文集を刊行する予定だったが、年度内に刊行には至らず、2022年度に持ち越しとなり、併せて研究計画も延長となった。, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), 2017/04 -2023/03, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Doshisha University
  • Narrative and Mobility in Medieval Europe
    Yu Onuma; Satoko Tokunaga
    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant-in-Aid for Publication of Scientific Research Results (Scientific Literature), 2022
  • Understanding the Supernatural in Medieval Europe (with special reference to late-medieval English literature)
    ONUMA Yu
    This project investigates various kinds of medieval texts written in several European languages, including English, with the purpose of analyzing how the supernatural is received, described, and understood, often within a framework derived from classical (i.e., Greek and Roman) literature. It turned out that when people in the medieval period wrote about what was unknown and strange to them, they devised diverse methods of narration for the purpose; literary variations often occur, reflecting emphases favored by this or that author. Information about, and knowledge of, the supernatural grew out of cultural inheritances from the classical period, a fact which tells us much about intellectual activity in the late Middle Ages., Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), 2012/04 -2016/03, Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), Doshisha University
  • A Comparative Study of Mirabilia in the Middle East and Europe
    YAMANAKA Yuriko; IKEGAMI Shunichi; ONUMA Yu; SUGITA Hideaki; MIICHI Masatoshi; MORIKAWA Tomoko; KANAZAWA Momoe; KAMEYA Manabu; KUROKAWA Masatake; KOMIYA Masayasu; SUGASE Akiko; SUZUKI Hideaki; TAKEDA Masaya; NINOMIYA Ayako; HAYASHI Norihito; MATSUDA Takami; MIYASHITA Ryo; OGURA Satoshi; KOBAYASHI Kazue; TSUJI Asuka; YAJIMA Hikoichi
    European marvels, or mirabilia in latin, have already been studied quite extensively, notably by Jaques Le Goff, and more recently by Daston and Park. Whereas its Middle Eastern equivalent, ajaib (also meaning "the wondrous", from the root of the Arabic verb, ajiba = to wonder), has yet to be examined in a comprehensive manner, although scholars have dealt with specific works. Not only are mirabilia and ajaib based on the same notion of "wonder", they often draw from traditions going back to common sources (Greek scientific writings, the Alexander Romance), and share a monotheistic view of the world. Thus, this interdisciplinary study endeavored to compare the conceptual frameworks of medieval marvels in Europe and the Middle East, and to reveal their entangled intellectual history, through the examination of texts and visual representation related to the wonders of the world. The results will be published as a collective volume from Nagoya University Press in 2015., Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), 2010/04 -2015/03, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), National Museum of Ethnology
  • The "Marvel" as a Method of Description and Its Relationship to the Reception of Classical Literature in Late-Medieval English Literature
    ONUMA Yu
    This project investigates the influence of Greek and Roman literature on the literature of the Middle Ages. In other words, it deals with an early phase of developments essential to the understanding of Western culture. The main focus of the project has to do with how "marvels" have been perceived. By analyzing a wide range of documents. written in Greek, Latin, Medieval French and English-I discovered that the Medieval concept of marvels, though derived from the classical period, is much more complex in perception, and much more deeply related to how people see themselves., Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), 2010 -2011, Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), Doshisha University

Social Contribution

  • Sheep-Bearing Trees and Bird-Bearing Trees, Center for Christian Culture, Doshisha University, Chapel Hour, 2022/05/31