University of Trinity College, Faculty of Divinity | Colloquy - Engaging East-Asian Religious Traditions Inter-Religiously

In 1614, the Tokugawa Shogunate decreed a nationwide ban on Christian missionaries. Government officials devised various ways to force Japanese converts to renounce their faith. One such tool used was the fumie, an image depicting Christ or Mary on which people were forced to step. Recently, ROM Library and Archives acquired a paper fumie. In this talk we will discuss the characteristics of these objects, consider how Japanese officials appropriated Christian and Buddhist iconography to enforce the ban, and look at the new acquisition in greater detail. 

Speaker: Max Dionisio, PhD, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

Max Dionisio (PhD, University of Pennsylvania) is both an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Information and a ThM student in the Faculty of Divinity at Trinity College, University of Toronto. A former librarian of Japanese studies at the Royal Ontario Museum, Max’s research focuses on the material and art histories of Japanese Christianity.