Author Description

Carmen Blacker was an outstanding scholar of Japanese culture, known internationally for her writings on religion, myth and folklore her most notable work being The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan. Importantly, a third of the volume comprises significant extracts from the author s diaries covering a period of more than forty years, together with a plate section drawn from the her extensive photographic archive, thus providing a rare opportunity to gain a personal insight into the author s life and work. The volume includes a wide selection of writings from distinguished scholars such as Donald Keene and Peter Kornicki, and her former pupils James McMullen and John Breen in celebration of her work and legacy, or as contributors to the Carmen Blacker Lecture Series, together with a selection of various essays and papers by Carmen Blacker herself that have hitherto not been widely available. In addition to her scholarship, Carmen Blacker was also highly regarded for her work in promoting Japanese Studies at Cambridge and supported the revival of the Japan Society after the war and was its first editor. She served for many years on the Society s Council and gave a number of lectures.