MWU is holding a series of lecture titled “The Culture and History of the Silk Road” inviting five foremost experts as lecturers.

We invited Professor Takashi Irisawa of Ryukoku University this time, who gave the lecture titled as above. Professor Irisawa first described several caves following the track of Xuanzang such as Bezeklik caves in suburban Uighur Autonomous Region, China, Kizil caves in Kucha and Bamiyan caves in Afghanistan.

In the lecture tales of Nentobutsu-juki (Dipankara) and Shashin-shiko (Bodhisattva offered his body to feed tigress and her cubs) were introduced using images of relevant paintings as well as the Buddhism's mingling with the local religions, expedition of caves and propagation of Buddhism to the Western Regions, and an epigraph in Bactrian language as an evidence of coexistence of Buddhism and Islamism.

In the second half of the lecture, he described activities of archaeologist Stein who revered Xuanzang, and Otani expedition organized by Kozui Otani, latter-day 22nd Abbot of Hongwan-ji, sub sect of Jodo-shinshu, who received lot of stimulations from Stein. The audience was overwhelmed by the magnificent views of the world of Xuanzang, Stein and Kozui Otani.