International Symposium :
"Visioni dell'Aldilà in Oriente e Occidente : arte e pensiero"
      (Visions of Afterlife in East and West : Art and Thoughts)

March 21, 2003 at Loggiato degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy

On March 21, 2003 the first international conference hosted by the 21st century program "Construction of Death and Life Studies Concerning Culture and Value of Life" took place at the well-known Salone Magliabechiano, Loggiato delgi Uffizi. The Salone is originally a library, measuring well over 30 meters in lengthwise. The library, a magnificent great hall recently renovated, housed valuable collections of manuscripts and printed books dating from the Tuscan archduchy (most of which are presently housed at the National Library, Firenze), and its name originated from these collections. Both sides of the hall are filled with bookcases, and for the purpose of our conference, four large windows were covered by black cloth. Certainly, the ambiance of the room was quite appropriate for the academic exchange of the humanities, and the conference began with the opening remarks by the leader of our COE program, Professor SHIMAZONO Susumu.

The conference site was arranged especially by Antonio Paolucci, Superintendent to the Florence Union of National Museums (formally the Minister of Culture and　Environment). This arrangement was accommodated precisely　because Mr. Paolucci agreed to the intention of the　organizing principle of this conference, which is "to present and discuss topics related to ‘Visions of　Afterlife in East and West: Art and Thoughts’ with the assistance from the University of Florence, University of Padova, and the Higher Normal School, Pisa, all of which share an agreement of academic exchange with　the University of Tokyo. The presenters will consist of　one researcher from each institution and four faculty members from the graduate school of humanities and sociology at the University of Tokyo." Mr. Paolucci noted his shared interest in his speech　following Mr. SHIMAZONO’s opening remarks.

The first session in the morning was moderated by Professor OSANO Shigetoshi. First presenter was Enrico Castelnuovo, Professor at Pisa Higher Normal School who discussed and analyzed the 14th century murals at Camposanto on themes of death and salvation. Following this presentation, URA Kazuaki, Assistant Professor of the University of Tokyo presented in fluent Italian that surprised even the Italian participants. Then, Professor NAGASHIMA Hiroaki gave a talk in Japanese. (The translation of Professor NAGASHIMA's talk was provided by SUZUKI Maria Alfonsa, who accompanied us and is an adjunct lector of Italian at University of Waseda). There was a question and answer period following these presentations, and the first session ended on time.

The afternoon session began at three, after a luncheon of those involved in this program, Italian presenters and moderators, as well as invited researchers. The conference re-started under the moderation of Professor Salvatore Settis, the principal of the Higher Normal School, Pisa. Assistant Professor KINOSHITA Naoyuki, Professor Caterina Limentani, Professor OSANO Shigetoshi, and Professor Maria Grazia Ciardi Dupré Dal Poggetto presented their individual papers in Italian, on topics related to the arts on death and salvation. A question and answer session followed the presentations, during which discussions from not only the presenters who sat at a long table at the front of the room, but also Italian and Japanese researchers from the audience participated. Lastly, Professor Settis proposed several critical suggestions in regard to comparative research as exemplified by our conference.

There were approximately one hundred participants, including approximately thirty Japanese students, graduate students and researchers who are studying in Italy or traveled to attend this conference, and approximately sixty Italian researchers and students, Professor Gerhard Wolf (unofficially selected head of Institute of German Research in Florence, which is administered by the German Foreign Ministry), Superintendent Paolucci, Principal Settis, Italian presenters and invited guests.

This conference was jointly hosted with the Centro Studi e Ricerche dell'Università di Tokyo in Firenze, a facility that the graduate school of humanities and sociology administrates and manages. At night, the reception was held at the Centro Studi e Ricerche dell'Università di Tokyo in Firenze, inviting about seventy people. Mr. TAKAHASHI Kazuhiko (councilor, senatus academics) gave a short address, and previously mentioned Professor Castelnuovo proposed a toast. With the closing remarks by Professor TAKEUCHI Seiichi the reception ended with success.