死生学研究所

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【死生学研究所案内】


日頃から東洋英和女学院大学・死生学研究所の活動にご理解ご協力いただき、まことにありがとうございます。

「総合的な死生学」を目指す当研究所は、2003年の設立以来、まもなく20周年の節目を迎えます。2022年3月には第18巻となる『死生学年報2022 スピリチュアルケアの可能性』(リトン)を発行いたしましたので、ご高覧いただけましたら幸いに存じます。

当研究所では毎年の公開講座の開催に加え、公益財団法人・国際宗教研究所と共催の「生と死」研究会も開催しており、2021年10月には「コロナ禍における死生学の課題」をテーマにオンラインで開催しました。

東日本大震災から11年が経ちますが、2020年初以来の感染症拡大や、22年のロシアのウクライナ侵攻による民間人殺戮もあり、国内外で改めて生と死の問題が浮上しています。死生学研究所では、「総合学としての死生学」を目標として掲げて、あらゆる人々の生と死を視野に入れて考える努力をたゆまず続けていきます。

今後ともご指導ご鞭撻を賜りますようお願い申し上げます。

2022年4月
東洋英和女学院大学・死生学研究所 所長 奥山倫明


【死生学研究所沿革】


2003年 東洋英和女学院大学・死生学研究所設置。
        公開講座として柳田邦男氏による特別講演会開催。

2004年 所長・平山正実。公開講座・テーマ「生と死に向きあう」。
        同年度より『死生学年報』刊行開始(第1巻が『年報2005』)。

2005年 所長・飽戸弘(学長による兼任)。公開講座・テーマ「生と死の表現」。

2006年 所長・山田和夫。公開講座・テーマ「生と死の表現Ⅱ」

2007年 所長・渡辺和子(~2018年度まで)。公開講座・テーマ「語られる生と死」

2008年 公開講座・テーマ「語られる生と死Ⅱ」

2009年 公開講座・テーマ「作品にみる生と死」

2010年 公開講座・テーマ「作品に見る生と死Ⅱ」

2011年 公開講座・テーマ「生と死のその後」

2012年 公開講座・テーマ「生と死のその後Ⅱ」

2013年 公開講座・テーマ「生と死の語り」 2014年 公開講座・テーマ「生と死の語りⅡ」

2015年 公開講座・テーマ「生と死に寄り添う」

2016年 公開講座・テーマ「生と死に寄り添うⅡ」

2017年 公開講座・テーマ「生と死の物語」

2018年 公開講座・テーマ「生と死の物語Ⅱ」

2019年 所長・山田和夫(~2020年度まで)。公開講座・テーマ「死生学の未来」

2020年 公開講座・テーマ「臨床死生学の意義」

2021年 所長・奥山倫明。公開講座・テーマ「スピリチュアリティの可能性」

2022年 公開講座・テーマ「死生学の拡がり」

INSTITUTE FOR LIFE AND DEATH STUDIES

TOYO EIWA UNIVERSITY


INTRODUCTION

Toyo Eiwa University was established in 1989, and when it started its graduate program in human sciences in 1993, it set up a post for a faculty member who specializes in the study of life and death. In 2003, an affiliated research institute, the Institute for Life and Death Studies, was established. Since then, the Institute has organized several series of open lectures to the public every year, and in addition, starting in 2005, it has published its Annuals through the publishing house, Lithon.


The subjects of the open lectures were as follows:
   2004 Facing Life and Death
   2005-06 Expressions of Life and Death
   2007-08 Life and Death in Narrative
   2009-10 Life and Death in Artwork
   2011-12 Life, Death and the Afterwards
   2013-14 Narrating Life and Death
   2015-16 Accompanying Life and Death
   2017-18 Stories of Life and Death
   2019 Future of Life and Death Studies
   2020 Significances of Clinical Studies of Life and Death
   2021 The Possibilities of Spiritual Care


During these years, Japan experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster in 2011, and their respective aftermaths. Other natural disasters have also occurred occasionally. Then in 2020, global society was forced to face the COVID-19 pandemic that caused millions of deaths around the world and thousands of lives were also lost in Japan. In these circumstances, the importance of pursuing the new academic field of life and death studies and its related research areas has come to be understood nationwide.


DEVELOPMENT OF LIFE AND DEATH STUDIES IN JAPAN

Even before the Great East Japan Earthquake, awareness of the necessity of the academic study of life and death was gradually growing in Japan. This is illustrated by the establishment of several academic societies, such as the Japanese Society for Clinical Thanatology in 1995, and the Japan Society for Spiritual Care in 2007.

In addition, a number of Japanese universities also started programs of research and education in life and death studies. An early case is the Graduate School of Osaka University that started its program in Clinical Thanatology and Geriatric Behavioral Science in 1993.

Then in 2002, the Faculty of Letters of the University of Tokyo started its research program of Death and Life Studies with governmental financial support. The program developed into the establishment of the Center for Death and Life Studies and Practical Ethics in 2011.

In 2009, St. Thomas University (closed in 2015) established the Institute of Grief Care, the management of which moved to Sophia University in 2010. Then in 2016, Sophia started its graduate program of Death and Life Studies in the Graduate School of Applied Religious Studies.

Tohoku University started its Endowed Department in Practical Religious Studies in 2012, as a response to the mass death caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. This led to the establishment of the graduate program in Death and Life Studies and Practical Religious Studies in 2019.

The Open University of Japan (Hōsō Daigaku) started its education through broadcasting in 1985, and began a course related to life and death studies in 2014.

These cases illustrate that the research and education of life and death studies covers many wide areas ranging from the humanities to medicine, and has been conducted at both national and private universities.


The Institute for Life and Death Studies of Toyo Eiwa University is willing to make every effort to develop the field of life and death studies in collaboration with these academic societies and universities, and also with our counterparts abroad.

We would highly appreciate understanding, support and cooperation from our academic partners, both personal and organizational.


Spring 2021

OKUYAMA Michiaki, Ph.D.
Director of the Institute for Life and Death Studies, Toyo Eiwa University


(For any inquiry regarding the Institute, please feel free to write to: okuyama.michiaki@ toyoeiwa.ac.jp)