The international symposium “Classical Echoes Between Worlds: Graeco-Roman Antiquity and Japan” aims to explore, through a multidisciplinary approach, the dynamics of reception, adaptation, and transformation of Graeco-Roman antiquity within the Japanese cultural context. Over three days of sessions held in Naples (University of Naples L'Orientale) and Frascati (Academy Vivarium novum), the program brings into dialogue cultural history, anthropology, literature, philosophy, comparative studies, and the visual and performing arts, exploring how Graeco-Roman antiquity has interacted with Japanese media and traditions from the early modern period to the present.

The first day, hosted at the University of Naples L’Orientale, focuses on literary rewritings of classical Greek works, the presence of the Greek canon in Japanese arts, and the ways in which Japanese historiography, museology, and archaeology have reinterpreted the Graeco-Roman world. The second day broadens the perspective to include popular and media cultures—from manga to gaming—as well as philosophical and mythological re-elaborations that connect ancient ethics with Asian modernity. The concluding session, held at the Academy Vivarium novum, investigates the intersections between missionary Latin production, Jesuit poetry, and intercultural theatrical practices, demonstrating how the transmission of classical texts generates unexpected forms of aesthetic and conceptual hybridization. Taken as a whole, the symposium provides a framework for critical inquiry into the global circulation of Greek and Roman antiquity and its many rebirths in Japan, from past to present.

The symposium is supported by the following institutions and associations, listed in alphabetical order:

Academy Vivarium novum

ISMEO – The International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies, Contribute MiC ISTCU25-000175

JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), KAKENHI, Grant No. 24K00054

University of Naples L'Orientale. Department of Asian, African and Mediterranean Studies

Institutional patronage:

Aistugia (Italian Association for Japanese Studies)

Center for East Asian Studies. University of Naples L’Orientale

PROGRAMMA

Day 1: Monday, March 9, University of Naples L’Orientale

Palazzo Corigliano, Sala Conferenze (Piazza San Domenico Maggiore 12, Naples)

10.00–10.30 Opening Remarks

Roberto Tottoli (University of Naples L’Orientale, Rector)
Roberta Giunta (Department of Asian, African and Mediterranean Studies, Director)
Adriano Rossi (International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies, President)
Luigi Miraglia (Academy Vivarium novum, President)
Luciana Cardi (Kansai University)

Modern and Contemporary Adaptations of Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe
Chair: Tomohiko Kondō

10:30–10:50 Giorgio Amitrano (University of Naples L’Orientale), Echoes of Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe in Mishima Yukio’s Shiosai (The Sound of Waves)
10:50–11:10 Yasuhiro Katsumata (Kyoto University), Refashioning Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe in Kita Morio’s The Land Where the Gods Have Disappeared
11:10–11:30 Massimo Fusillo (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa), Landscape and Sexuality. On Daphnis and Chloe’s Modern Reception

Break

Echoes of Ancient Greece in Japanese Visual Arts and Literature
Chair: Gala Maria Follaco

12:15–12:35 Rui Nakamura (Tokai University), The Reception of Greek Sculpture in Japan: Focusing on the Charioteer of Delphi
12:35–12:55 Diego Cucinelli (University of Florence), Ancient Greece in the Poetics of Murakami Haruki
12:55–13:15 Discussion

Lunch Break

History, Archaeological Heritage, and Reception of Graeco-Roman Antiquity
Chair: Luciana Cardi

15:00–15:20 Chiara Ghidini (University of Naples L’Orientale) and Luca Iori (University of Parma), Localising Greek Historiography: Thucydides in the Japanese Context
15:20–15:40 Yūko Fukuyama (Waseda University), Literary Works on Greek and Roman history during the Democratic Movement in the Meiji period (1868-1912)
15:40–16:00 Ichirō Taida (Toyo University), Persian Wars Described in Japan: From the Late Edo Period until World War II
16:00–16:20 Luca Prosdocimo (University of Naples L’Orientale), Museums and Collections of Japan. History and Reception of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities (1868–2023)
16:20–17:00 Discussion

Day 2: Tuesday, March 10, University of Naples L’Orientale

Palazzo Corigliano, Sala Conferenze (Piazza San Domenico Maggiore 12, 80134 Naples)

Latin and Greek Influences in Manga and Gaming
Chair: Giorgio Amitrano

10:00–10:20 Hironori Satō (Tokyo Institute for Classical Studies [Tōkyō Koten Gakusha]), The Reception of Ancient Rome in the Game Fate/Grand Order
10:20–10:40 Filippo Cervelli (SOAS University of London), Heaven Can Brook Two Suns? The Many Lives of Alexander the Great in Manga
10:40–11:00 Luciana Cardi (Kansai University), The Olympic Games through the Lens of Japanese Manga
11:00–11:30 Discussion

Break

Classical Echoes in Japanese Thought: Stoicism, Death, and the Ethics of Modernity
Chair: Yūko Fukuyama

12:00–12:20 Tomohiko Kondō (Keio University), Stoicism as Past and Future of Japanese Philosophy
12:20–12:40 Noemi Lanna (University of Naples L’Orientale), The Concept of ‘Glorious Death’ in Oda Makoto: From Ancient Greece to Postwar Japan via Vietnam
12:40–13:00 Discussion

Lunch Break

Japanese Interpretations of Graeco-Roman Myths
Chair: Riccardo Palmisciano

14:30–14:50 Kyōko Nakanishi (Tsuda University), Cultivation, Empathy and ‘Stories of One’s Own’: Reception History of Greco-Roman Mythology in Modern and Contemporary Japan
14:50–15:10 Paolo Villani (University of Catania), Interpretationes Graecae of Japanese Mythology: Comparatists’ Tribute to Japan’s Geopolitical ‘Departure from Asia’?
15:10–15:30 Discussion and Closing Remarks for the First Part of the Symposium

Day 3: Wednesday, March 11, Academy Vivarium novum

Sala dell'Omaggio a Venere, Villa Falconieri, Viale Borromini 5, Frascati (Rome)

9:30–10:00 Opening Remarks
Morning Session

Religious Orders and the Production of Latin Texts on Japan
Chair: Luigi Miraglia

10:00–10:30 Yasmin Haskell (Monash University), From Tenshō ‘Boyzone’ to Viennese ‘Boys’ Own’: Jesuit Schoolboys Write about Japanese Youth
10:30–11:00 Akihiko Watanabe (Otsuma Women’s University), Japanese Jesuits and Oriental Studies in Baroque Rome: From Maffei to Konishi and Beyond

Break

11:30–12:00 Cynthia Liu (American Academy in Rome), Virgil goes East: Epic Patterning in the Paciecid and Ruggeriad
12:00–12:30 Pierre-Alain Caltot (University of Orléans, France), Figures of Cubosama in Paciedidos libri of Bartholomew Pereira
12:30–13:15 Discussion

Afternoon Session

Receptions of Latin and Greek Theatre: Performative Intersections
Chair: Akihiko Watanabe

15:00–15.30 Maxime Pierre (Paris Cité University), The Flesh and the Skin: Staging Seneca’s Medea in the Form of an Intercultural Nō
15:30–16:00 Miho Takahashi (Kansai University), A Rereading of the Trachiniae as a Cultural Fusion of East and West
16:00–16:30 Hiroshi Notsu (Shinshu University), Reception of Ancient Greek Tragedy in Japan: Creating Production Texts

Break

17:00–17:30 Riccardo Palmisciano (University of Naples L’Orientale), The Origins of Greek Tragedy and the Origins of Nō Theatre. So Far, so Close
17:30–18:00 Laura Massetti (University of Naples L’Orientale), Memory and Evocation: On the Possibility of Comparing Greek Lyric Poetry and Nō Theatre
18:00–19:00 Discussion and Closing Remarks

The symposium will be held in a hybrid format. Presentations will be delivered in person, and attendance will be possible both on-site and online. Registration is not required for in-person participation. Online participants can register until March 3, 2026.

To register for the first two days of the symposium at the University of Naples L'Orientale, please complete the following Google form: https://forms.gle/vTRZ2N5RuYoMcCy18.

To register for the third day of the symposium at the Academy Vivarium novum, please send an email to convegni@vivariumnovum.net or complete the following Zoom form: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_minOgVilQmyvRhUgYcaPew#/registration.

For any questions, contact us: greekromanjapan@gmail.com.