Dr. George Klonos

Bild von George Klonos

Internationales Kolleg für Geisteswissenschaftliche Forschung "Schicksal, Freiheit und Prognose. Bewältigungsstrategien in Ostasien und Europa"




Assistant Professor, Independent Researcher


IKGF Visiting Fellow October 2020 – March 2021

IKGF Research Project:

Chinese Methods of Divination: The Case of Shugendo in Japan.

Curriculum Vitae

I studied Japanese and East Asian religions, before deciding on a Ph.D. dissertation on mountain asceticism in early modern Japan. In the following years I conducted fieldwork in Japan’s Kii Peninsula and presented my research at various forums. My teaching experience includes courses taught at Stanford and Yale Universities, the Centre for Transcultural Studies in Athens, and three courses per year in my capacity as Director of Antioch University’s Japan and its Buddhist Traditions program in Kyoto. My research interests include early modern Shugendo texts, Daoism in Japan and Esoteric Buddhism’s channels of influence in East Asia.

Selected Publications

  • "The Robe of Leaves: A Nineteenth-century Text of Shugendo Apologetics." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies (Vol.46/1, Spring 2019).
  • "The Robe of Leaves: A Nineteenth-century Text of Shugendo Apologetics." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies (Vol.46/1, Spring 2019).
  • "Landscape as Imaginary Space and Place of Practice: The Case of Mt. Omine in Japan." In Matsuoka Hideaki, ed. Japanese Religious Landscapes (forthcoming, Berghahn Press).