Short bio
Bernhard Scheid studied Japanese Studies and Social Anthropology at the University of Vienna . He started working at the Institute in 1990, within the framework of a project on Old age in premodern Japan (sub-project on the medieval period). After a scholarship at Waseda University in Tokyo (1994–1996) he returned to the IKGA in 1997 to work on a project dealing with the history of Shinto. Since then his research has been focused on the mutual influences of Japanese Buddhism and the worship of native deities (kami). In addition, Scheid is developing an online handbook on Religion-in-Japan, which is related to courses he teaches at the University of Vienna and elsewhere.
Research
- Yoshida Shinto: investigates the separation of Buddhism and Shinto in the case of one specific school of medieval Shinto.
- Hachiman worship; investigates the amalgamation of Buddhismus and belief in indigenous deities in the case of the popular deity Hachiman.
- Research history of Shinto, with a particular focus on modern State Shinto.
- Shintō-uke: religious control via Shintō shrines (project direction).
Monographs
Bernhard Scheid, 2001
Der Eine und Einzige Weg der Götter: Yoshida Kanetomo und die Erfindung des Shinto. (BKGA 38.) Wien: VÖAW, 2001 (download [open access] or order online).
Bernhard Scheid, 1996
Im Innersten meines Herzens empfinde ich tiefe Scham: Das Alter im Schrifttum des japanischen Mittelalters. (BKGA 16.) Wien: VÖAW, 1996 (order online).
Edited volumes
Stefan Köck, Brigitte Pickl-Kolaczia, Bernhard Scheid (eds.), 2021
Religion, Power, and the Rise of Shinto in Early Modern Japan. London et al.: Bloomsbury, 2021 (order online).
Max Deeg, Bernhard Scheid (eds.), 2015
Religion in China: Major Concepts and Minority Positions. (BKGA 85.) Wien: VÖAW, 2015 (order online).
Bernhard Scheid, Kate Wildman Nakai (eds.), 2013
Kami Ways in Nationalist Territory: Shinto Studies in Prewar Japan and the West. (BKGA 78.) Wien: VÖAW, 2013 (order online).
Bernhard Scheid, Mark Teeuwen (eds.), 2006
The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion. London, New York: Routledge, 2006.
Mark Teeuwen, Bernhard Scheid (eds.), 2002
Tracing Shinto in the History of Kami Worship. (Sonderband des Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 29/3-4.) Nagoya: Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture, 2002.
Web projects
- Religion-in-Japan, ein Web-Handbuch (since 2001)
- Kamigraphie: Zur Ikonographie und Ikonologie japanischer Gottheiten (since 2011)
- Japanbibliographie (since 2019)