Education
2003 – 2007 Sapienza University, Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’
PhD with full scholarship
Thesis title: Gli scrittori Meiji e la letteratura cinese: suggestioni letterarie nella produzione di Mori Ōgai (1862-1922), Natsume Sōseki (1867-1916) e Kōda Rohan (1867-1947) [Meiji Writers and Chinese literature: sinitic influences and motifs in the works of Mori Ōgai (1862-1922), Natsume Sōseki (1867-1916) and Kōda Rohan (1867-1947)]
Supervisor: Professor Matilde Mastrangelo
Examined by: Prof Tullio De Mauro, Prof Ikuko Sagiyama, Prof Alessandra Brezzi
2001 – 2002 Kokusai kyoiku gakubu (International Center for Education), Waseda University, Tokyo
Intensive Japanese Language Program Diploma (one-year course) (awarded MEXT Annual scholarship)
1997 – 2003 Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
BA + MA (Hons. - equivalent) in Oriental languages and cultures (majoring in Japanese and Chinese languages and literatures)
Courses: Japanese language and literature (four years); Japanese modern and contemporary literature (three years); Japanese philology (two years); Japanese art history (one year); Chinese language and literature (three years); Chinese philology (one year); Tibetology (two years); Religion and philosophies of India and Eastern Asia (one year); History of East Asia (one year); English language and literature (two years); Pre-modern Japanese culture (one year).
Thesis title: Modelli cinesi tra tradizione e innovazione nella letteratura di Mori Ōgai [Chinese models in the work of Mori Ōgai, between tradition and innovation]
Supervisors: Prof Matilde Mastrangelo, Prof Maria Teresa Orsi
Final Mark: 110/110* (Summa cum Laude)
1992 – 1997 Liceo classico (Classical Lyceum) Quinto Orazio Flacco, Roma (RM), Italy
Final Mark: 56/60
Working experience
2021/11 - ongoing - Programme coordinator (Director of Studies) of the BA and MA in 'Oriental Languages and Cultures', Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’, Sapienza University
2020/1 The University of Tokyo, Graduate school of Arts and Sciences 東京大学 大学院 総合文化研究科, Specially appointed Associate 特任准教授at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Language and Information Sciences Master's Program. 総合文化研究科言語情報科学専攻修士課; Teaching module: 開講科目名 /Course Title: Translating Classics - the centrality of ‘relevance’ in the context of literary translation, 27 hours (intensive, 2CFU 集中講義、２単位).
2019/9 – ongoing Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’, Sapienza University: Associate professor of Japanese Philology and Palaeography for both the undergraduate and graduate courses.
2012/3 – 2019/9 Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’, Sapienza University: Assistant professor of Japanese Philology for both the undergraduate and graduate course in Oriental Languages and Cultures and member of the PhD board in Civilizations of Asia and Africa.
2010/9 – 2012/3 Faculty of Oriental Studies, Sapienza University: Adjunct professor of Japanese philology (MA course in Oriental Languages and Cultures).
2007/9 – 2010/9 Faculty of Oriental Studies, Sapienza University: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, ‘Historical Fiction in Meiji Japan’
Supervisory experience
2020/9 – ongoing PhD supervision of Martina Sorge’s thesis: Canonizzazione dei monogatari nel periodo Muromachi (1392-1573): l’eredità del Genji nel genere medievale degli otogizōshi (Monogatari canonization in the Muromachi period: Genji’s influence over the medieval genre of otogizōshi tales).
2019/9 – ongoing PhD supervision of Maria Elisabetta Crupi’s thesis: Dalla corte alle masse: adattamento e divulgazione del repertorio classico nel Giappone premoderno - la riscrittura del Genji Monogatari ad opera di Ryutei Tanehiko (From the court to the masses: adaptation and circulation of classical repertoire in pre-modern Japan – Ryutei Tanehiko’s reworking of Genji Monogatari).
2016/9 – 2020/12 PhD supervision of Samantha Audoly’s thesis: Katashiro, Mononoke e Shukke nel Genji Monogatari e nello Yoru no Nezame: Le relazioni amorose attraverso le fonti letterarie (Katashiro, Mononoke and Shukke in Genji Monogatari and Yoru no Nezame: romantic relationships in literary sources).
2015/9 – 2019/3 PhD Supervision of Corinne d'Antonio’s thesis: Problemi teorici nella descrizione delle particelle giapponesi: il caso di wo (Epistemological challenges underlying the classification of Japanese particles: the case of wo).
2013/9 – 2016/3 PhD Supervision of Marco De Baggis’s thesis: Il Konjaku monogatari shū e l’eredità della letteratura classica (Konjaku monogatari shū and the inheritance of classical literature).
2010 – ongoing Supervision of MA theses in Japanese philology.
2012 – ongoing Supervision of BA theses in Japanese philology and Japanese language and translation.
Teaching activities for graduate and doctoral schools
2024
[Invited Seminar] 5th Session - Philology: Research and Methodology, talk for the IAS 2024 – Intensive Academic Seminar of Korean Studies Young Scholars, February 22, 2024, Room t03, Marco Polo Building, ISO Department, Sapienza University of Rome
2023
[Invited talk] I "tre nemici della Legge": tematiche trasversali nelle opere medievali fra India, Europa e Giappone (The ‘Three Enemies of the Law’: Common Themes in Medieval narratives from India, Europe and Japan), speech delivered for the seminar series Asian Community and Europe, March 3, 2023, at the Siena University of Foreign Studies, Aula Magna-Virginia Woolf, Piazza Rosselli 27/28, Siena, Italy
2022
[Invited talk] The Reinvention of Tradition in Natsume Sōseki's Literature, May 6 2022, University of Bologna, Sala Giunta LILEC, Via Cartoleria 5 - Part of the NONWESTLIT Seminars on Comparative Literature, organised within the NONWESTLIT project (funded by the European Research Council).
2019
[Invited presentation] Catalogazione e gestione del fondo archivistico 'Toshiba' alla Sapienza: problematiche e prospettive [Cataloging and managing the ‘Toshiba foundation archive fond’ in Sapienza: challenges and perspectives], invited speech for the seminar series: World Philologies 3, organized by Florinda De Simini and Antonio Manieri, University of Naples "L'Orientale", Department of Asian and African Studies, Joint research centre for the study of texts, Naples, Palazzo Corigliano, Antisala del Salone degli Specchi, 21 May 2019.
2018
[Invited seminar] Modern writers and the problem of fiction: Putting XIX-century Italian and Japanese historical novel in comparative perspective – Invited seminar at Tohoku University (Hasekura League Seminar Series, administered by prof. Ozaki Akihiro) - May 30, 2018, 14-17, Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Kawauchi Campus.
2017
[Invited talk] Topografia di un immaginario: realtà e fantasia nel diario londinese di Natsume Sōseki (1900-1901) [A topography of the imaginary: reality and fiction in Natsume Sōseki’s London diaries 1900-1901] – Graduate school seminar series “Spazi, Forme, Suoni e Riscritture: Giornata di Studi sulla Letteratura Giapponese”, University of Naples “L’Orientale”, Department of Asian and African Studies, 17 October 2017.
2014
[Seminar] La storia del passato, il passato della storia: il contributo della narrativa storica giapponese alla definizione di un canone letterario [A history of the past, the past of history: the contribution of Japanese historical fiction to the definition of a new literary canon], 2nd seminar series of the PhD School in Asian and African Cultures and Civilizations “Il canone culturale e letterario tra tradizione e modernità in Cina e in Giappone” (The cultural canon between modernity and tradition in China and Japan), 26 June 2014, Sapienza University, ISO Department.
2011
[Seminar] Suggestioni letterarie cinesi nelle opere di Mori Ōgai e Natsume Sōseki [Chinese motifs in the literary output of Mori Ōgai and Natsume Sōseki], 1st seminar series of the PhD School in Asian and African Cultures and Civilizations, 22 to 23 June 2011, Sapienza University, ISO Department.
Project collaborations, boards, symposia and committees
2024 / 2 IAS 2024 – Intensive Academic Seminar of Korean Studies Young Scholars, February 19 to 24, 2024, Room t03, Marco Polo Building, ISO Department, Sapienza University of Rome – Member of the scientific committee
2024 / 1 The 8th Annual Hasekura International Japanese Studies Symposium: Embodied Discourse, Embodied Practice, The Body as Text, Medium, and Testimony in Japan, cohosted by Tohoku University, Sapienza University, University of British Columbia, 25 and 26 January 2024, room t02-3, Marco Polo Building, ISO Department, Sapienza University of Rome – Member of the scientific committee
2023 / 4 Writing in/and motion: Tracing the movement of texts, bodies, and identities in Japanese literature, International Symposium, April 21 and 22nd, Aula Magna, Marco Polo Building, ISO Department, Sapienza University of Rome - Member of the scientific committee
2023 - rifinanziato 2024 - Advanced Seed project "Sapienza Bridge", funded by Academy of Korean Studies - Collaborating researcher
2018 / 4 – 2022/3 Marega project: member, https://www.nijl.ac.jp/projects/marega/
2021 / 3 Symposium Yonaoshi: Envisioning a Better World, March 5-6, 12-13 2021, Online, Joint conference of Tohoku University (Sendai, Japan) and Sapienza University (Rome, Italy) (Hasekura League
Symposium): membro del comitato organizzatore
2018 / 2 International Symposium *funded by the Japan Foundation “Realms of Words: Literature, Performance and the Media in Japan”, Sapienza University, 26 to 27 February 2018: member of the organizing committee.
2016 / 3 International Symposium *funded by the Japan Foundation “Words as Performance: Oral Narratives, Poetry and Storytelling in Japan”, Sapienza University, 23 to 24 March 2016: member of the organizing committee.
2015/3 – ongoing Rivista degli Studi Orientali, Fabrizio Serra publishing house: member of the editorial board, https://www.jstor.org/journal/rivideglstudorie, ISSN: 0392-4866
2012/6 – ongoing Aracne publishing house: member of the editorial board.
Talks, seminars, workshops
2023
[presentation] The Ultimate Gift: ‘Body Offering’ Discourse in the ‘Indian’ (Tenjiku) Section of Konjaku monogatarishū, Writing in/and motion: Tracing the movement of texts, bodies, and identities in Japanese literature, International Symposium, April 21, Aula Magna, Marco Polo Building, ISO Department, Sapienza University of Rome
[invited presentation] 『作者から読者へ、テキストからパフォーマンスへ－源氏物語『女房語り』に見る語り手の役割に関する考察』(From writer to public, from text to performance: reflection on the role of the ‘narrator’ in Old Kyoto-dialect style Genji monogatari recitation)、共同連携事業 International joint seminar series 「文化伝達のダイナミズムとスタティクス」(‘Dinamism and Staticity of Cultural Transmission), 第2回研究会 (Second session), online, promoted by NIJL国文学研究資料館, Tokyo, Japan
[Invited talk] “Modernizing Passion: Male Nostalgia, Chinese Allusions, and Women’s Aspiration for Independence in Late Meiji Prose Fiction”talk at the workshop " New Directions in Modern Japanese Culture: Comparativism, Translation, and Nation-Building in the Age of Empire". Monday 4 September to Wedesday 6 September 2023, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Waseda University Brussels Office
2022
[Invited presentation] Sakaguchi Ango and the Daraku/Naraku Discourse: Around and about the Decadence and Dystopia of Human Societies, September 28, 2022 at the session ‘Conceptualizing Collapse’ of The 7th Annual Hasekura International Japanese Studies Symposium: Naraku: Discord, Dysfunction, Dystopia, 2022 September 27-29 (Symposium), 30-October 2 (Related Events), Tohoku University, Sendai
2020
[Invited presentation] 研究会 第II部 在外日本資料の調査と活用 13:40-14:20 「ローマ大学における前近代日本資料に関する新たな取り組み」 ルカ・ミラーズィ（ローマ大学サピエンツァ） グローバル情報社会における日本アーカイブに関する国際的人材育成プログラム オープニング研究会 テーマ：日本アーカイブに関する国際的人材育成にむけて 主 催：マレガ・プロジェクト（国文学研究資料館・東京大学史料編纂所・大分県先哲史料館・臼杵市・イタリア東方学研究所） ローマ大学サピエンツァ ナポリ東洋大学 会 場：大分県 豊の国情報ライブラリー 第６研修室 参 加：プロジェクトメンバー、ローマ大学・ナポリ東洋大学の大学院生など 月 日：令和2年(2020) 2月10日（月）.
2019
[Seminar] Lecture 3 “Reading the original documentation: an attempt at interpreting the facsimiles of documents collected by Marega" マレガ神父収集文書を解読する (Luca Milasi) 講師：ルーカ・ミラージ, and Workshop 1, "The sentence structure in the transcribed versions of the Marega documents: Feudal Domain of Usuki and the Shogunate Government.” (Naohiro Ota and Luca Milasi), くずし字解読文を読む「臼杵藩と幕府」 講師：太田尚宏 ルーカ・ミラージ, Seminars for the international Collaboration Project "Palaeography and the Surveying Methods of Japanese Historical Documents: developing teaching materials and methods through the Marega Collection between Italy and Japan”ローマ大学連携事業日本歴史資料（古文書）のくずし字解読と資料調査法－マレガ文書を通じた日伊教材開発・教授法研究のために－, Sapienza University, 9 and 10 December 2019, Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies – ISO’, Circonvallazione Tiburtina 4, Rome, Italy, 場所：ローマ大学サピエンッア 2019年12月9日（月） 第１日目 206教室 2019年12月10日（火） 第２日目 午前3階会議室／午後図書館地下室, Organized by The Marega Project, Sapienza University. (National Institutes for the Humanities, Vatican Apostolic Library, Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo, Oita Prefecture Ancient Sage Historical Archives, Usuki City Board of Education) 主催：ローマ大学サピエンッア、マレガ・プロジェクト（人間文化研究機構国文学研究資料館、バチカン図書館、東京大学史料編纂所、大分県立先哲史料館、臼杵市教育委員会).
[Conference presentation] La tematica dell’offerta del proprio corpo (shashin捨身) nella sezione Tenjiku 天竺 del Konjaku monogatari shū" (Giving up the body as an offering: reading the ‘Indian section’ of Konjaku monogatari shū’), XLIII convegno Aistugia, University of Naples "L'Orientale", 21 September 2019.
2018
[Invited presenation] 'Hiroshima' Inside Me: Mishima, Ango and Nuclear Power, International Conference: 3.11: Disaster and Trauma in Experience, Understanding, and Imagination, co-hosted by Ghent University and Tohoku University (Hasekura League Symposium), Ghent, Belgium, Ghent University, 12 to 14 March 2018.
[Presentation] The Genji Monogatari as Machine: The Implied Performativity in The Source Text and Contemporary Storytelling, International conference "Realm of Words: Literature, Performance, and the media in Japan", Sapienza University, co-funded by the Japan Foundation, 26 to 27 February 2018.
2016
[Invited presentation] Kōda Rohan and the Modernity of Tradition: Classic Themes for a New Forma Mentis, “From the roots to the flowering branches of Japanese literature”, International Symposium, May 13 2016 (The Japan Cultural Institute 日本文化会館 in Rome).
[Presentation] The distance of Shakespeare: Sôseki, Shôyô, and the problem of Hamlet, “Word as Performance”, International Conference, founded by the Japan Foundation, ISO - Department of Oriental Studies, Sapienza University, 23 to 24 March, 2016.
2015
[Invited panel presentation] Sagiyama Ikuko, Matilde Mastrangelo, Luca Milasi, Colours in Culture Interchanges, NIPPON/JAPAN as object, NIPPON/JAPAN as method” co-hosted by Tohoku University and University of Florence, Florence, Palazzo Marucelli-Fenzi, 29 to 30 October 2015.
[Invited talk (as discussant)] The Possibilities for Pre-modern Japanese Texts - Symposium: テーマ：可能性としての日本古典籍, パネル２ 「総合書物学への挑戦」Panel 2 New Approaches to Japanese Philology (ディスカッサント：discussant), 主催：大学共同利用機関法人人間文化研究機構国文学研究資料館 National Institute of Japanese Literature, National Institutes for the Humanities, 場 所：国文学研究資料館 大会議室（東京都立川市緑町 10-3,大規模学術フロンティア促進事業「日本語の歴史的典籍の国際共同研究ネットワーク構築計画」 第１回 日本語の歴史的典籍国際研究集会 Project to Build an International Collaborative Research Network for Pre-modern Japanese Texts, The 1st International Conference on Pre-modern Japanese Texts, 日 時：平成２７(2015)年７月３１日（金）～８月１日（土）（２日間）July 31 to August 1 2015.
2013
[Presentation] Intorno al testo: scritti e primi adattamenti teatrali, da Shakespeare in poi, nel Giappone di fine Ottocento [Around and about the theatrical text: the first drama adaptations, from Shakespeare onwards, in 19th-century Japan], national conference “Il teatro giapponese tra la seconda metà dell’Ottocento e la prima metà del Novecento, la macchina scenica tra spazi urbani e riforme”, Sapienza University, Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’, 13 to 14 December 2013.
2012
[Invited presentation]「堕落した青春の謎を解く言葉の力－三島由紀夫のデカダンス文学批評」、国文学研究資料館・イタリア共同シンポジウム『日本文学のことばの力』(Joint symposium - the National Institute of Japanese Literature (国文学研究資料館)、2012年9月22—23日, 於Grand Hotel Baglioni, Piazza dell’Unità Italiana 6, Florence, 22 to 23 September 2012.
2011
[Invited presentation] 鷗外が中国古典から取り入れたモチーフに関する考察―歴史小説『魚玄機』を中心に, 国文学研究資料館主催 日本文学国際シンポジウム 『表現様式の交流』 (Joint symposium - the National Institute of Japanese Literature (国文学研究資料館), Bologna, Faculty of Letters, 14 September 2011.
Grants and awards
2020
[Grant] Toshiba International Foundation Grant (TIFO 2020) of JPY 800,000 for the project ‘Palaeography and the Surveying Methods of Japanese Historical Documents’. (Due to the COVID-19 health emergency, the grant has been deferred to the financial year 2021). P.I.: Luca Milasi.
2011
[Award] ‘Sapienza Università di Roma per la Ricerca – ‘Researchers under forty’ for the Humanities, “Sapienza Ricerca Prize, third edition”, under the high patronage of the Presidency of the Italian Republic. https://www.uniroma1.it/sites/default/files/allegati/book%20SapienzaRicerca2011%20ok%20-%20del%2014%20novembre.pdf
Teaching experience
2020/9 – ongoing Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Associate professor. Course taught: Japanese language and translation second year (Undergraduate, 12 ECTS).
2020/10 – ongoing Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Associate professor. Courses taught: Japanese philology and palaeography (Graduate, 6 ECTS).
2020/3 – 2020/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Associate professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Undergraduate, 6 ECTS).
2019/10 – 2019/12 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Associate professor. Course taught: Japanese philology and palaeography (Graduate, 6 ECTS).
2020/3 – 2020/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Associate professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Undergraduate, 6 ECTS).
2019/9 – 2020/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Associate professor. Course taught: Japanese language and translation second year (Undergraduate, 12 ECTS).
2018/10 – 2018/12 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Assistant professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Graduate, 6 ECTS).
2017/10 – 2017/12 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Assistant professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Graduate, 6 ECTS).
2017/10 – 2018/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Assistant professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Undergraduate, 9 ECTS).
2016/10 – 2016/12 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Assistant professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Graduate, 6 ECTS).
2016/10 – 2017/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Assistant professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Undergraduate, 9 ECTS).
2015/10 – 2015/12 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Assistant professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Graduate, 6 ECTS).
2015/10 – 2016/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Assistant professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Undergraduate, 9 ECTS).
2014/10 – 2015/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Assistant professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Graduate, 6 ECTS).
2014/10 – 2015/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Assistant professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Undergraduate, 9 ECTS).
2013/10 – 2014/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Assistant professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Graduate, 6 ECTS).
2013/10 – 2014/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Assistant professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Undergraduate, 9 ECTS).
2012/10 – 2013/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Assistant professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Graduate, 6 ECTS).
2012/10 – 2013/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Assistant professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Undergraduate, 9 ECTS).
2011/10 – 2012/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Adjunct professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Graduate, 9 ECTS).
2010/10 – 2011/5 Department ‘Italian Institute of Oriental Studies’ (ISO Department), Sapienza University: Adjunct professor. Course taught: Japanese philology (Graduate, 9 ECTS).
Professional memberships
AISTUGIA (Associazione Italiana degli Studi Giapponesi - Italian Association of Japanese Studies).
AIDLG (Associazione Italiana per la Didattica della Lingua Giapponese)