Prof. Claire-Akiko Brisset

Claire-Akiko Brisset is Full Professor in Japanese Cultural History at the University of Geneva, and received her Ph.D. in Japanese Studies in 2000 from Paris Diderot University. She is the author of À la croisée du texte et de l’image : paysages cryptiques et poèmes cachés (ashide) dans le Japon classique et médiéval (Collège de France, 2009). This pathbreaking book examines Japanese cryptographic expression from classical to medieval period. For the very first time in a European language, this study aims at establishing hermeneutic and intersemiotic patterns through an extensive overview of the pictorial and calligraphic corpus. She is also co-editor of numerous books dealing with Japanese epic, writing history and culture, visual culture, and co-translator of major Japanese classical texts (Shaka no honji, Mumyôshô, Shuhanron emaki, Kaidôki, etc.), as well as contemporary Japanese scientific literature (Tsuji Nobuo, Mita Munesuke, etc.). Her current book projects deal 1) with the history and anthropology of Japanese writing system, and 2) with the reception of Japanese cinema in France during the first half of the 20th century. She is also involved in the complete translation into French of the Kokon chomon-jû by Tachibana no Narisue (1254).