Current Projects:
Shingon Shōmyō and the Yoga of Sound
Educational Background:
PhD. Musicology, Tokyo University of the Arts
Research Interests:
Asiatic Music Historiography, Comparative Liturgy, Neume Studies, Buddhist Studies
Biography:
Dr. Stephen Ithel Duran is a Cross-Border Postdoctoral Fellow with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and a Research Affiliate with the Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute and the Kyoto City University of the Arts. A long-term resident of Japan and graduate of the Tokyo University of the Arts, he has been working in the field of Asiatic music historiography for over a decade, specializing in ancient and medieval notational systems and Buddhist music historiography.
A pioneer in the fields of comparative liturgy and neume studies, Dr. Duran’s translations of medieval oral transmission manuscripts from the Shingon lineage of Japanese esoteric Buddhist chant include the first modern English translation of the earliest extant manuscript to detail the form and function of Japanese Buddhist neumes, Kakui’s Hakase-shi-ku-den-no-koto.
Dr. Duran’s doctoral work focused on the bonsan, esoteric Buddhist hymns of praise with 7th century Sanskrit texts in Sino-Japanese transliteration. The text-melodic analysis in his dissertation established the existence of significant correlations between the bonsan melodies and the phonetic content of their underlying Sanskrit texts, thus revealing the possibility that core melodic features of ancient Indian Buddhist hymnody were transmitted to Japan by as early as the 11th century.
Dr. Duran’s current project builds upon his doctoral work, recontextualizing the bonsan melodies and notations by expanding the field of research to include Buddhist chant, song, and notations from Newari and Tibetan traditions, as well as Sanskrit Buddhist hymnody from the manuscript record of Central Asia.
Publications:
Duran, Stephen Ithel. “Kakui’s Hakase-Shi-Kuden-no-Koto in Modern English Translation: A Window into the Workings of 13th Century Japanese Buddhist Neumes and a Step Forward for Comparative Liturgy”, Journal of Music Archaeology, vol. 1, pg. 201-231. Vienna, 2023.
See the following link:
https://jma.vlg.oeaw.ac.at/index.php/jma
デュラン、ステファン・アイソル、「日本音楽における「律・呂」の区別とその発展の再考」、『研究紀要ハルモニア』、京都市立芸術大学音楽学部、2022年、53号、pp 47-66。
[Duran, Stephen Ithel, “A New Theory for the Historical Development of the Ritsu-Ryo Distinction in the Ancient Sino-Japanese Modal System”, Harmonia, Bulletin of the Faculty of Music, Kyoto City University of the Arts, no. 53, pg. 47-66, Kyoto, 2022.]
デュラン、ステファン・アイソル、東京芸術大学博士論文「日本の真言声明に於ける梵讃の研究:口伝書とアクセントの分析を中心に」2020年。
[Duran, Stephen Ithel. Research into the Sanskrit Hymns of the Shingon Sect of Japanese Buddhism: Focusing on Oral Transmission Manuscripts and Accentual Analysis. Tokyo University of the Arts Doctoral Dissertation, 2020.]
See the following link: https://geidai.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=1299&file_id=20&file_no=1
