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Acknowledgments
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acknowledgments As a first attempt to reexamine the way we look at, talk about, and write about ritual objects, my study is indebted to many people who helped make this book possible. For the financial support that created time for research and writing, I am grateful to the University of Pittsburgh Faculty of Arts and Sciences for awarding me a Type I Summer Grant, to the Japan Council and the Mitsubishi Endowment at the University of Pittsburgh for supporting two research trips to Japan, and to my colleagues in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture for granting me course release time. Publication of this volume was assisted by generous subvention grants from the Japan Council and Asian Studies and from the Mary and John Edwards Publication Fund at the University of Pittsburgh. I would especially like to thank Katheryn Linduff and Anne Weis for reading and commenting on several chapters. I was also fortunate to have the opportunity to team-teach courses with Kathy Linduff and Evelyn Rawski that significantly broadened and stimulated my thinking about death rituals in East Asia. I am also indebted to the graduate students in my seminars for many fruitful discussions that helped shape my ideas about death rituals and portraits. Other colleagues also offered much appreciated advice and encouragement . I want to express deep gratitude to Gene Phillips and Yonekura Michio for discussing their ideas with me and for generously sharing their resources. Gene offered thoughtful observations on, and corrections to, the entire text and has been an unfailing supporter. I also had fruitful conversations with James Dobbins, Patricia Fister, Greg Levine, and Chari Pradel about my research on death rituals. Pat Fister also assisted me in locating hard-to-find sources through the library at the Nichibunken in Kyoto. My skills in reading kanbun were greatly enhanced by two summer workshops coordinated by Joan Piggot. Kurushima Noriko and Endô Motoo from the Historiographical Insti- tute at Tokyo University were unstintingly helpful throughout my struggles with the texts, and Kako Hatakeyama worked with me in Pittsburgh to recheck critical passages. Needless to say, any faults that remain in the text are my responsibility. I remain forever indebted to my editor at University of Hawai‘i Press, Patricia Crosby, for having faith in the project; to Naomi Richards, who edited the manuscript with uncanny skill and great patience; to my friend Sarah Blick for reading countless versions of the manuscript with good cheer; and to Scott for his unfailing support throughout. x Acknowledgments ...