The Study of Japanese Religions Past, Present, and Future: Reflections on the History of the <em>JJRS</em>

he title suggested for my essay originally was "Thirty-five Years of the jjrs," reflecting my years as actual editor, but I prefer to think in terms of "Fifty Years of the jjrs."My first association (or rather, a tenuous connection) with the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies goes back to the very beginning of the journal.I was just finishing up my master's-level graduate work at Sophia University in 1974, submitting my ma thesis on Yoshino-Kumano Shugendo-which eventually became my article in Monumenta Nipponica (1981)-when my advisor Fr.Maurice Bairy showed me a copy of a new journal, the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, as something to keep an eye on.I remember being impressed with the article on "The Concept of Upya () in Mahyna Buddhist Philosophy" by Daigan and Alicia Matsunaga (1974), which clarified for me for the first time the concept of upya/hben in Buddhism.As I was about to finish my ma and wondering what to do next, I decided to visit the offices of the jjrs and talk to the founding editor, David Reid, and see if there was any possibility of gainful employment.I knew David Reid (somewhat) from summer days at Lake Nojiri in Nagano and monthly book club meetings in Tokyo.At the offices of the jjrs, in the International Institute for the Study of Religion (iisr) funded by Rissho Kseikai in Nakano, Tokyo, David quickly dismissed my quest with a smile, pointing out the threadbare staff (only one employee, a part-time secretary).Such was the inauspicious beginning of my association