Dr. Emily B. Simpson is an assistant professor in the Department for the Study of Religions,
specializing in East Asian religious traditions. Prior to her appointment at Wake Forest, she
taught Japanese religions at Dartmouth College and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the
Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University. Dr. Simpson specializes in
medieval and early modern Japan and is interested in interactions between Buddhism and Shinto,
the intersection of religion and gender, and in the role of narratives in promoting religious
discourses. Her book Crafting a Goddess in Premodern Japan: Divinization and Motherhood in
Narratives of Empress Jingū (University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2027), explores how an ancient
empress became a goddess of childbirth at both major and regional religious complexes. She is
also co-editor of the Handbook of Women in Japanese Buddhism (Routledge, 2026).
Ph.D., University of California at Santa Barbara (East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies)
M.A., University of California at Santa Barbara (Asian Studies)
A.B., Vassar College (Asian Studies)
Crafting a Goddess in Premodern Japan: Divinization and Motherhood in Narratives of
Empress Jingū. University of Hawaiʻi Press, est. Aug 2027.
Monika Schrimpf and Emily B. Simpson, eds. Handbook of Women in Japanese Buddhism.
Routledge, Aug 2026.
Caleb Carter and Emily B. Simpson, eds. Special issue “Uncanny Bodies in Japanese Religions.”
Journal of Religion in Japan 12 (2-3), Dec 2023.
“A Magnificent Empress, a Brilliant Old Man, and an Ugly Navigator: The Uncanny Bodies of
Maritime Deities in Narratives of Empress Jingū.” Journal of Religion in Japan 12 (2-3), Special
issue “Uncanny Bodies in Japanese Religions,” Dec 2023: 99-126.
“Like A Fierce God: Re-envisioning the Enemy in the Legend of Empress Jingū in the Wake of
the Mongol Invasions.” Religions 13 (8), Special issue “Aspects of Medieval Japanese Religion,”
July 2022: 695 (16 pages).
- REL 104C: Introduction to East Asian Religions (every spring/fall semester)
- REL 109: Introduction to Buddhist Traditions (every spring/fall semester)
- REL 263: The Religions of Japan
- REL 329: Asian Medicine, Health, and Healing Practices
- REL 350: Religions in Manga, Anime, and Popular Media
- FYS 100: Warriors, Women, and Wanderers in Medieval Japan