Sarah Thal

Biography

I am a historian of early modern and modern Japan with particular interest in intellectual, religious, and social history. My current work examines the development in the 1890s and early 1900s of the “Way of the Samurai” (bushido) as a seemingly traditional, indigenous code of honor thought to embody the “spirit” of Japan. That is, I use the “Way of the Samurai” as a window into the intellectual, cultural, and political life of turn-of-the-century Japan. My teaching interests include samurai and bushido, Shinto and Japanese religion, historical research methods, and the interface between historical education and post-graduation careers.

Education

Ph.D., Columbia University
M.A., Columbia University
B.A., SOAS, University of London
B.Sc., Georgetown

Books

Rearranging the Landscape of the Gods: The Politics of a Pilgrimage Site in Japan, 1573-1912

Sarah Thal. Rearranging the Landscape of the Gods: The Politics of a Pilgrimage Site in Japan, 1573-1912. University of Chicago Press, 2005.

When people create new societies, economies, and nations—both now and in the past—they create gods, rituals, and miracles to support them. Even what seem to be some of the most timeless and sacred sites in the world have been shaped, reshaped, and reinterpreted by countless people to produce oases of peace and nature today. Using miracle tales, votive plaques, diaries, and newspapers, Sarah Thal traces such changes at one of the most popular Japanese pilgrimage sites of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: the shrine of Konpira on the island of Shikoku. This rich and fascinating history explores how people from all walks of life gave shape to the gods, shrines, and rituals so often attributed to ancient, indigenous Japan. Thal shows how worshippers and priests, rulers and entrepreneurs, repeatedly rebuilt and reinterpreted Konpira to reflect their needs and aspirations in a changing world—and how, in doing so, they helped shape the structures of the modern state, economy, and society in turn. Rearranging the Landscape of the Gods will be welcomed by all scholars of Japanese history and by students of religion interested in the construction of modernity.

Selected Publications

• “Steadfast Resolve: Stoicism, the Way of the Samurai, and the Struggle over Japan’s National Character.” Japan Review 41:1 (forthcoming 2026).
• “Chivalry Without Women: The Way of the Samurai and Swinton’s World History in 1890s Japan.” American Historical Review 129:2 (June 2024): 361-394. https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhae151
• “Shinto: Beyond ‘Japan’s Indigenous Religion.'” Religious Studies Review 32:3 (July 2006): 145-150.
• “Redefining the Gods: Politics and Survival in the Creation of Modern Kami.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 29:3-4 (Fall 2002): 379-404.

Advisor To

• Larissa Redditt

History Courses

• History 104 – Introduction to East Asian History: Japan
• History 200 – Film, Literature and the Japanese Past
• History 201 – Historian’s Craft: Conspiracy Theories: Evidence and Argument
• History 300 – History at Work – Syllabus 2025 (pdf)
• History 454 – Samurai: History and Image
• History 500 – Samurai in Film
• History 600 – Religion and Politics in Japan
• History 600 – Samurai in America
• History 725 – East Asian History Seminar
• History 855 – Samurai and Bushido
• History 855 – Early Modern Japan
• History 855 – Shinto and Politics in Japan