My research centres around Japanese Buddhist art. It is essential however to examine the changes and transformations that took place in Buddhism in order to understand how and in what form it reached the Japanese islands and in what direction it developed there. From the perspective of Japanese art I am focusing mainly on religious (Buddhist) art and the 'japanization' of its iconography. In my dissertation and in my present research project I am examining in detail the varying Japanese forms of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva.

In my research I am focusing on the aspects and future of Japanese Buddhist temples. I am examining various problems which are threatening Japanese Buddhism and its organizations, which are rooted in the modern world, such as the decline in the number of believers. The so-called "established" Buddhist religious schools (bukkyō-kei dentō shūkyō) are in the centre of my inspection, mainly those which were established during the Heian- and Kamakura Periods (9th to 14th centuries). I am also connecting their decline to the appearance and rapid spread of new religions (shin shūkyō) since the first half of the 19th century, with charismatic leaders, who most of the time are lay religious persons. Lastly, I am investigating the changes in the society and the spiritual and everyday needs of Japanese people, which are some of the reasons behind the emerging uncertainties that conventional Buddhist institutions such as temples run by temple families of these major Buddhist schools are encountering today.