Professor of History and East Asian Studies, teaches Japanese intellectual and cultural history. His interests include the history of Buddhism in Japanese society, Medieval society and economy, and Japan's relations with China and the West. Professor Collcutt completed an English translation of Kume Kunitake's record of the Iwakura Embassy's visit to the United States in 1872. He is working on a companion volume to be entitled The Iwakura Embassy in the United States: An Inner History. He is translating "Dialogues in Dreams" by the fourteenth century Zen master Muso Kokushi and editing a collection of papers on Medieval and Early Modern social history. His regular undergraduate classes include "History of East Asian to 1800" taught with Professor Peterson, "The World of the Tale of Heike: an Introduction to Medieval Japanese Society", and "Ideas and Images in Japanese Culture."
Education
- M.A. and Ph.D., in Medieval Japanese History and Buddhism, Harvard University
- B.A. Hons., in History, Cambridge University