Kaoru Hayashi

Kaoru Hayashi is an Assistant Professor of Premodern Japanese Literature at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on the intersection of narrative techniques, genealogical imagination, and the cultural role of vengeful spirits in Heian and subsequent Japanese literary traditions.

Her dissertation, Narrating Vengeful Spirits and Genealogies in Premodern Japanese Literature, analyzes canonical texts like The Tale of Genji and Tale of Hōgen, historical chronicles, and religious treatises to demonstrate how vengeful spirits were used as rhetorical devices to challenge social and familial legitimacy. Key chapters examine female narrators' roles, kinship ties, Buddhist rhetoric in Jien's writings, and the legacy of Retired Emperor Sutoku.