Michael Como

Michael Como is an Associate Professor of Shinto Studies in the Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures at Columbia University. His research focuses on the religious history of Japan from the Asuka to early Heian periods, emphasizing transnational religious transmission, urbanization, and material culture. He holds a BA from Harvard University (1985) and a PhD from Stanford University (2000).

Research interests include the diffusion of rituals and deities from China and Korea to Japan, local religious traditions, and the interplay between urbanization and theological innovation. He is currently writing a monograph on urbanization and materiality in eighth- and ninth-century Japanese religion.

His publications include Medieval Shintō (2010), Weaving and Binding (2009), and Shōtoku (2008). His work examines ritual systems, literacy, and technological exchanges shaping early Japanese religious practices.

Como advises PhD candidates Iris Zhang (chanting practices in late Heian Japan and Murasaki Shikibu deification) and Xiaoke Yang (materiality of religious objects in medieval Japan). Both are listed under his supervision.