Presentation at Shofuso

I began this project as a research paper assigned for Miles Grosbard’s History of Architecture II course at the Community College of Philadelphia in Spring 2024. Although it was a simple assignment, I delivered a robust forty pages.

Another professor, Michael Stern, caught wind of my project and encouraged that I submit it to the Japan Studies Association conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. There, I met Frederick Dickinson, the Director for the Center of East Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, who suggested I submit my project to the East-West Center’s Asian Studies Development Program in Washington, D.C. There, I was honored with first prize for the best student paper.

Director Dickinson, eager for me to continue sharing my work, sent me the application for the Greater Philadelphia Asian Studies Consortium undergraduate conference held that year at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Once again, I was honored to be selected for an Outstanding Presentation prize.

I am so humbled and grateful that so many people have enjoyed my work. The true beauty is in the elite architectural detailing of the house, the careful yet unincumbered flow of the garden, and the welcoming and accepting community that it has helped foster, and I am just here to share some of those insights.

Most recently, I had the honor of giving my presentation at Shofuso itself, within the hinoki walls, surrounded by Senju’s beautiful fusuma murals, on the delicate tatami. With support of AAPIDA and especially our chapter president, Claudette McCarron, we were able to take a private tour, experience a traditional tea ceremony, and I was able to share my work with what has grown to become like a second family to me.

I am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to be enveloped by the rich history of this storied house, and to hopefully contribute to the lasting legacy of our special inheritance.